5/18/2015  |   15:30 - 15:45   |  103DE

SYNTHESIS OF STREAM ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES TO NUTRIENT ENRICHMENT AT MULTIPLE TROPHIC LEVELS Globally, many stream and river ecosystems have received increased inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus from anthropogenic activities, spurring extensive research into the consequences of nutrient enrichment on lotic organisms. However, an assessment of nutrient enrichment effects on lotic biomass and production at multiple trophic levels and across sites is lacking. We conducted a metaanalysis of published studies that measured the effects of experimentally increased nitrogen or phosphorus in streams or rivers. We predicted that response magnitudes would attenuate with increasing trophic level, and that ambient stream characteristics would moderate responses. Results showed positive responses to enrichment for both biomass stocks (+43.2±2.0%) and production rates (+32.2±2.9%) across all trophic levels, with no differences among trophic levels. The strongest factors correlating with enrichment responses included background inorganic N concentrations (negative) and temperature (positive). The synthesis also identified methodological impacts on response magnitudes, and a paucity of information on consumer and whole-ecosystem responses. The consistent stimulation of biotic responses at all trophic levels by nutrient addition highlights the importance of controlling nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in streams and rivers.

Lydia Zeglin (Primary Presenter/Author), Kansas State University, lzeglin@ksu.edu;


Scott Cooper (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of California Santa Barbara, scott.cooper@lifesci.ucsb.edu;


Ryan Utz (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Chatham University, utz.ryan@gmail.com;


Marcelo Ardon-Sayao (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), East Carolina University, ARDONSAYAOM@ecu.edu;


Rebecca Bixby (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of New Mexico, bbixby@unm.edu;


Ayesha Burdett (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), River Bend Ecology, Australia, Ayesha.Burdett@gmail.com ;


Walter Dodds (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Kansas State University, wkdodds@ksu.edu;


Natalie Griffiths (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, griffithsna@ornl.gov;


Tamara Harms (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of California Riverside, tharms@ucr.edu;


Laura Johnson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Heidelberg University, ljohnson@heidelberg.edu;


Sherri Johnson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, sherrijohnson@fs.fed.us;


Jeremy B. Jones (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Alaska Fairbanks, jbjonesjr@alaska.edu;


John S. Kominoski (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Florida International University, jkominoski@gmail.com;


William H McDowell (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of New Hampshire, bill.mcdowell@unh.edu;


Amy D. Rosemond (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Georgia, rosemond@uga.edu;


Matt Trentman (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, matt.trentman@flbs.umt.edu;


Jennifer Follstad Shah (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Utah State University, follstad@gmail.com;


David Van Horn (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of New Mexico, vanhorn@unm.edu ;


Amy Ward (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Alabama, award@as.ua.edu;

5/18/2015  |   15:45 - 16:00   |  103DE

CHOOSING A MODEL FOR MANAGING NUTRIENTS IN RUNNING WATERS: FORWARD SELECTION OR BACKWARDS ELIMINATION? Investments made under the aegis of the Clean Water Act historically involved varying levels of uncertainty with regard to return. The Construction Grants program to implement secondary treatment was predicated on the certainty that removing carbonaceous wastes from receiving streams would improve water quality. However, calls for advanced treatment aimed at ammonia nitrogen were often contended by the regulated community for having an uncertain return, despite the well-established toxicity of un-ionized ammonia. Today, oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen are routinely monitored, and are standard permit elements. Managing those parameters can be viewed as happening in a forward direction: a measured or modeled concentration can be compared to a broadly applicable standard, and remedial action taken as necessary with a high degree of certainty for material benefit. Measureable changes in rivers occur over a gradient of increasing nutrient concentrations, offering some prospect for forward management; however, variability in the nutrient-water quality relationship requires site-specific knowledge to position a water body on the enrichment continuum prior to management.

Robert Miltner (POC,Primary Presenter), Ohio EPA, robert.miltner@epa.ohio.gov;

5/18/2015  |   16:00 - 16:15   |  103DE

THE YES, NO, AND MAYBE OF DATA-DRIVEN WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT DECISIONS: LESSONS FROM NUMERIC CRITERIA DEVELOPMENT AND USE There are many situations in water resources management involving the use of continuous data to choose among discrete categories representing possible true conditions of a water resource. One example is deciding whether desired water resource conditions defined by numeric criteria are truly attained, where possible categories include “yes, the condition is attained” or “no, the condition is not attained”. Some degree of decision uncertainty is expected, due, for example, to limited data availability. Such uncertainty may be quantified as a “gray region” that reflects a set of conditions for which a manager may only be able to say “maybe the condition is attained, and maybe it is not”. Such yes-no-maybe situations are a common and important nexus of science, policy, and communication for which continued careful study may yield substantial environmental management benefits. This presentation describes recent examples of yes-no-may be decisions involving numeric water resources criteria for nutrients and metals, and reviews available frameworks for their evaluation. Some useful quantitative tools and future challenges are discussed.

