Created 8/xx/2005

Created by Dan McKenzie

Luckiamute Watershed Survey Design

This document is presented as an example and recommended format for documenting a
GRTS design. It is recommended that this example be followed, prior to initiating efforts
to produce a design to meet a particular objective. Due to the randomization scheme
within psurvey.design, each execution of the R code will produce a different set of
sampling points and output files and will not exactly reproduce the example files.

Materials needed for this example:

R version 2.0 or later
psurvey.design package
R script or text file: luckiamutedesign.R
Frame materials as ArcGis files:
luck-ash.dbf
luck-ash. prj
luck-ash. sbn
luck-ash. sbx
luck-ash. shp
luck-ash., shx

Example includes:

Designs



files produced

1

Equal Sites - 50 sites, equal wts

Equal Sites.dbf
Equal Sites.pij
Equal Sites.shp
Equal Sites.shx

2

Stratified Sites - Perennial 50 sites,
Oversample 50 sites, Intermittent 50
sites, Oversample 50 sites.

Stratified Sites.dbf
Stratified Sites.prj
Stratified Sites.shp
Stratified Sites.shx)

3

Unequal Sites - Perennial w/ 3
Strahler categories (25,25,25 sites)
plus Oversample (36) - Intermittent w/
3 Strahler categories (17,5,3 sites)

Unequal Sites.dbf
Unequal Sites.prj
Unequal Sites.shp
Unequal Sites.shx

4

Panel Over Time Sites - Perennial w/
3 Strahler categories (17,17,16),
Oversample (50) - Intermittent w/ 3
Strahler (17,5,3)

Panel Sites.dbf
Panel Sites.prj
Panel Sites, shp
Panel Sites, shx)

An ArcGis map is included, Luckiamute Design, as a visual aid for the resulting designs
for this example.

Design File Documentation would routinely begin here:

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Created 8/xx/2005

Created by Dan McKenzie

Contact:

Name

address of person requesting the design

Voice:

Fax:

email:

Description of Sample Design

Survey Design: A Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified (GRTS) survey design
for a linear stream resource is used for this example. The GRTS design includes reverse
hierarchical ordering of the selected sites.

Target population: All perennial and intermittent streams/rivers in the Luckiamute
Watershed Council basin. Watershed boundaries defined by Luckiamute Watershed
Council.

Sample Frame: GIS stream network coverage from PNW portion of RF3. [Example
files: luck-ash, including Luckmap (ArcGis map)]

Sample Frame Summary

The total stream length (km) is 822.4882 km (including intermittent).

Lengt

l (km)

Strahler Order

Perennial

Intermittent

0

10.64198

10.825986

1

189.88902

294.699772

2

133.10086

20.512487

3

60.84859

3.027805

4

68.24550

0

5

30.69616

0

3+4+5

159.79025

3.027805

Multi-density categories: Strahler order categories: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd+.

I. Equal Probability GRTS Survey Design

Stratification: None

Expected sample size: 50 sites

Oversample: None

Site Use: The base design has 50 sites. Sites are listed in SitelD order and must be
used in that order. All sites that occur prior to the last site used must have been evaluated
for use and then either sampled or reason documented why that site was not used.

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Site Selection Summary

Equal Probability

Strahler Order 1

Strahler Order 2

Strahler Order 3+

Perennial

11

7

14

Intermittent

16

2

0

Total

27

9

14

II. Stratified GRTS Survey Design with Over Sample

Stratification: Stratify by Perennial and Intermittent streams.

Expected sample size: 50 sites for Perennial stratum and 50 sites for Intermittent
stratum, plus in each stratum, sites selected with equal probability within stratum.

Oversample: 50 sites for Perennial stratum and 50 sites for Intermittent stratum.

Site Use: The stratified design has 50 sites, plus an over sample of 50 sites, in each
stratum. Sites are listed in SitelD order and must be used in that order. All sites that
occur prior to the last site used must have been evaluated for use and then either sampled
or reason documented why that site was not used.

Site Selection Summary

Stratified

Strahler 0

Strahler 1

Strahler 2

Strahler 3+

Total

Perennial

1

17

17

15

50

Intermittent

1

43

6

0

50

Over Sample











Perennial

1

20

10

19

50

Intermittent

3

42

5

0

50

III. Unequal Probability GRTS Survey Design with Over Sample and
Stratification

Stratification: Stratify by Perennial and Intermittent streams.

Expected sample size: 75 sites with approximately an equal number within each
Strahler order category for Perennial stratum. For Intermittent stratum, 25 sites with an
expected sample size of 17, 5, and 3 for Strahler order categories 1st, 2nd, and 3rd+,
respectively.

Oversample: 36 sites for Perennial stratum and none for Intermittent stratum.

Site Use: The unequal probability design has 75 sites, plus an over sample of 36 sites,
for the Perennial stratum and 25 sites for the Intermittent stratum. Sites are listed in

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SitelD order and must be used in that order. All sites that occur prior to the last site used
must have been evaluated for use and then either sampled or reason documented why that
site was not used.

Site Selection Summary

Unequal

Strahler 0+1

Strahler 2

Strahler 3+

Total

Perennial

18

32

25

75

Intermittent

16

5

4

25

Over Sample









Perennial

12

11

13

36

IV. Panels for Surveys Over Time with Unequal Probability GRTS
Design with Over Sample and Stratification.

Stratification: Stratify by Perennial and Intermittent streams.

Panels: For Perennial stratum, three panels. Yearl sites will be visited in year 1 and
then year 3, year 5, etc. Year2 sites will be visited in year 2, year 4, year 6, etc. YearAll
sites will be visited every year. Intermittent stratum has a single panel of sites that will
be visited only once.

