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Southern Appalachian watersheds of the United States are negatively affected by pesticides and fertilizers used in row crop agriculture. The objective was to determine if the amount of row crops is connected to changes in aquatic biotic assemblages draining the Nolichucky River watershed in east Tennessee. The hypothesis was the amount of row crops will negatively correlate with indices of biotic integrity (IBI) metrics for fish and benthic macroinvertebrates indicating healthy aquatic communities. For 18 sample sites in 2014 and 2015, IBI metrics were calculated. Water quality and elevation measurements were made before conducting IBIs. To assess changes in and amounts of land use/land cover (LULC), maps from 1999 to 2014 were produced with Landsat satellite imagery. Pollutant estimates (sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen) were calculated using the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The area of row crops increased since 1999 (39 km2 in 1999 to 71 km2 in 2014). A principal component analysis was performed on LULC measurements from different scales (local, reach and catchment), water quality data, and elevation to produce a reduced set of explanatory variables that were uncorrelated but could be associated with IBI metrics. A canonical correspondence analysis associated fish metrics with LULC types: Impervious surfaces, non-row crop fields, and forest (p = 0.04 for axis 1 eigenvalue, p = 0.05 for species-environment correlations). For the benthic macroinvertebrate metrics, nonmetric multidimensional scaling found metrics indicative of poor stream health (percentage of oligochaetes and chironomids, percentage of nutrient tolerant organisms) were strongly positively associated with increasing use of row crops, impervious surfaces (p ≤ 0.01), and pollutant estimates (p ≤ 0.004). A redundancy analysis found increasing pollutant estimates were associated with fish metrics indicative of poor stream health (percentages of hybrids, piscivores, diseased fish, and number of sunfish species) (p = 0.03). When watersheds of tributary streams are converted to impervious and non-row crop field LULC, they function biologically like the larger main stem river. Although fish and benthic macroinvertebrate metrics indicated the tributary and main stem Nolichucky sites were in relatively good condition, increases in land conversion can further degrade stream biotic integrity.
"The bibliography is a guide to recent scientific literature covering effects of agricultural conservation practices on fish and wildlife. The citations listed here provide information on how conservation programs and practices designed to improve fish and wildlife habitat, as well as those intended for other purposes (e.g., water quality improvement), affect various aquatic and terrestrial fauna"--Abstract.
We all rely on a familiar set of indicators - interest rates, unemployment, inflation, the Dow Jones index, and GDP, for example - to gauge the performance of national economies. No such measures are currently available to describe the environment. This book lays out a blueprint for periodic reporting on the condition and use of ecosystems in the United States. Developed by experts from businesses, environmental organizations, universities, and federal, state, and local government agencies, it is designed to provide policymakers and the general public with a succinct and comprehensive - yet scientifically sound and non-partisan - view of 'how we are doing'. This book should prove invaluable for decision makers in natural resource management and environmental policy in government and environmental organizations, businesses, and trade associations; academics with a research or teaching interest in environmental issues; and the general public interested in the continued well-being of American ecosystems.
This book is intended for those with an academic, scientific and practical interest in river conservation and management. It provides an overview of how changes in legislation, policies, institutional responsibilities, science, technology, practical techniques and public perception have influenced how rivers have been managed over the past 20 years and the challenges that lie ahead during the next 20 years. The book is based on the international conference River Conservation and Management:20 Years On held at York. Thirty-one chapters, with contributions from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australasia provide a wide-ranging perspective on this complex but profoundly important subject. Following an introduction that chronicles the most important contextual changes, the book is organized into four broad topics: Catchment management, ecosystem integrity and the threats to river ecosystems – this covers progress on understanding and addressing the pressures affecting rivers, many of which will be amplified by climate change and increasing human demands for water; Methods and approaches – illustrating some recent techniques that have been developed to assess condition and conservation status across different types of river; Recovery and rehabilitation – providing an insight into the principles, practice, public involvement and institutional networks that support and make improvements to modified river reaches; Integrating nature conservation into wider river management –demonstrating the importance of integrated planning, involvement of local communities and the use of adaptive management in achieving multiple environmental and economic benefits along rivers used for different purposes. The final chapter discusses the challenges faced in dealing with an uncertain future. More than 1200 different references and numerous web-site citations provide the reader with an invaluable source of knowledge on the subject area.