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SFS Annual Meeting

Thursday, May 23, 2019
09:00 - 10:30

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09:00 - 09:15: / 151 ABC REMEMBERING A CHAMPION: DR. BEN STOUT

5/23/2019  |   09:00 - 09:15   |  151 ABC

REMEMBERING A CHAMPION: DR. BEN STOUT The SFS community lost Benjamin Mortimer Stout III in August 2018. Ben was a celebrated freshwater researcher, educator, expert witness, community advocate, and environmental watchdog. From his early days investigating leaf breakdown and shredder populations, to his role in historic court cases on Appalachian mining, and through cultivating the careers of his students, he will be remembered as a champion and warrior for headwater streams, environmental justice, and public health. Ben had a remarkable talent to translate scientific knowledge and data to citizens, and actively promoted community participation in environmental monitoring. Highlights of Ben’s career will be presented with contributions that helped shape environmental discourse and policies affecting the Appalachian region. One of which was his observations of increased salts downstream of mining and loss of sensitive invertebrate species. Researchers and regulators took notice and a rich literature on the effects of salinization on Appalachian macroinvertebrate assemblages has taken shape. A brief history on EPA’s role studying relationships between salts and macroinvertebrates will be discussed. Although this presentation has been subjected to Agency review, the opinions are those of the author and do not represent policies of the U.S. Government.

Gregory Pond (Primary Presenter/Author), USEPA, Region 3, Laboratory Services and Applied Science Division, pond.greg@epa.gov;


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09:15 - 09:30: / 151 ABC REMEMBERING A CHAMPION: DR. BEN STOUT

5/23/2019  |   09:15 - 09:30   |  151 ABC

REMEMBERING A CHAMPION: DR. BEN STOUT The SFS community lost Benjamin Mortimer Stout III in August 2018. Ben was a celebrated freshwater researcher, educator, expert witness, community advocate, and environmental watchdog. From his early days investigating leaf breakdown and shredder populations, to his role in historic court cases on Appalachian mining, and through cultivating the careers of his students, he will be remembered as a champion and warrior for headwater streams, environmental justice, and public health. Ben had a remarkable talent to translate scientific knowledge and data to citizens, and actively promoted community participation in environmental monitoring. Highlights of Ben’s career will be presented with contributions that helped shape environmental discourse and policies affecting the Appalachian region. One of which was his observations of increased salts downstream of mining and loss of sensitive invertebrate species. Researchers and regulators took notice and a rich literature on the effects of salinization on Appalachian macroinvertebrate assemblages has taken shape. A brief history on EPA’s role studying relationships between salts and macroinvertebrates will be discussed. Although this presentation has been subjected to Agency review, the opinions are those of the author and do not represent policies of the U.S. Government.

Gregory Pond (Primary Presenter/Author), USEPA, Region 3, Laboratory Services and Applied Science Division, pond.greg@epa.gov;


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09:30 - 09:45: / 151 ABC ASSESSING THE RELATIVE IMPACTS OF DIFFERENT HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON STREAM AND RIVER SALINITY

5/23/2019  |   09:30 - 09:45   |  151 ABC

ASSESSING THE RELATIVE IMPACTS OF DIFFERENT HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON STREAM AND RIVER SALINITY Our understanding of the pervasiveness and degree of salinity alteration has been greatly improved by comparing model predicted natural background levels to current observations. Alteration can be caused by diverse array of human activities, from obvious impacts, like salting of roads or mining salt, to indirect impacts, like earthmoving or dams. But, without an understanding of which activities are causing the greatest alterations, we risk expending limited resources on managing the wrong causes. So, I examined the relative importance of the natural and human environmental predictors used to model salinity alteration, and determined that agriculture is responsible for more alteration than either urbanization or resource extraction at national scales. However, the effects of human activities on salinity are complicated by their strong interactions with natural environmental factors. For example, agriculture in dry areas leads to twice the amount of salinization as agriculture in wet areas. Given that we have already lost 27% of low salinity habitats and climate and land use change could lead to the loss of an additional 42%, policy development should focus on reducing the pervasive effects of agriculture to limit the ecological effects of increasing salinity.

