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Chan PLR, Arhonditsis GB, Thompson KA, Eimers MC. A regional examination of the footprint of agriculture and urban cover on stream water quality. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 945:174157. [PMID: 38909812 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Revised: 06/06/2024] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 06/25/2024]
Abstract
Freshwater systems in cold regions, including the Laurentian Great Lakes, are threatened by both eutrophication and salinization, due to excess nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and chloride (Cl-) delivered in agricultural and urban runoff. However, identifying the relative contribution of urban vs. agricultural development to water quality impairment is challenging in watersheds with mixed land cover, which typify most developed regions. In this study, a self-organizing map (SOM) analysis was used to evaluate the contributions of various forms of land cover to water quality impairment in southern Ontario, a population-dense, yet highly agricultural region in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin where urban expansion and agricultural intensification have been associated with continued water quality impairment. Watersheds were classified into eight spatial clusters, representing four categories of agriculture, one urban, one natural, and two mixed land use clusters. All four agricultural clusters had high nitrate-N concentrations, but levels were especially high in watersheds with extensive corn and soybean cultivation, where exceedances of the 3 mg L-1 water quality objective dramatically increased above a threshold of ∼30 % watershed row crop cover. Maximum P concentrations also occurred in the most heavily tile-drained cash crop watersheds, but associations between P and land use were not as clear as for N. The most urbanized watersheds had the highest Cl- concentrations and expansions in urban area were mostly at the expense of surrounding agricultural land cover, which may drive intensification of remaining agricultural lands. Expansions in tile-drained corn and soybean area, often at the expense of mixed, lower intensity agriculture are not unique to this area and suggest that river nitrate-N levels will continue to increase in the future. The SOM approach provides a powerful means of simplifying heterogeneous land cover characteristics that can be associated with water quality patterns and identify problem areas to target management.
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Affiliation(s)
- P L Roshelle Chan
- Environmental & Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9L 0G2, Canada
| | - George B Arhonditsis
- Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Karen A Thompson
- Trent School of the Environment, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9L 0G2, Canada
| | - M Catherine Eimers
- Trent School of the Environment, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9L 0G2, Canada.
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Shen Z, Xia H, Zhang W, Peng H. On the coordination in diversity between water environmental capacity and regional development in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2023; 30:29727-29742. [PMID: 36418826 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-24239-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 11/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Water environment capacity has drew the attention of policymakers and stakeholders to sustainable development, and its dynamic changes are ultimately impacted by population, capital, and industrial clusters under regional development. Previous research, however, has not been able to completely comprehend it. In this paper, the authors use the Coupling Coordination Degree model and the Geodetector model to study the temporal and spatial evolution of water environment capacity and its driving mechanism based on regional development represented by regional function including urbanization function, ecological function, and agricultural function using the Three Gorges Reservoir area on county scale as a case study from 2000 to 2015. The results showed that (1) compared with 2000, 2005, and 2010, the water environment capacity of the whole reservoir area in 2015 was significantly improved. (2) The urban functions of each district and county are increasing in different years, and the dynamic changes of ecological and agricultural functions are obviously different. (3) The water environment capacity of districts and counties in the head area. There are significant disparities in the relationship between water environment capacity and regional function in various regions. Differences in water environment capacity are largely influenced by ecological function and the interaction driver of the proportion of agricultural function and urban function, which are typically the biggest of all the components. This suggests that regional development is a top priority in order to improve the operability of the water environmental capacity through more regulation, rules, and planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenling Shen
- School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, People's Republic of China
| | - Han Xia
- School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, People's Republic of China
- Changjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research Co., Ltd, Wuhan, Hubei, 430010, People's Republic of China
| | - Wanshun Zhang
- School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, People's Republic of China.
- School of Water Resources and Hydropower, State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, People's Republic of China.
