6/07/2017  |   09:00 - 09:15   |  301B

EFFECTS OF PATCH-BURN GRAZING ON REMNANT TALLGRASS PRAIRIE STREAMS Tallgrass prairies are one of the most degraded ecosystems in North America, but conservation and land management for remaining fragments are progressing. Patch-burn grazing (PBG) has emerged as a management practice, but little is known about potential impacts on streams. Six headwater streams were sampled over seven years encompassing pre-PBG, PBG, and post-PBG periods; two controls, two PBG and fenced riparian zones, and two PBG and unfenced riparian zones. Macroinvertebrates and water chemistry were sampled monthly. Differences in total phosphorus were observed in the unfenced and fenced streams during PBG compared to controls (p < 0.0001). Chironomidae biomass decreased in all streams, and significant differences were observed between the fenced and control streams from pre-PBG to post-PBG (p = 0.04). Percent Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa in the unfenced streams decreased marginally compared to controls during PBG (p = 0.06). No differences were observed in EPT abundance or biomass from pre-PBG to post-PBG. Results suggest that PBG can negatively affect aquatic communities. However, a two year rest cycle may provide time for streams to return to pre-PBG conditions.

Jessica Fulgoni (Primary Presenter/Author), Missouri Department of Conservation, jessica.Fulgoni@mdc.mo.gov;


Karen Jackson ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Clemson Extension, kejacks88@gmail.com;


Danelle Larson ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Geological Survey, dmlarson@usgs.gov ;


Matt Whiles ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Florida, mwhiles@ufl.edu;


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


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6/07/2017  |   09:15 - 09:30   |  301B

RIVERINE RESERVES: MIGRATING PRINCIPLES OF MARINE RESERVES UPSTREAM Riverine biodiversity and ecosystem service provisioning is under threat from many of the same problems as terrestrial and marine ecosystems. While reserve creation has been a cornerstone of conservation efforts on land and in the sea, freshwaters have been considered only as a secondary value of protected areas selected based on terrestrial value. Despite overharvest being widely regarded as one of the most acute human impacts on ecosystems, inland fisheries are rarely considered in spatial protection efforts. Here we make a first attempt to conceptually apply principles of reserve design, drawing heavily from the marine reserve literature, to riverine ecosystems. Ecological and social siting criteria, optimum reserve network topologies, and bioeconomic models have been well-developed for marine systems with the dual aims to achieve biodiversity conservation goals and to augment harvest production. Rivers produce a disproportionate amount of global inland harvest, but implementing successful riverine spatial protection will require a rethinking of traditional reserve design based on the topological and connectivity constraints of dendritic network structures, inherent polarity of flow processes, and susceptibility to degradation from external sources. Doing so, however, may provide new insights for global freshwater conservation planning.

Aaron Koning (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology, koning@wisc.edu;


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6/07/2017  |   09:30 - 09:45   |  301B

MULTI-SCALE IMPACTS OF OVERFISHING ON SEED DISPERSAL BY FISH Seed dispersal is an essential ecosystem service in a changing world. Wetlands are particularly threatened worldwide and fish can play a key role as seed dispersers in these ecosystems. Remarkably, large fish (both at the species scale and at the individual scale within-species) are better seed dispersers than small ones: they consume a higher amount of more diverse fruits and can disperse seeds further. However, overexploitation is a serious threat to frugivorous fish in the Neotropics, and predatory fisheries target expressly the largest organisms. Here we investigated in which extent the removal of the largest individuals and species impacts the diversity of seeds dispersed by fish. We inferred the structure of mutualistic fish-fruits interactions from consumer–resource size relationships and used simulations to quantify the impacts of altering the body size distribution of fruit-eating fishes on the degree distribution of networks. Our results indicate that even small reductions in the body size distribution of fruit-eating fishes have sharp negative impacts on the diversity of seeds dispersed, both at regional and local scales. Our findings can contribute to the current debate about the need for more restrictive fishing regulations in Neotropical region.

