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Author: Holly Singer Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The largest source of agricultural pollution to water bodies is soil that is transported from fields by stormwater runoff. During a storm event, runoff mobilizes and carries sediment along its flow path, eventually entering a stream, lake, or other surface water body. Riparian buffers are a type of BMP that can be implemented on farms adjacent to streams to protect them from pollutant-laden runoff. These buffers are areas of dense vegetation that act as barriers between fields and streams that intercept and trap sheet flow runoff and slow runoff velocity, thus improving the water quality. Riparian buffers perform best when runoff enters and moves through them as sheet flow. However, over relatively short distances, sheet flow converges into concentrated flow, which moves at a higher velocity and has greater erosion potential than sheet flow. Therefore, the presence of concentrated flow pathways on agricultural land and in riparian zones can undermine the effectiveness of riparian buffers. This researched focused primarily on developing an ArcGIS-based tool to predict the location of concentrated flow pathways (CFPs) in riparian zones with agricultural land uses. A tool like this is useful to watershed planners as they develop and implement watershed management plans to reach federally mandated load reductions goals so that water quality restoration goals can be achieved. The research objectives included: (i) develop and demonstrate a generalizable tool to predict the location of concentrated flow pathways in riparian zones; (ii) identify potential impacts of concentrated flow pathways on the effectiveness of riparian buffers; and (iii) develop a framework for prioritizing buffer locations in an impaired watershed. On average, the proposed buffer zones were determined to be anywhere from four to eighty-five percent effective. The tool was able to simulate where ideal buffer zones could exist, which was observed from the flow accumulation model. It is expected that the results of this research will be transferrable across watershed boundaries and can help watershed managers prioritize locations for installing new riparian buffers to meet water quality goals.
Author: Holly Singer Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The largest source of agricultural pollution to water bodies is soil that is transported from fields by stormwater runoff. During a storm event, runoff mobilizes and carries sediment along its flow path, eventually entering a stream, lake, or other surface water body. Riparian buffers are a type of BMP that can be implemented on farms adjacent to streams to protect them from pollutant-laden runoff. These buffers are areas of dense vegetation that act as barriers between fields and streams that intercept and trap sheet flow runoff and slow runoff velocity, thus improving the water quality. Riparian buffers perform best when runoff enters and moves through them as sheet flow. However, over relatively short distances, sheet flow converges into concentrated flow, which moves at a higher velocity and has greater erosion potential than sheet flow. Therefore, the presence of concentrated flow pathways on agricultural land and in riparian zones can undermine the effectiveness of riparian buffers. This researched focused primarily on developing an ArcGIS-based tool to predict the location of concentrated flow pathways (CFPs) in riparian zones with agricultural land uses. A tool like this is useful to watershed planners as they develop and implement watershed management plans to reach federally mandated load reductions goals so that water quality restoration goals can be achieved. The research objectives included: (i) develop and demonstrate a generalizable tool to predict the location of concentrated flow pathways in riparian zones; (ii) identify potential impacts of concentrated flow pathways on the effectiveness of riparian buffers; and (iii) develop a framework for prioritizing buffer locations in an impaired watershed. On average, the proposed buffer zones were determined to be anywhere from four to eighty-five percent effective. The tool was able to simulate where ideal buffer zones could exist, which was observed from the flow accumulation model. It is expected that the results of this research will be transferrable across watershed boundaries and can help watershed managers prioritize locations for installing new riparian buffers to meet water quality goals.
Author: Molly Van Appledorn Publisher: ISBN: Category : Electronic dissertations Languages : en Pages : 149
Book Description
The ability of riparian buffers to filter undesirable nutrients from upland sources has long been recognized as an important ecosystem service for maintaining or improving water quality, and as a result, many land management strategies have been built around the preservation or restoration of buffer zones. Newly derived flow-path metrics have shown great promise as a way to assess riparian buffer function at the watershed scale but a thorough investigation of metric performance was necessary. The goals of this study were to: 1) test the independence of flow-path metrics from traditional metrics using a spatially extensive, independent sample of watersheds, 2) evaluate the effects of stream map resolution on riparian characterization and the ability to predict nitrate discharges, and 3) explore whether nutrient retention estimates may improve the performance of flow-path metrics. The results of this study validated initial findings that flow-path metrics provided more flexible, detailed, and independent measures of land cover patterns compared to traditional methods. Buffer characterization by flow-path metrics was affected by stream map resolution, as were models using metrics to relate nitrate discharge to watershed land cover patterns. Retention-informed metrics showed promise in improving the ability to relate nitrate-nitrogen discharges to measures of riparian function, especially in certain physiographic contexts. A thorough understanding of flow-path metrics and how they are affected by sampling regime, stream map resolution, and estimates of retention is necessary toward the development of a tool useful to land use managers.