- Institute of Development Strategy and Planning, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, People's Republic of China.
| | - Hong Peng
- School of Water Resources and Hydropower, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, People's Republic of China
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Wang J, Bretz M, Dewan MAA, Delavar MA. Machine learning in modelling land-use and land cover-change (LULCC): Current status, challenges and prospects. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 822:153559. [PMID: 35114222 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) are of importance in natural resource management, environmental modelling and assessment, and agricultural production management. However, LULCC detection and modelling is a complex, data-driven process in the remote sensing field due to the processing of massive historical and current data, real-time interaction of scenario data, and spatial environmental data. In this paper, we review principles and methods of LULCC modelling, using machine learning and beyond, such as traditional cellular automata (CA). Then, we examine the characteristics, capabilities, limitations, and perspectives of machine learning. Machine learning has not yet been dramatic in modelling LULCC, such as urbanization prediction and crop yield prediction because competition and transition between land cover types are dynamic at a local scale under varying natural drivers and human activities. Upcoming challenges of machine learning in modelling LULCC remain in the detection and prediction of LULC evolutionary processes if considering their applicability and feasibility, such as the spatio-temporal transition mechanisms to describe occurrence, transition, spreading, and spatial patterns of changes, availability of training data of all the change drivers, particularly sequence data, and identification and inclusion of local ecological, hydrological, and social-economic drivers in addressing the spectral feature change. This review points out the need for multidisciplinary research beyond image processing and pattern recognition of machine learning in accelerating and advancing studies of LULCC modelling. Despite this, we believe that machine learning has strong potentials to incorporate new exploratory variables in modelling LULCC through expanding remote sensing big data and advancing transient algorithms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junye Wang
- School of Computing & Information Systems, Faculty of Science and Technology, Canada; Center for Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Athabasca University, 10011, 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8, Canada.
| | - Michael Bretz
- School of Computing & Information Systems, Faculty of Science and Technology, Canada
| | - M Ali Akber Dewan
- School of Computing & Information Systems, Faculty of Science and Technology, Canada
| | - Mojtaba Aghajani Delavar
- Center for Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Athabasca University, 10011, 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8, Canada
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Huang Y, Mackenzie A, Meteer L, Hofmann R. Evaluation of phosphorus removal from a lake by two drinking water treatment plants. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 2020; 41:863-869. [PMID: 30111252 DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2018.1512656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 08/10/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The impact of drinking water treatment plants on phosphorous in a lake has never been previously reported. In this mass balance study, phosphorus removal by a conventional plant and a membrane plant on Lake Simcoe was monitored. Approximately 16 kg of phosphorus per year were removed from the lake by the membrane plant, representing 72% of the influent phosphorous load to the plant. The membrane plant did not practice coagulation, so approximately two-thirds of the removal was via circulation of the treated water to the municipal wastewater treatment plant where phosphorous was removed. The remaining third was removed by the membranes. The conventional plant removed approximately 10 kg of phosphorus per year, representing 92% of the influent phosphorus loading. In this plant, polyaluminum chloride coagulation and subsequent sludge removal were responsible for approximately two-thirds of the phosphorous removal, with the remainder removed via circulation of the treated water to the municipal wastewater treatment plant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yifeng Huang
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Alec Mackenzie
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Laura Meteer
- The Regional Municipality of York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ron Hofmann
