Physical and Chemical Connectivity of Streams and Riparian Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Synthesis

Streams, riparian areas, floodplains, alluvial aquifers, and downstream waters (e.g., large rivers, lakes, and oceans) are interconnected by longitudinal, lateral, and vertical fluxes of water, other materials, and energy. Collectively, these interconnected waters are called fluvial hydrosystems. Physical and chemical connectivity within fluvial hydrosystems is created by the transport of nonliving materials (e.g., water, sediment, nutrients, and contaminants) which either do or do not chemically change (chemical and physical connections, respectively). A substantial body of evidence unequivocally demonstrates physical and chemical connectivity between streams and riparian wetlands and downstream waters. Streams and riparian wetlands are structurally connected to downstream waters through the network of continuous channels and floodplain form that make these systems physically contiguous, and the very existence of these structures provides strong geomorphologic evidence for connectivity. Functional connections between streams and riparian wetlands and their downstream waters vary geographically and over time, based on proximity, relative size, environmental setting, material disparity, and intervening units. Because of the complexity and dynamic nature of connections among fluvial hydrosystem units, a complete accounting of the physical and chemical connections and their consequences to downstream waters should aggregate over multiple years to decades.     

Wetland Flowpaths Mediate Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations across the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and human health impacts are critical environmental challenges resulting from excess nitrogen and phosphorus in surface waters. Yet we have limited information regarding how wetland characteristics mediate water quality across watershed scales. We developed a large, novel set of spatial variables characterizing hydrological flowpaths from wetlands to streams, that is, “wetland hydrological transport variables,” to explore how wetlands statistically explain the variability in total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations across the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB) in the United States. We found that wetland flowpath variables improved landscape-to-aquatic nutrient multilinear regression models (from R² = 0.89 to 0.91 for TN; R² = 0.53 to 0.84 for TP) and provided insights into potential processes governing how wetlands influence watershed-scale TN and TP concentrations. Specifically, flowpath variables describing flow-attenuating environments, for example, subsurface transport compared to overland flowpaths, were related to lower TN and TP concentrations. Frequent hydrological connections from wetlands to streams were also linked to low TP concentrations, which likely suggests a nutrient source limitation in some areas of the UMRB. Consideration of wetland flowpaths could inform management and conservation activities designed to reduce nutrient export to downstream waters.     

Composition of Floating Debris in Harbours of the United States

As part of a programme to characterize floating anthropogenic debris in the aquatic environment, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted 18 field surveys in the harbours of major metropolitan cities of the east, west, and Gulf coasts of the United States and the Mid-Atlantic Bight. the surveys were designed to provide information on the types, relative amounts, and distributions of aquatic debris in different geographic regions of the United States. Neuston nets (0.33 mm mesh) were used to collect surface debris during outgoing tides on two or three consecutive days in selected areas of each city. After each net tow, the debris, which ranged in size from small resin pellets to large plastic sheeting pieces, was identified, categorized, and counted. the data are being used to qualitatively characterize aquatic debris in coastal metropolitan areas, to examine potential regional variations, and to tentatively identify potential sources.     

Evaluating the respiratory bioaccessibility of nickel in soil through the use of a simulated lung fluid

Simulated lung fluids are solutions designed to mimic the composition of human interstitial lung fluid as closely as possible. Analysis of mineral dusts using such solutions has been used to evaluate the respiratory bioaccessibility of various elements for which solubility in the lungs is a primary determinant of reactivity. The objective of this study was to employ simulated lung fluid analysis to investigate the respiratory bioaccessibility of nickel in soils. Current occupational guidelines in Australia regulate nickel compounds in terms of water solubility, though this may not be an accurate estimation of the total nickel that will dissociate in the lungs. Surface soils were collected from the city of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, the site of an operational nickel smelter and metal mining activities. The fraction of the samples less than 10 μm was extracted from the soil, and it was this sub-10-μm fraction that was found to hold most of the total nickel present in the soil. The fine fraction was analyzed using a simulated lung fluid (modified Gamble’s solution) to isolate the nickel phases soluble in the lungs. In addition, a sequential extraction was employed to compare the bioaccessible fraction to those dissolved from different binding forms in the soil. In all samples, the simulated lung fluid extracted more nickel than the two weakest leaches of the sequential extraction combined, providing a more representative nickel bioaccessibility value than the current water leach method.     

Challenges to interdisciplinary research in ecosystem-based management

Despite its necessity, integration of natural and social sciences to inform conservation efforts has been difficult. We examined the views of 63 scientists and practitioners involved in marine management in Mexico's Gulf of California, the central California coast, and the western Pacific on the challenges associated with integrating social science into research efforts that support ecosystem-based management (EBM) in marine systems. We used a semistructured interview format. Questions focused on how EBM was developed for these sites and how contextual factors affected its development and outcomes. Many of the traditional challenges linked with interdisciplinary research were present in the EBM projects we studied. However, a number of contextual elements affected how mandates to include social science were interpreted and implemented as well as how easily challenges could be addressed. For example, a common challenge is that conservation organizations are often dominated by natural scientists, but for some projects it was easier to address this imbalance than for others. We also found that the management and institutional histories that came before EBM in specific cases were important features of local context. Because challenges differed among cases, we believe resolving challenges to interdisciplinary research should be context specific.     

