1
|
McLellan EL, Suttles KM, Bouska KL, Ellis JH, Flotemersch JE, Goff M, Golden HE, Hill RA, Hohman TR, Keerthi S, Keim RF, Kleiss BA, Lark TJ, Piazza BP, Renfro AA, Robertson DM, Schilling KE, Schmidt TS, Waite IR. Improving ecosystem health in highly altered river basins: a generalized framework and its application to the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin. FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 2024; 12:1-19. [PMID: 38516348 PMCID: PMC10953731 DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1332934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
Continued large-scale public investment in declining ecosystems depends on demonstrations of "success". While the public conception of "success" often focuses on restoration to a pre-disturbance condition, the scientific community is more likely to measure success in terms of improved ecosystem health. Using a combination of literature review, workshops and expert solicitation we propose a generalized framework to improve ecosystem health in highly altered river basins by reducing ecosystem stressors, enhancing ecosystem processes and increasing ecosystem resilience. We illustrate the use of this framework in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) of the central United States (U.S.), by (i) identifying key stressors related to human activities, and (ii) creating a conceptual ecosystem model relating those stressors to effects on ecosystem structure and processes. As a result of our analysis, we identify a set of landscape-level indicators of ecosystem health, emphasizing leading indicators of stressor removal (e.g., reduced anthropogenic nutrient inputs), increased ecosystem function (e.g., increased water storage in the landscape) and increased resilience (e.g., changes in the percentage of perennial vegetative cover). We suggest that by including these indicators, along with lagging indicators such as direct measurements of water quality, stakeholders will be better able to assess the effectiveness of management actions. For example, if both leading and lagging indicators show improvement over time, then management actions are on track to attain desired ecosystem condition. If, however, leading indicators are not improving or even declining, then fundamental challenges to ecosystem health remain to be addressed and failure to address these will ultimately lead to declines in lagging indicators such as water quality. Although our model and indicators are specific to the MARB, we believe that the generalized framework and the process of model and indicator development will be valuable in an array of altered river basins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Kristen L. Bouska
- U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, WI, United States
| | - Jamelle H. Ellis
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Joseph E. Flotemersch
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Madison Goff
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Heather E. Golden
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Ryan A. Hill
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Corvallis, OR, United States
| | - Tara R. Hohman
- Audubon Upper Mississippi River, Audubon Center at Riverlands, West Alton, MO, United States
| | | | - Richard F. Keim
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
| | - Barbara A. Kleiss
- Department of River Coastal Science and Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Tyler J. Lark
- Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
| | | | | | - Dale M. Robertson
- U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Keith E. Schilling
- IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States
| | - Travis S. Schmidt
- U.S. Geological Survey, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, Helena, MT, United States
| | - Ian R. Waite
- U.S. Geological Survey, Oregon Water Science Center, Portland, OR, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Riato L, Leibowitz SG, Weber MH, Hill RA. A multiscale landscape approach for prioritizing river and stream protection and restoration actions. Ecosphere 2023; 14:10.1002/ecs2.4350. [PMID: 36762202 PMCID: PMC9903358 DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
River and stream conservation programs have historically focused on a single spatial scale, for example, a watershed or stream site. Recently, the use of landscape information (e.g., land use and land cover) at multiple spatial scales and over large spatial extents has highlighted the importance of incorporating a landscape perspective into stream protection and restoration activities. Previously, we developed a novel framework that links information about watershed-, catchment-, and reach-scale integrity with stream biological condition using scatterplots and a landscape integrity map. Here we examined an application of this approach for streams in urban and other settings in King County, Washington State, United States, where we related stream macroinvertebrate condition to two indices of landscape integrity, the US Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) nationally available Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) and Index of Catchment Integrity (ICI). We generated a scatterplot of IWI versus ICI for sample sites, where points represented site macroinvertebrate condition from poor to good. The same data were also visualized as a landscape integrity map that displayed catchments of King County according to the level of watershed and catchment integrity (high or low IWI/ICI). Almost three-quarters of poor-condition sites were associated with high-integrity watersheds and catchments (i.e., underperforming sites), which suggested that either one or both national indicators were insufficient for this area, and that sites underperformed because of local-scale factors. In response, we used a catchment-scale indicator related to forest condition (PctForestCat) after examining several GIS-based dispersal indicators from the National Hydrography Dataset and other candidates from the USEPA's StreamCat dataset. We then compared the results of the scatterplots and maps based on the current and original analyses and found that many of the sites previously classified as underperforming now performed as expected, that is, they were poor-condition sites in poor-condition catchments. This analysis demonstrates how results based on a national dataset can be improved by developing an alternative that represents regionally important stressors. The methods used to develop an effective landscape indicator based on StreamCat datasets, and the utility of the multiscale approach, could provide important tools for prioritizing, optimizing, and communicating stream conservation actions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luisa Riato