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Kim DK, Jo H, Han I, Kwak IS. Explicit Characterization of Spatial Heterogeneity Based on Water Quality, Sediment Contamination, and Ichthyofauna in a Riverine-to-Coastal Zone. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2019; 16:ijerph16030409. [PMID: 30709002 PMCID: PMC6388285 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16030409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2018] [Revised: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 01/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Our study aims to identify the spatial characteristics of water quality and sediment conditions in relation to fisheries resources, since the productivity of fisheries resources is closely related to the ambient conditions of the resource areas. We collected water quality samples and sediment contaminants from twenty-one sites at Gwangyang Bay, Korea, in the summer of 2018. Our study sites covered the area from the Seomjin River estuary to the inner and outer bays. To spatially characterize physicochemical features of Gwangyang Bay, we used Self-Organizing Map (SOM), which is known as a robust and powerful tool of unsupervised neural networks for pattern recognition. The present environmental conditions of Gwangyang Bay were spatially characterized according to four different attributes of water quality and sediment contamination. From the results, we put emphasis on several interesting points: (i) the SOM manifests the dominant physicochemical attributes of each geographical zone associated with the patterns of water quality and sediment contamination; (ii) fish populations appear to be closely associated with their food sources (e.g., shrimps and crabs) as well as the ambient physicochemical conditions; and (iii) in the context of public health and ecosystem services, the SOM result can potentially offer guidance for fish consumption associated with sediment heavy metal contamination. The present study may have limitations in representing general features of Gwangyang Bay, given the inability of snapshot data to characterize a complex ecosystem. In this regard, consistent sampling and investigation are needed to capture spatial variation and to delineate the temporal dynamics of water quality, sediment contamination, and fish populations. However, the SOM application is helpful and useful as a first approximation of an environmental assessment for the effective management of fisheries resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong-Kyun Kim
- Fisheries Science Institute, Chonnam National University, Yeosu 59626, Korea.
| | - Hyunbin Jo
- Fisheries Science Institute, Chonnam National University, Yeosu 59626, Korea.
| | - Inwoo Han
- Faculty of Marine Technology, Chonnam National University, Yeosu 59626, Korea.
| | - Ihn-Sil Kwak
- Fisheries Science Institute, Chonnam National University, Yeosu 59626, Korea.
- Faculty of Marine Technology, Chonnam National University, Yeosu 59626, Korea.
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Rosamond MS, Wellen C, Yousif MA, Kaltenecker G, Thomas JL, Joosse PJ, Feisthauer NC, Taylor WD, Mohamed MN. Representing a large region with few sites: The Quality Index approach for field studies. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2018; 633:600-607. [PMID: 29587229 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2017] [Revised: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 03/10/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Many environmental studies require the characterization of a large geographical region using a range of representative sites amenable to intensive study. A systematic approach to selecting study areas can help ensure that an adequate range of the variables of interest is captured. We present a novel method of selecting study sites representing a larger region, in which the region is divided into subregions, which are characterized with relevant independent variables, and displayed in mathematical variable space. Potential study sites are also displayed this way, and selected to cover the range in variables present in the region. The coverage of sites is assessed with the Quality Index, which compares the range and standard deviation of variables among the sites to that of the larger region, and prioritizes sites that are well-distributed (i.e. not clumped) in variable space. We illustrate the method with a case study examining relationships between agricultural land use, physiography and stream phosphorus (P) export, in which we selected several variables representing agricultural P inputs and landscape susceptibility to P loss. A geographic area of 110,000km2 was represented with 11 study sites with good coverage of four variables representing agricultural P inputs and transport mechanisms taken from commonly-available geospatial datasets. We use a genetic algorithm to select 11 sites with the highest possible QI and compare these, post-hoc, to our sites. This approach reduces subjectivity in site selection, considers practical constraints and easily allows for site reselection if necessary. This site selection approach can easily be adapted to different landscapes and study goals, as we provide an algorithm and computer code to reproduce our approach elsewhere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeline S Rosamond
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
| | - Christopher Wellen
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Meguel A Yousif
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Georgina Kaltenecker
- Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 125 Resources Rd., Toronto, Ontario M9P 3V6, Canada
| | - Janis L Thomas
- Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 125 Resources Rd., Toronto, Ontario M9P 3V6, Canada
| | - Pamela J Joosse
- Science & Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 174 Stone Road West, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 4S9, Canada
| | - Natalie C Feisthauer
- Science & Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 174 Stone Road West, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 4S9, Canada
| | - William D Taylor
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Mohamed N Mohamed
- Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 125 Resources Rd., Toronto, Ontario M9P 3V6, Canada
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