Turbinaria ornata as an herbivory refuge for associate algae

Habitat associations are an integral part of coral reef community structure. Commonly, one organism lives in such close association within or near another that a spatial refuge occurs, whereby one of the organisms provides protection to the other. This is often the result of defenses of the host deterring an associate organism’s consumers. In Moorea, French Polynesia, the range and abundance of the brown macroalga, Turbinaria ornata, have increased drastically since 1980 such that dense aggregations of this macroalga are a dominant component of the backreef habitat. Turbinaria ornata is both mechanically and chemically defended from herbivores. Other species of macroalgae grow within aggregations of Turbinaria and may benefit from these defenses. This study investigates whether aggregations of Turbinaria create a refuge from herbivory for associate macroalgae. When Turbinaria aggregations were removed experimentally, there was a significant increase in the number of associate algal species. Moreover, an herbivory assay using the palatable local alga Acanthophora spicifera identified herbivory as the mechanism for lower diversity on bommies lacking Turbinaria aggregations. The local increase in algal richness due to the refuge from herbivory afforded by Turbinaria may be an important contribution to macroalgal and community dynamics on reefs in Moorea, French Polynesia.     

Beyond geomorphosites: trade-offs, optimization, and networking in heritage landscapes

This study uses Danxiashan, a world heritage site in Guangdong province, China, as a case study for planning a hypothetical geotourism network of heritage sites. This landscape has a multiplicity of values—its geoheritage cannot be separated from its ecological or cultural heritage. When designing a network of heritage sites for such a diversely valued landscape trade-offs must be made between differing and potentially conflicting objectives such as geotourism and geoconservation. To solve this multi-criteria decision problem, sites with potential value for people were designated as heritage sites, adapting the concept of geomorphosites—i.e., geomorphological heritage sites—to represent the intersection of anthropic values. In a GIS-based spatial decision support system heritage values for each site were weighted and ranked using the analytic hierarchy process and scenarios for alternative trail systems, and networks of tourism sites were generated by multi-criteria map overlay analysis and networking algorithms. The scenarios generated show how trade-offs can be made between oft-conflicting tourism and conservation objectives, how the design of parks can be optimized for multiple objectives, and how alternative design strategies can be explored. Such an approach could be used in scenario planning workshops to engage stakeholders in participatory design and consensus-based decision-making driven by geospatial science.     

A mass budget of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in San Francisco Bay, CA

A mass budget of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in San Francisco Bay is developed as a first step towards understanding the local sources and transport processes controlling PBDE fate in a highly urbanized estuary. Extensive monitoring of PBDEs in estuarine water and sediment, freshwater tributaries, air, and wastewater effluents and sludges were integrated with a mass budget model to provide a synthetic view of these emerging contaminants. The Bay inventories of BDE 47 and BDE 209 in 2006 were estimated to be 33+/-3 kg and 153+/-45 kg, respectively. Empirically derived estimates of annual inputs of BDE 47 and BDE 209 from all quantifiable external sources ranged from 11 to 28 kg/y and 22 to 24 kg/y, respectively. BDE 47 loads were dominated by wastewater while runoff from local tributaries represented the largest contributor to BDE 209 loads. Model results suggest the Bay PBDE inventory is highly sensitive to changes in external loads, with degradation and outflow being the major processes governing PBDE fate. The mass budget presented provides a framework for integrating future monitoring and modeling efforts.     

Evaluating the power of surface attendance counts to detect long-term trends in populations of crevice-nesting auklets

This study assessed metals in water and different tissues of Labeo rohita and the impact of these metals on DNA and proteins as biomarkers of gills and muscles of these fish from three different polluted sites (reference or low = KW, medium = CH and high = SK) of the Indus River, Pakistan. The Mn, Pb, Cu, Zn, Hg, and Cr levels in water, gills, liver, muscles, and skin of these fish were compared with the international permissible levels. All metals except Pb and Hg in water were within the acceptable limits of drinking water. In contrast, the Mn, Hg, and Cr levels in the fish tissues were higher than their permissible limits for fish as a human food. Here, the gills contained higher metals than the other tissues. Different patterns of biomarkers were found in fish from these sites. While the gills did not show four protein bands (55, 30, 18.4, and 16.4 kDa), the muscles showed four new protein bands (100, 85, 45, and 20 kDa) for fish from the medium and high polluted sites as compared to the reference or low polluted site. The fish from the CH and SK sites of the Indus River contained low molecular weight DNA in their gills but high molecular weight DNA in their muscles when compared with the KW site. This study suggests that the proteins and DNA profiles of L. rohita could be used as biomarkers to assess the impact of potential environmental stressors such as metals on the freshwater systems.