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Scott G Leibowitz
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Marc H Weber
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Ryan A Hill
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Riato L, Leibowitz SG, Weber MH. The use of multiscale stressors with biological condition assessments: A framework to advance the assessment and management of streams. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 737:139699. [PMID: 32531512 PMCID: PMC7808441 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 05/23/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Incorporating information on landscape condition (or integrity) across multiple spatial scales and over large spatial extents in biological assessments may allow for a more integrated measure of stream biological condition and better management of streams. However, these systems are often assessed and managed at an individual scale (e.g., a single watershed) without a larger regional multiscale context. In this paper, our goals were: (1) To develop a conceptual framework that could combine stream biological condition to abiotic landscape integrity (or, conversely, stressor) data at three spatial scales: watershed, catchment and stream-reach scale, to enable more targeted management actions. Measures of landscape integrity and stressors are negatively related, i.e., integrity on a 0-1 scale is equal or equivalent to stressors on a 1-0 scale. (2) To develop the framework in such a way that allows operational flexibility, whereby different indicators can be used to represent biological condition, and landscape integrity (or stressors) at various scales. (3) To provide different examples of the framework's use to demonstrate the flexibility of its application and relevance to management. Examples include stream biological assessments from different regions and states across the U.S. for fish, macroinvertebrates and diatoms using a variety of assessment tools (e.g., the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG), and an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI)). Landscape integrity indicators comprise U.S. EPA's nationally available Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) and Index of Catchment Integrity (ICI), and state and regional derived watershed and stream-reach scale integrity indicators. Scatterplots and a landscape integrity map were used to relate samples of stream condition classes (e.g., good, fair, poor) to watershed, catchment and stream-reach scale integrity. This framework and approach could provide a powerful tool for prioritizing, targeting, and communicating management actions to protect and restore stream habitats, and for informing the spatial extent at which management is applied.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luisa Riato
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Post-Doctoral Fellow c/o U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, 200 SW 35th St., Corvallis, OR 97333, USA.
| | - Scott G Leibowitz
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, 200 SW 35th St., Corvallis, OR 97333, USA.
| | - Marc H Weber
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, 200 SW 35th St., Corvallis, OR 97333, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Aho KB, Flotemersch JE, Leibowitz SG, LaCroix MA, Weber MH. Applying the index of watershed integrity to the Matanuska-Susitna basin. ARCTIC, ANTARCTIC, AND ALPINE RESEARCH 2020; 52:435-449. [PMID: 33132766 PMCID: PMC7592703 DOI: 10.1080/15230430.2020.1800219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2019] [Revised: 07/15/2020] [Accepted: 07/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is the fastest growing region in the State of Alaska and is impacted by a number of human activities. We conducted a multiscale assessment of the stressors facing the borough by developing and mapping the Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) and Index of Catchment Integrity (the latter considers stressors in areas surrounding individual stream segments exclusive of upstream areas). The assessment coincided with the borough's stormwater management planning. We adapted the list of anthropogenic stressors used in the original conterminous United States IWI application to reflect the borough's geography, human activity, and data availability. This analysis also represents an early application of the NHDPlus High Resolution geospatial framework and the first use of the framework in an IWI study. We also explored how remediation of one important stressor, culverts, could impact watershed integrity at the catchment and watershed scales. Overall, we found that the integrity scores for the Matanuska-Susitna basin were high compared to the conterminous United States. Low integrity scores did occur in the rapidly developing Wasilla-Palmer core area. We also found that culvert remediation had a larger proportional impact in catchments with fewer stressors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kelsey B. Aho
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow C/o U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Joseph E. Flotemersch
- Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Scott G. Leibowitz
- Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Matthew A. LaCroix
- Region 10, Alaska Operations Office, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
| | - Marc H. Weber
- Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| |
Collapse
|