The Freshwater Health Index (FHI) is a tool initiated by Conservation International to assess indicators of freshwater health at the watershed level. The indicators transparently assess the health of freshwater systems, where “health” is defined as the ability to sustainably deliver drinking water, crop irrigation, flood protection, and other water-related ecosystem services sustainably — linking upstream areas (supply) with downstream communities (demand). The outcomes of the FHI include the following:

• Obtaining a 'snapshot' of current conditions in the watershed that can be used in follow-up within-basin assessments and climate change and management scenario analyses

• Identify potential imbalances and areas of improvement for water managers

Working closely with collaborators at UC Riverside and the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, I am applying the Freshwater Health Index to the Santa Ana River Watershed, Southern California's largest watershed.

Publications

• Qin, G., Anderson, K.E., Palenscar K., & Regan H.M. (2026). Perceptions of Water Governance in the Santa Ana River Watershed: Variation Across Governance Dimensions (in prep)

• Qin, G., Anderson, K.E., Palenscar K., & Regan H.M. (2026). Freshwater Health in a Highly Urbanized Semi-Arid Watershed: Assessing Ecosystem Vitality and Ecosystem Service Delivery in the Santa Ana River Watershed. Ecological Indicators, 186, 114835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.114835    

This study analyzed threats to federally and State-listed endangered and threatened animal taxa in California, and how threats varied by taxa, habitat use, spatial extent, severity, geographical region, and endemic status using threat categories from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Threats Classification Scheme and information from scientific literature and reports.

Publications

• Qin, G., Anderson, K.E., Cassady, A., Rodriguez, L., Syed, E., & Regan, H.M. (2024). An analysis of threats to endangered animal taxa in California’s freshwater systems. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 34(1), e4057. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4057

In September 2017, a total of 181 polar bears were observed near a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) carcass on Wrangel Island. This gathering was the largest aggregation of polar bears ever recorded for that population. This research project sorted, labeled, and processed photographs of the polar bear aggregation taken by a professional photographer from a boat a day before initial ground-based observations were made. The objective was to use the photographs to evaluate characteristics of the polar bear aggregation including animal sex, age, reproductive composition (e.g., adult females that have first-year or second-year cubs), and body condition (i.e., fatness). 

I analyzed body condition data of Southeast Greenland polar bears. Since determining the mass of polar bears poses logistical and safety concerns, it is not always possible to measure. My analysis was focused on fitting growth curves (similar to the ones used for fish) for adult male and female polar bears. I used body length and width as independent variables in my nonlinear regressions to predict body mass at a given age.