Expected sample size: 50 sites with approximately an equal number within each
Strahler order category for Perennial stratum. For Intermittent stratum, 25 sites with an
expected sample size of 17, 5, and 3 for Strahler order categories 1st, 2nd, and 3rd+,
respectively.

Oversample: 50 sites for Perennial stratum and none for Intermittent stratum.

Site Use: The base design has 50 sites in Perennial stratum. Sites are listed in SitelD
order and must be used in that order. All sites that occur prior to the last site used must
have been evaluated for use and then either sampled or reason documented why that site
was not used. As an example, if 30 sites are to be sampled in the watershed, then the first
30 sites in SitelD order would be used.

Site Selection Summary

Perennial Sites

Panel

Strahler 0+1

Strahler 2

Strahler 3+

Total

Yearl

7

4

6

17

Year2

7

4

6

17

YearAll

6

4

6

16

OverSamp

15

17

18

50

Sum

35

29

36

100

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Intermittent Sites

Panel

Strahler 0+1

Strahler 2

Strahler 3+

Total

YearOnce

17

5

3

25

Description of Sample Design Output:

The sites are provided as a shapefile that can be read directly by ArcMap. The dbf file
associated with the shapefile may be read by Excel.

The dbf file has the following variable definitions:

Variable Name

Description

SitelD

Unique site identification (character)

arcid

Internal identification number

X

Albers x-coordinate

y

Albers y-coordinate

mdcaty

Multi-density categories used for unequal probability
selection

weight

Weight (in meters), inverse of inclusion probability, to be
used in statistical analyses

stratum

Strata used in the survey design

panel

Identifies base sample by panel name and Oversample by
OverS amp

auxiliary variables

Remaining columns are from the sample frame provided

Luckiamute Design is an ArcMap that displays the stream network and sampling sites for
the 4 example designs.

Projection Information

PROJCS["Clarke_1866_Albers",

GEOGCS["GCS_Clarke_1866",

DATUM["D_Clarke_l 866",

SPHEROID["Clarke_1866",6378206.4,294.9786982]],

PRIMEM [" Green wi ch", 0.0 ],

UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],

PROJECTION["Albers"],

PARAMETER["False_Easting",0.0],

PARAMETER["False_Northing",0.0],

PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",-96.0],

PARAMETER[" StandardParallell ",29.5],

PARAMETER[" Standard_Parallel_2",45.5],

PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Ori gin",23.0],

UNIT["Meter", 1.0]]

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Evaluation Process

The survey design weights that are given in the design file assume that the survey design
is implemented as designed. That is, only the sites that are in the base sample (not in the
over sample) are used, and all of the base sites are used. This may not occur due to (1)
sites not being a member of the target population, (2) landowners deny access to a site,
(3) a site is physically inaccessible (safety reasons), or (4) site not sampled for other
reasons. Typically, users prefer to replace sites that can not be sampled with other sites
to achieve the sample size planned. The site replacement process is described above.
When sites are replaced, the survey design weights are no longer correct and must be
adjusted. The weight adjustment requires knowing what happened to each site in the
base design and the over sample sites. EvalStatus is initially set to "NotEval" to indicate
that the site has yet to be evaluated for sampling. When a site is evaluated for sampling,
then the EvalStatus for the site must be changed. Recommended codes are:

EvalStatus
Code

Name

Meaning

TS

Target Sampled

site is a member of the target population and was
sampled

LD

Landowner Denial

landowner denied access to the site

PB

Physical Barrier

physical barrier prevented access to the site

NT

Non-Target

site is not a member of the target population

NN

Not Needed

site is a member of the over sample and was not
evaluated for sampling

Other
codes



Many times useful to have other codes. For
example, rather than use NT, may use specific codes
indicating why the site was non-target.

Statistical Analysis

Any statistical analysis of data must incorporate information about the monitoring survey
design. In particular, when estimates of characteristics for the entire target population are
computed, the statistical analysis must account for any stratification or unequal
probability selection in the design. Procedures for doing this are available from the
Aquatic Resource Monitoring web page given in the bibliography. A statistical analysis
library of functions is available from the Aquatic Resource Monitoring web page to do
common population estimates in the statistical software environment R (psurvey.analysis)

ARM Web Page: http://www.epa.gov/nheerl/arm

For further information, contact

Anthony (Tony) R. 01 sen
USEPA NHEERL
Western Ecology Division
200 S.W. 35th Street
Corvallis, OR 97333
Voice: (541) 754-4790

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Fax:(541) 754-4716
email: 01sen.Tony@epa.gov

Bibliography:

Diaz-Ramos, S., D. L. Stevens, Jr, and A. R. Olsen. 1996. EMAP Statistical
Methods Manual. EPA/620/R-96/002, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Office of Research and Development, NHEERL-Western Ecology Division,
Corvallis, Oregon.

Stevens, D.L., Jr. 1997. Variable density grid-based sampling designs for
continuous spatial populations. Environmetrics, 8:167-95.

Stevens, D.L., Jr. and Olsen, A.R. 1999. Spatially restricted surveys overtime for
aquatic resources. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental
Statistics, 4:415-428

Stevens, D. L., Jr., and A. R. Olsen. 2003. Variance estimation for spatially
balanced samples of environmental resources. Environmetrics 14:593-610.

Stevens, D. L., Jr., and A. R. Olsen. 2004. Spatially-balanced sampling of natural
resources in the presence of frame imperfections. Journal of American Statistical
Association:99:262-278.

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