Raul Costa-Pereira (Primary Presenter/Author), Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Rio Claro, Brazil, raulcpereira@gmail.com;


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6/07/2017  |   09:45 - 10:00   |  301B

RISK AND RESILIENCE ON A DRYING LANDSCAPE: SIMULATING THE RESPONSE OF A DRYLAND AMPHIBIAN TO CHANGES IN SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL AVAILABILITY OF BREEDING HABITATS Amphibians are declining worldwide due to a collection of threats including disease, invasive species, and habitat loss. Climate change may exacerbate habitat loss by altering the availability or suitability of aquatic breeding habitat for many amphibians. We developed a spatially-explicit individual based model to simulate the response of the Arizona treefrog (Hyla wrightorum) to reductions in breeding habitat availability in an isolated portion of its range (southeastern Arizona, USA). We simulated landscapes of breeding habitats developed using historical satellite imagery, and we evaluated treefrog population sizes, recruitment, and individual movement patterns in response to a range of different spatiotemporal patterns of breeding habitat availability. We found that although population sizes were generally robust to small reductions in breeding habitat availability, greater reductions in breeding habitat resulted in a small number of isolated populations - a stark contrast to the metapopulation dynamics currently observed among these populations. Our findings help address a knowledge gap in our understanding of how this species may respond to changing spatiotemporal dynamics of breeding habitat availability, and they provide a foundation for evaluating management and conservation strategies for this species in the future.

Meryl C. Mims (Primary Presenter/Author), Virginia Tech, mims@vt.edu;


Josh Lawler ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Washington, jlawler@uw.edu;


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


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6/07/2017  |   10:00 - 10:15   |  301B

Development of a Structural and Functional Approach in Assessing Ecological Integrity of Songhua River, China The concept of ecological integrity has been increasingly used to guide the decisions for water environment management in China. It requires an accessible and effective approach of measuring ecological integrity. However, previous researches focused on structural indicators of ecosystem, with ignoring the interaction between structural and functional components. In our work in Songhua River (Northeast China), we attempted to develop an index of ecological integrity with consideration of both structural and functional indicators. The survey was conducted twice (June and September, 2015) at 40 sites on the mainstream and tributaries of Songhua River. Benthic invertebrates were sampled with a standardized level of effort with artificial substrate, and water chemistry and habitat data were collected at the same time. Of 35 potential metrics considered, 6 core metrics were finally chosen: EPT%, Invertebrate Richness, MCI (Macroinvertebrate Community Index), Nitrates and nitrites, Land use and Gross primary productivity. According to the results, the least-impacted sites had significantly higher mean scores than the other site classifications. As for its practical applications, it can be used to improve ecological integrity monitoring programs by contributing to the selection of meaningful indicators.

Kuixuan Lin (Primary Presenter/Author), Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, 453120432@qq.com;


Lusan Liu ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, liuls@craes.org.cn;


Li Li ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, li.li81@hotmail.com;


Yunlong Liu ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, 523626916@qq.com;


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6/07/2017  |   10:15 - 10:30   |  

Planning and Controlling for Drinking Water Source Reserves of Dongjiang Lake, China Dongjiang Lake, which is located in Hunan Province, is a large reservoir with water area of 160 km2 and storage capacity in top 10 of Chinese freshwater lakes. It has been included in the list of National Key Lakes Protection Program because of its good water quality. Dongjiang Lake is one of the most superior drinking water sources of China, and plays an important role in ecological environment protection of Hunan Province. By on-site survey and historical data collection, we investigated the current ecological status of Dongjiang Lake and diagnosed its environment problem during the recent 5 years. Based on the analysis of pollution load and pollution source, we re-confirmed the boundary for three levels of drinking water source reserves of Dongjiang Lake, with the utility of EFDC (Environmental Fluid Dynamic Code, USEPA). According to the results, we proposed several measures for the reserves management, including pollution control, industrial structure and management facilities etc.

Lusan Liu (Primary Presenter/Author), Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, liuls@craes.org.cn;


Li Li ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, li.li81@hotmail.com;


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