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SFS Annual Meeting

Thursday, May 23, 2019
14:00 - 15:30

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14:00 - 14:15: / 151 DEF TRACKING STREAMFLOW CHANGE FROM SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENT AND GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE

5/23/2019  |   14:00 - 14:15   |  151 DEF

TRACKING STREAMFLOW CHANGE FROM SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENT AND GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE Green stormwater infrastructure implementation in urban watersheds has outpaced our understanding of the effectiveness of these practices on streamflow response to precipitation events. Long-term monitoring of experimental urban watersheds in Clarksburg, Maryland, where a high density of infiltration-focused control measures were implemented during development, provides an opportunity to explore how green stormwater infrastructure affects streamflow patterns on a storm-event scale. We used a before-after-control-reference-impact approach to directly compare event-based hydrograph characteristics before, during, and after watershed development with green stormwater infrastructure, such as treebox filters, rain gardens, and infiltration trenches. Two suburban watersheds with green stormwater infrastructure were compared to an urban control watershed and a forested control watershed. Streamflow and precipitation were monitored at 5- or 15-minute intervals from October 2004 through September 2018 and used to characterize peak flows, water yield, and runoff ratios. The two green stormwater infrastructure watersheds had varying degrees of changes to peak flow, water yield, and runoff ratio during the monitoring period. Generally, streamflow metrics from the green stormwater infrastructure watersheds were lower than the urban control, but greater than the forested control.

Aditi Bhaskar (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Colorado State University, aditi.bhaskar@colostate.edu;


Sean Woznicki (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Woznicki.Sean@epa.gov ;


Kristina Hopkins (Primary Presenter/Author), U.S. Geological Survey, khopkins@usgs.gov;
Krissy Hopkins studies the impacts of land use change on rivers and streams, focused on understanding how the intensity and type of urban development impact watershed processes. This includes examining the impacts of different types of stormwater management strategies, both conventional and infiltration-based (i.e., green infrastructure), on hydrologic, geochemical, geomorphic, and ecological functions within freshwater ecosystems. Her work also focuses on translating ecosystem functions into ecosystem services and values by applying ecosystem services approaches to floodplain systems and green stormwater infrastructure.

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14:15 - 14:30: / 151 DEF INFLUENCE OF LAND USE ON CONCENTRATIONS OF TOTAL DISSOLVED NITROGEN, NITRATE, AMMONIUM, AND NITRITE IN SOUTHEASTERN US PIEDMONT HEADWATER STREAMS

5/23/2019  |   14:15 - 14:30   |  151 DEF

INFLUENCE OF LAND USE ON CONCENTRATIONS OF TOTAL DISSOLVED NITROGEN, NITRATE, AMMONIUM, AND NITRITE IN SOUTHEASTERN US PIEDMONT HEADWATER STREAMS Easily implemented methods of prioritizing watersheds for nutrient loading reductions are needed to help states, tribes, and territories meet Clean Water Act water quality goals. Concentrations of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), nitrate, ammonium, and nitrite were measured monthly over two years in 15 headwater streams from an area in the Georgia Piedmont region with extensive poultry and cattle production and a rapidly growing human population. Robust linear regression techniques were used to evaluate relationships between land use in the entire watershed and in the stream buffer zone, and nutrient concentrations. Land cover was determined with National Land Cover Data (NLCD) data. Results indicate that stream nutrient concentrations generally exhibit positive relationships with pasture land cover and negative relationships with forest land cover. The best predictor for all parameters was watershed pasture land cover (Wpas). Significant adjusted r2 values were found between Wpas and mean TDN (0.693), Wpas and mean nitrate (0.395), Wpas and mean ammonium (0.253), and Wpas and mean nitrite (0.619). These results suggest significant land use control on stream nutrient concentrations, especially the composite parameter TDN, and that relatively simple land cover analysis may prove useful to regulators.

Roger Burke (Primary Presenter/Author), U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, burke.roger@epa.gov;


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14:30 - 14:45: / 151 DEF INVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY SHIFTS IN STREAMS EXPOSED TO NATURAL BITUMEN AND OIL SANDS SURFACE MINING IN THE ATHABASCA OIL SANDS AREA, ALBERTA, CANADA

5/23/2019  |   14:30 - 14:45   |  151 DEF

INVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY SHIFTS IN STREAMS EXPOSED TO NATURAL BITUMEN AND OIL SANDS SURFACE MINING IN THE ATHABASCA OIL SANDS AREA, ALBERTA, CANADA In 2012, the governments of Canada and Alberta launched the Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring, which included a phased monitoring plan for aquatic ecosystem health. A key objective was to improve the understanding of benthic invertebrate community status in tributaries of the Lower Athabasca River (LAR) in relation to exposure to oil sands surface mining as well as to natural bitumen deposits. From 2012-2017, benthic invertebrate and water quality samples were collected from over 80 sites in LAR tributaries including the Steepbank, Ells, and Mackay rivers. The PERMANOVA routine in PRIMER was used to assess community differences in reference and potentially impacted sites from each tributary. More specifically, reference sites were divided into two categories (inside or outside of the natural bitumen deposit) and potentially impacted sites were grouped based on the extent of disturbance (activity) in the upstream catchment. Initial PERMANOVA results from these rivers suggest that benthic communities shift further from reference condition as the proportion of mining activity in the catchment increases. Potential drivers of community change were also assessed, including water and sediment chemistry, flow characteristics, geology, and land cover.