Douglas McLaughlin (Primary Presenter/Author), NCASI, dmclaughlin@ncasi.org;

5/18/2015  |   16:15 - 16:30   |  103DE

DATA DRIVEN STORM WATER MANAGEMENT FOR STREAM INTEGRITY: AN IMPLEMENTATION TOOL AND STRATEGY As research progresses and continues to identify the inadequacies of traditional storm water management decisions in terms of the protection of aquatic systems, the need for managing storm water for overall stream integrity is becoming increasingly apparent. Historically, an emphasis was placed on moving storm water away from developed areas as quickly as possible, with the primary focus on flood control. Consequently, little consideration was given to watershed hydrology, physical impacts or the ecological relevance of management decisions. In order to remedy this, SD1, the regional storm water management utility of Northern Kentucky initiated a holistic monitoring effort that includes biological, physical, chemical and hydromodification assessments. The data collected from this effort established baseline stream conditions and allowed for the development of a critical flow (Qcritical) threshold at which stream integrity begins to degrade. This knowledge was then used to create a “Decision Tree” tool that site designers, plan reviewers and watershed managers can use to ensure that management decisions are founded in local data, are environmentally and ecologically relevant, and provide the best means of ecosystem protection.

Matthew Wooten (Primary Presenter/Author), Northern Kentucky Sanitation District No.1 (SD1), mwooten@sd1.org;


Robert Hawley (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Sustainable Streams, LLC, bob.hawley@sustainablestreams.com;


Katherine MacMannis (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Sustainable Streams, LLC, katie.macmannis@sustainablestreams.com;


Elizabeth Fet (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Northern Kentucky Sanitation District No.1 (SD1), efet@sd1.org;


Nora Korth (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Sustainable Streams, LLC, nora.korth@sustainablestreams.com;

5/18/2015  |   16:30 - 16:45   |  103DE

EXAMINING STREAM NUTRIENT VARIABILITY IN REFERENCE CATCHMENTS AT US FOREST SERVICE EXPERIMENTAL FORESTS RELATIVE TO PROPOSED NUTRIENT CRITERIA Federal and agencies are attempting to develop criteria to help monitor and sustain clean water and protect aquatic ecosystems. The US Forest Service Experimental Forest Network measures stream chemistry weekly to monthly in unmanaged catchments. Originally designed to evaluate the effects of forest practices and other disturbances across a range of catchment size, vegetation, soil and climate conditions, these data also provide information on variability in stream nutrients for ‘least disturbed’ conditions. We examined a decade of stream nitrogen concentrations from 19 reference catchments at 10 Experimental Forests and stream phosphorus for a subset of catchments. Stream nitrogen exceeded draft criteria to varying extents at all sites. Total phosphorus was consistently above draft criteria for all western and northern study catchments. Stream nitrate varied 2- to 10-fold among catchments within an Experimental Forest. Differences in physical characteristics and natural disturbance history often outweigh seasonal and regional sources of variability among these reference catchments. Such local variability represents a significant hurdle to development of general stream nutrient criteria aimed at identifying or reducing water quality impairment.

Chuck Rhoades (Primary Presenter/Author), US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, crhoades@fs.fed.us;


Sherri Johnson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, sherrijohnson@fs.fed.us;


Steve Sebestyen (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), USFS, Northern Research Station, ssebestyen@fs.fed.us;


Effie Greathouse (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US EPA, egreathouse@gmail.com;


George Ice (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), NCASI - retired, gice@ncasi.org;


Jennifer Knoepp (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Forest Service, Southern Research Station, jknoepp@fs.fed.us;


Devendra Amatya (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Forest Service, Southern Research Station, damatya@fs.fed.us;


Alba Argerich (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Missouri, alba.argerich@oregonstate.edu;


John Campbell (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, jcampbell@fs.fed.us;


Pam Edwards (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Forest Service, Southern Research Station, pedwards@fs.fed.us;


Peter Groffman (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), City University of New York, Peter.Groffman@asrc.cuny.edu ;


Gene Likens (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, likensg@caryinstitute.org;


Peter Wohlgemuth (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, pwohlgemuth@fs.fed.us;

5/18/2015  |   16:45 - 17:00   |  103DE

THE USE OF CONTINUOUS WATER QUALITY SENSORS FOR ASSESSING TEMPORAL VARIABLITY IN LARGE-SCALE SYNOPTIC STUDIES Regional approaches for assessing the effects of nutrient enrichment on stream ecosystems often rely on discrete samples at a site; however, nutrients and biological responses can vary rapidly over time. Understanding temporal variability of these measures provides important context to representativeness of discrete data. This study used a combination of six continuous water quality sites nested within a network of 100 discrete-sample sites in the Upper Midwest. Average nitrate concentrations from one agricultural stream were 2.3 mg/L for both discrete (n=8) and continuous (n=5471) data; however, individual discrete values varied greatly and required at least six samples before average values approximated the average continuous values. Benthic chlorophyll at this site varied greatly (50 to 118 mg/m2) due to higher than normal streamflow events, and showed little temporal pattern. During stable streamflow periods, dissolved oxygen concentrations showed increasing diel swings over time, with the diel variation dampened after high flow events. These continuous data demonstrate the need for multiple discrete samples to reduce uncertainty and for targeted efforts during periods of particular interest.

Mark Munn (Primary Presenter/Author), U.S. Geological Survey, Tacoma, WA, mdmunn@usgs.gov;


Christopher Konrad (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Geological Survey, cpkonrad@usgs.gov;


Matthew Miller (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Geological Survey, mamiller@usgs.gov;