The Delta Regional Ecosystem Restoration Implementation Plan (DRERIP) is one of four regional plans intended to guide the implementation of the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP) element. The DRERIP will refine the planning foundation for the Delta, develop and refine specific restoration actions and provide project implementation guidance, program tracking, performance evaluation and adaptive management feedback specific to the Delta. The DRERIP Fish Habitat Linkage Model (FHL model) provides a roadmap for how the various conceptual models designed for the DRERIP process intertwine to define fish habitat and ultimately produce fish. The model identifies the key linkages between hydrology and numerous other components of fish habitat.

The FHL model shows that hydrodynamics and water operations exert influences on fish recruitment by directly influencing transport fates, the water quality components of habitat, and some biotic interactions. The water quality components of habitat interact with structural components of habitat; their interaction affects the strength of biotic interactions (Peterson 2003). Because the FHL model is a generalized model serving as a template or road map, the relative importance of drivers and linkages, and their direction of impact (positive or negative), are not shown in the model diagram because they will depend on which species, contingent (sensu Secor 1999), or life stage is being evaluated.

Additional general descriptions of the state of knowledge about these linkages are provided in the text boxes for each model component.