Allison Ritcey (Primary Presenter/Author), Environment and Climate Change Canada, allison.ritcey@canada.ca;


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14:45 - 15:00: / 151 DEF LOSS OF ALPINE GRASSLANDS AND PASTURES THREATENS TAXONOMIC AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY OF STREAM BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES

5/23/2019  |   14:45 - 15:00   |  151 DEF

LOSS OF ALPINE GRASSLANDS AND PASTURES THREATENS TAXONOMIC AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY OF STREAM BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES European Alps are currently facing an on-going land use change: abandonment of low-intensity agricultural areas is constantly increasing, and scrub and forest areas are expanding. Whereas this process has been researched extensively in relation to terrestrial ecology issues such as plant diversity decline, no study has investigated the implications of land use changes on the fauna of Alpine streams. In our study, we show that four types of land covers (rocks, grasslands above treeline, coniferous forests, bottom-valley pastures), measured at catchment and reach level, greatly influence the benthic macroinvertebrate communities of Alpine lotic environments in terms of taxonomic and functional composition. We found a striking structural similarity between the macroinvertebrate communities of streams draining grasslands and those of pasture areas, thus revealing a smaller-than-expected effect of elevation in comparison to external land-use influence: the two mentioned communities exhibited not only the highest taxonomic richness, but also high functional richness and divergence. These results suggest that the environmental benefits of Alpine low-intensity agricultural areas (grasslands and pastures) extends beyond the terrestrial habitats. Accordingly, more research efforts are needed to understand the dynamics influencing Alpine riverine habitats at landscape level.

Leopold Füreder (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Innsbruck, Austria, leopold.fuereder@uibk.ac.at;


Thomas Marsoner (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Eurac Research, Italy, thomas.marsoner@eurac.edu;


Ulrike Tappeiner (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Austria, ulrike.tappeiner@uibk.ac.at;


Agnieszka Elzbieta Stawinoga (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Eurac Research, Italy, Agnieszka.Stawinoga@eurac.edu;


Roberta Bottarin (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Italy, roberta.bottarin@eurac.edu;


Alberto Scotti (Primary Presenter/Author), Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Italy, alberto.scotti@eurac.edu;


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15:00 - 15:15: / 151 DEF EFFECTS OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN LAND USE AND STREAM GEOMORPHIC FEATURES ON NUTRIENT LOADINGS

5/23/2019  |   15:00 - 15:15   |  151 DEF

EFFECTS OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN LAND USE AND STREAM GEOMORPHIC FEATURES ON NUTRIENT LOADINGS Changes in land-use have resulted in substantial loss of stream water quality. The objective of this study was to explore associations between nutrient loading, land use, and stream fluvial geomorphology across several land-use types in Ohio. We surveyed 26 stream reaches across three study catchments (agricultural, mixed-use, and forested) in southern Ohio. Sampling occurred seasonally in 2016-2017 for nutrient concentrations, in-stream habitat quality, and hydrogeomorphic parameters. Stream reach morphology, nutrient concentrations, and nutrient loadings all varied by catchment. Interactions between land use and stream geomorphic features were significantly associated with nutrient loadings. Total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and orthophosphate loadings decreased in the forested catchment, but increased in the mixed-use and agricultural catchments, as median grain size and substrate stability increased. Total nitrogen and nitrate loadings decreased in the forested catchment, but increased in the mixed-use and agricultural catchments, as stream bed relative roughness and riffle habitat increased. Our results suggest that some fluvial geomorphic features may aid in regulating nutrient dynamics, highlighting the potential role of stream restoration in reducing stream-nutrient loading.

Kay C. Stefanik (Primary Presenter/Author), The Ohio State University, stefanik.13@osu.edu;


S. Mažeika Patricio Sulliván (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), The Ohio State University, sullivan.191@osu.edu;


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15:15 - 15:30: / 151 DEF THRESHOLD RESPONSES OF TEMPERATE FISH COMMUNITIES TO WATERSHED LAND USE ACROSS THE WORLD

5/23/2019  |   15:15 - 15:30   |  151 DEF

THRESHOLD RESPONSES OF TEMPERATE FISH COMMUNITIES TO WATERSHED LAND USE ACROSS THE WORLD Identifying threshold responses of communities to land-use change remains a key goal to understand the resilience of stream ecosystems and inform national-level environmental policies. However, testing for the existence of threshold responses has been limited to the watershed scale, and has rarely accounted for other confounding factors that may limit evidence for cause-and-effect associations. By collating data for >10,000 stream sites from across the world, we investigated for evidence of threshold responses of fish communities to urban and agriculture land-use. We found marked consistent in threshold responses of fish communities to watershed-level %urban land-use, ranging between 0-20%, spanning regions in North America, Europe and Australasia. By contrast, threshold responses of fish communities to %agriculture were much higher, ranging between 10-50%, and were more variably among continents. The shape of species threshold responses varied greatly and were largely nonlinear, often with thresholds indicative of step changes in fish compositions along land-use gradients. Species and community threshold responses to land-use change were found to be related to ecological and life-history traits. In conclusion, despite widely different biogeographic histories, our study found that fish communities responded similarly along a gradient of land-use change.

Kai Chen (Primary Presenter/Author), Nanjing Agricultural University, ckai2005@gmail.com;


Julian Olden (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Washington, olden@uw.edu;


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