John Olson (Primary Presenter/Author), Dept of Applied Environmental Science, California State University Monterey Bay, CA, USA, joolson@csumb.edu;


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09:45 - 10:00: / 151 ABC INTRODUCING THE FRESHWATER EXPLORER: A NATIONAL VIEW OF BACKGROUND AND MEASURED CONDUCTIVITY

5/23/2019  |   09:45 - 10:00   |  151 ABC

INTRODUCING THE FRESHWATER EXPLORER: A NATIONAL VIEW OF BACKGROUND AND MEASURED CONDUCTIVITY The Freshwater Explorer is an interactive map interface that allows users to compare predicted natural background with measured ambient stream conductivity. It allows users to visualize the relative freshness of streams across the contiguous United States or within a network of streams. The potential impact of salinization of streams can be explored by the relative difference between measured ambient stream conductivity and predicted natural background or predicted biological effect thresholds. The Freshwater Explorer is built upon two models: a Natural Background Model that estimates natural background conductivity from empirical geology, soil, climate and other data and a Background-to-Criterion model that estimates a conductivity level leading to 5% loss of aquatic life. The ambient measured data were extracted from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP). This platform is particularly useful for spatially characterizing freshwater and considering potential sources and solutions to mitigate salinization of freshwater.

Christopher Wharton (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), TetraTech, Inc., Christopher.Wharton@tetratech.com;


Isabella Bertani (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Michigan, isabella.bertani@tetratech.com;


John Olson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Dept of Applied Environmental Science, California State University Monterey Bay, CA, USA, joolson@csumb.edu;


Susan Cormier (Primary Presenter/Author), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, cormier.susan@fuse.net;


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10:00 - 10:15: / 151 ABC STREAM MESOCOSM SALT ECOTOXICOLOGY STUDIES HELP INFORM AQUATIC LIFE CRITERIA

5/23/2019  |   10:00 - 10:15   |  151 ABC

STREAM MESOCOSM SALT ECOTOXICOLOGY STUDIES HELP INFORM AQUATIC LIFE CRITERIA Studies were undertaken to examine how different recipes of excess major ions (Na, Ca, Mg, SO4, HCO3, Cl) affect single-species toxicity and whole-community stream mesocosm responses. Using dose-response designs, effective concentrations (EC) for single species, community-level, and functional variables were modeled and ranked. Hazard concentrations (HCs) were then compared among different dosing recipes and field data. The performance of different measures for assessing the relative toxicity among recipes was also evaluated. For instance, the HCs for specific conductance from EC50-based response sensitivity distributions significantly differed between a recipe simulating oil and gas produced waters (HC5=792 µS/cm (685–933, 95% CI)) and one simulating leachate from surface coal mining (HC5=434 µS/cm (338–584, 95% CI)). Evaluating these different sensitivities within the context of a proposed TDS limit of 500 mg/l for NPDES permits applicable to Central Appalachian dischargers and a field-based conductivity benchmark (ca. 300 µS/cm) for the same region is relevant to the derivation and application of aquatic life criteria. Potentially important ambiguity in the way different measures of excess ionic content characterize relative toxicity also needs consideration.

Christopher Nietch (Primary Presenter/Author), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, nietch.christopher@epa.gov;


Jim Lazorchak (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, Cincinnati, OH 45268, lazorchak.jim@epa.gov;


Nathan Smucker (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, smucker.nathan@epa.gov;


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10:15 - 10:30: / 151 ABC A TRANSDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH APPROACH FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF A DRY, SALINIZED RIVER-BASIN IN MOROCCO

5/23/2019  |   10:15 - 10:30   |  151 ABC

A TRANSDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH APPROACH FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF A DRY, SALINIZED RIVER-BASIN IN MOROCCO The Draa river catchment in southern Morocco is one of the driest river basins in the world and supports the life of unique biodiversity and the livelihood of approximately 1 million inhabitants. The construction of Mansour Eddahbi dam for water storage has substantially altered flow regime and land-use practices in the catchment. These are now leading to soil and water salinization, which can negatively affect biodiversity and ecosystem services. The 5-year project SALIDRAAjuj uses a transdisciplinary research approach, where stakeholders work from the beginning with freshwater ecologists and social scientists to find solutions for a sustainable transformation of this socio-ecological system. The project concept that uses the ecosystem service approach as central element to allow for close integration of different sciences as well as research and society, will be presented and difficulties, especially regarding linkages between changes in ecosystem processes and ecosystem service delivery will be discussed.

Oliver Frör (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Koblenz-Landau, froer@uni-landau.de;


Mohamed Naimi (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Sultan Moulay Slimane University, naimi.mhd@gmail.com;


Mohamed Ghamizi (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Natural History Museum, Marrakesh, mohamed.ghamizi@gmail.com;


Ralf Schäfer (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Koblenz-Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, schaefer-ralf@uni-landau.de;


Mohammed Znari (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, znarim@gmail.com;


Janpeter Schilling (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Koblenz-Landau, schilling@uni-landau.de;


Elisabeth Berger (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Koblenz-Landau, berger@uni-landau.de;


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