USE OF STAGE DATA TO CHARACTERIZE HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS IN AN URBANIZING ENVIRONMENT1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of a study on the use of continuous stage data to describe the relation between urban development and three aspects of hydrologic condition that are thought to influence stream ecosystems—overall stage variability, stream flashiness, and the duration of extreme‐stage conditions. This relation is examined using data from more than 70 watersheds in three contrasting environmental settings—the humid Northeast (the metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, area); the very humid Southeast (the metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama, area); and the semiarid West (the metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, area). Results from the Birmingham and Boston studies provide evidence linking increased urbanization with stream flashiness. Fragmentation of developed land cover patches appears to ameliorate the effects of urbanization on overall variability and flashiness. There was less success in relating urbanization and streamflow conditions in the Salt Lake City study. A related investigation of six North Carolina sites with long term discharge and stage data indicated that hydrologic condition metrics developed using continuous stage data are comparable to flow based metrics, particularly for stream flashiness measures.     

Effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products on marine organisms: from single-species studies to an ecosystem-based approach

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are contaminants of emerging concern that are increasing in use and have demonstrated negative effects on aquatic organisms. There is a growing body of literature reporting the effects of PPCPs on freshwater organisms, but studies on the effects of PPCPs to marine and estuarine organisms are limited. Among effect studies, the vast majority examines subcellular or cellular effects, with far fewer studies examining organismal- and community-level effects. We reviewed the current published literature on marine and estuarine algae, invertebrates, fish, and mammals exposed to PPCPs, in order to expand upon current reviews. This paper builds on previous reviews of PPCP contamination in marine environments, filling prior literature gaps and adding consideration of ecosystem function and level of knowledge across marine habitat types. Finally, we reviewed and compiled data gaps suggested by current researchers and reviewers and propose a multi-level model to expand the focus of current PPCP research beyond laboratory studies. This model includes examination of direct ecological effects including food web and disease dynamics, biodiversity, community composition, and other ecosystem-level indicators of contaminant-driven change.     

Practitioner Insights into Weed Management on California’s Rangelands and Natural Areas

Working rangelands and natural areas span diverse ecosystems and face both ecological and economic threats from weed invasion. Restoration practitioners and land managers hold a voluminous cache of place-based weed management experience and knowledge that has largely been untapped by the research community. We surveyed 260 California rangeland managers and restoration practitioners to investigate invasive and weedy species of concern, land management goals, perceived effectiveness of existing practices (i.e., prescribed fire, grazing, herbicide use, and seeding), and barriers to practice implementation. Respondents identified 196 problematic plants, with yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis L.) and medusahead (Elymus caput-medusae L.) most commonly listed. Reported adoption and effectiveness of weed management practices varied regionally, but the most highly rated practice in general was herbicide use; however, respondents identified considerable challenges including nontarget effects, cost, and public perception. Livestock forage production was the most commonly reported management goals (64% of respondents), and 25% of respondents were interested in additional information on using grazing to manage invasive and weedy species; however, 19% of respondents who had used grazing for weed management did not perceive it to be an effective tool. Across management practices, we also found common barriers to implementation, including operational barriers (e.g., permitting, water availability), potential adverse impacts, actual effectiveness, and public perception. Land manager and practitioner identified commonalities of primary weeds, management goals, perceived practice effectiveness, and implementation barriers across diverse bioregions highlight major needs that could be immediately addressed through management–science partnerships across the state’s expansive rangelands and natural areas.     

Linking Water Science to Policy: Results from a Series of National Workshops on Water

To ensure science better informs the decision-making process, researchers and policy/program managers need to understand and respect each other's way of working, culture and operational timelines. However, there is little practical guidance on how this should be done and even less documented experience with specific mechanisms that better link these two groups. The published literature on information transfer has largely emphasized the dissemination of standard packages of information to ill-defined constituencies whose needs for scientific information are not well understood. Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute, on behalf of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, led a series of “Linking Water Science to Policy Workshops” as one such mechanism by which recent science could be delivered to practitioners, and practitioners could identify their research needs to scientists and research managers. There is a pressing need to explore and share experiences using creative mechanisms for sustained dialogue and networking between scientists and policy and program managers. The lessons learned from the workshop series and the need for science to continually inform the decision-making process has particular relevance for Canada's Ecosystem Initiatives given their integrated, place-based focus on long-term restoration and protection, and the challenge of continually changing ecosystems.The Canadian Crown reserves the right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright.     

Creation of the natural reserve of La Crau: implications for the creation and management of protected areas

Grasslands were once widespread and species-rich ecosystems. They have drastically decreased throughout the world, largely due to changes in land-uses. Remnant grasslands are often highly degraded and disconnected and require active conservation. In order for grasslands to be maintained worldwide, protected areas need to be created. While adequately creating and managing protected areas has proven difficult, this can be improved by following a three-point guideline: (1) consider many ecological groups (birds, insects, plants); (2) use conservation biology knowledge; (3) seek agreements with concerned parties by comprehending elements of economy, politics and sociology. Based on the example of La Crau, a steppe area in South-eastern France, this review aims at (i) illustrating that this guideline can facilitate creating and managing protected areas and (ii) proposing improvement to the guideline while keeping it simple. In La Crau, the need for conservation was first acknowledged in 1975. Between 1983, when a request for a protection decree was made and 1990, when the first concrete protection measure was taken, 20% of the steppe disappeared. It took another 8 years to reach a concerted management plan in 1998. The review shows how using ecological guidelines would have helped better and faster protection of the steppe. Improvements to the guideline drawn from the La Crau experience include: the protection of some traditional practices; the protection of some degraded habitats that can substitute for habitats that no longer exist; the restoration of degraded habitats that do not qualify for protection; and the flexibility of the management plan.     

Soil and vegetation carbon stocks in Brazilian Western Amazonia: relationships and ecological implications for natural landscapes

The relationships between soils attributes, soil carbon stocks and vegetation carbon stocks are poorly know in Amazonia, even at regional scale. In this paper, we used the large and reliable soil database from Western Amazonia obtained from the RADAMBRASIL project and recent estimates of vegetation biomass to investigate some environmental relationships, quantifying C stocks of intact ecosystem in Western Amazonia. The results allowed separating the western Amazonia into 6 sectors, called pedo-zones: Roraima, Rio Negro Basin, Tertiary Plateaux of the Amazon, Javari-Juruá-Purus lowland, Acre Basin and Rondonia uplands. The highest C stock for the whole soil is observed in the Acre and in the Rio Negro sectors. In the former, this is due to the high nutrient status and high clay activity, whereas in the latter, it is attributed to a downward carbon movement attributed to widespread podzolization and arenization, forming spodic horizons. The youthful nature of shallow soils of the Javari-Juruá-Purus lowlands, associated with high Al, results in a high phytomass C/soil C ratio. A similar trend was observed for the shallow soils from the Roraima and Rondonia highlands. A consistent east–west decline in biomass carbon in the Rio Negro Basin sector is associated with increasing rainfall and higher sand amounts. It is related to lesser C protection and greater C loss of sandy soils, subjected to active chemical leaching and widespread podzolization. Also, these soils possess lower cation exchangeable capacity and lower water retention capacity. Zones where deeply weathered Latosols dominate have a overall pattern of high C sequestration, and greater than the shallower soils from the upper Amazon, west of Madeira and Negro rivers. This was attributed to deeper incorporation of carbon in these clayey and highly pedo-bioturbated soils. The results highlight the urgent need for refining soil data at an appropriate scale for C stocks calculations purposes in Amazonia. There is a risk of misinterpreting C stocks in Amazonia when such great pedological variability is not taken into account.