Variable importance plots for random forest classification examining the response of freshwater mussel presence to modeled hydraulic variables during a low (0.42 m3s-1), moderate (5.32 m3s-1), moderate-high (32.28 m3s-1), and high flow (361.89 m3s-1) in a 20 km segment of the San Saba River, TX, USA.
Variable importance was determined using conditional permutation importance (CPI) because some predictor variables were found to be highly correlated [ 81 ]. Note: CPI should not be compared across different RF models.