AQUALAND: The Massachusetts Aquatic Landscape Characterization Tool

AQUALAND analyzes the contribution of upstream aquatic and terrestrial systems to aquatic habitats. It is a grid-based watershed model. The software has two main components, the Watershed Delineator Tool and the Threats Assessment Tool. The watershed delineator identifies a watershed for each input aquatic core. The tool can delineate a circular buffer around each core, the entire watershed, a constrained watershed determined by following a flow grid upstream from a starting point and using a resistant surface classified by stream order and landuse or a user-defined watershed. The threats assessment tool includes several filters or metrics that characterize the area contributing to the aquatic cores in terms of development (percent impervious surface agriculture and natural vegetation) road density and number of upstream crossings dams pollution and water withdrawals.