Author: Monica Veale Yesildirek Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 82
Book Description
As population increases and urbanization occurs, watershed management will be critical in the protection of water resources in North Central Texas. By 2040, Denton County will nearly double its 2010 population. The Upper Hickory Creek Watershed lies west of Denton and empties into Lake Lewisville. Lake Lewisville provides drinking water for Denton, Dallas, and other neighboring cities. Mitigation of non-point source pollutants as a result of urban and agricultural practices is essential to protecting Lake Lewisville water resources. A common best management practice used to mitigate pollutants is the protection of riparian ecotones that occupy river corridors; however, recent agricultural and urban practices are diminishing these ecosystems and their services. In this paper, the riparian buffer delineation equation (RBDE) is used to assess the current state of Upper Hickory Creek Watershed to aid in the monitoring of the riparian buffers along stream corridors. While the RBDE was used as pre-assessment tool for the riparian buffer effectiveness in the watershed, a new form of the equation was used to evaluate riparian buffer improvement potential (BP) in conjunction with Denton County parcel data to provide insights into buffer effectiveness and identify areas for improvement on a landowner scale.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The physical parameters of past experimental riparian buffer studies were used to develop a riparian buffer classification framework (RBCF) that uses high resolution remotely sensed data to identify the physical parameters of a riparian buffer and assign an estimate of total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency. Topographic data with a contour interval of 2 feet, color digital orthophotography with 1-foot resolution, and hydrography data covering a 1.8 square mile study area located within the city limits of Raleigh, North Carolina were utilized to test the RBCF. A cartographic model was developed to prepare each data layer for analysis. Applying the RBCF within the framework of the cartographic model produced highly detailed maps of existing riparian areas, and also provided an estimate of a riparian buffer's efficiency in removing TSS from stormwater runoff. In this study, riparian buffers are identified through remote sensing at spatial scales of sufficient detail to determine regulated widths and also to examine the separate management zones within a buffer. Automated processing techniques for remotely sensed data, used in combination with specific resource classification schemes such as the RBCF will enable the assessment and analysis of site-specific conditions at county-wide scales.
Author: Emily G. Arnold Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 211
Book Description
Stream channels and their corresponding riparian zones are composed of complex spatially and temporally dynamic systems. Changing land-use associated with urbanization has resulted in large shifts in riparian assemblages, stream hydraulics, and sediment dynamics leading to the degradation of the world's waterways. To combat degradation, restoration and management of riparian zones is becoming increasingly common. However, the relationship between flora, especially the influence of invasive species, on sediment dynamics is poorly understood. This relationship must be studied further to ensure the success of management practices. Three methods were used to monitor erosion and turbidity within the Tookany Creek and its tributary Mill Run in the greater Philadelphia, PA region. To evaluate the influence of the invasive species Reynoutria japonica (Japanese knotweed) on erosion, reaches were chosen based on their riparian vegetation and degree of incision. Methods used to estimate sediment erosion included measuring changes in bank pins, repeated total station transects, and monitoring turbidity responses to storm events. While each method has been used in previous studies to monitor sediment flux, the combination of methods in this study allowed their applicability to be compared. Measurements taken with YSI turbidity loggers showed large fluctuations in turbidity based both on riparian conditions and geomorphic positioning, suggesting that future studies need to be careful with logger placement when using sediment calibration curves to estimate sediment yield within streams. There were pros and cons of using both total station and bank pins to estimate bank erosion. Total station has the potential to produce highly accurate measurements but a greater risk of loss of data if the control points used to establish the grid cannot be re-established from one measurement to the next. Bank pins are more likely to influence bank erosion and be affected by freeze-thaw conditions but provide a simple method of monitoring erosion at frequent intervals. Volume calculations based on total station transects along the main stem of the Tookany did not show a consistent relationship between riparian type and erosion rates. However, erosion calculations based on bank pins suggest greater erosion in reaches dominated by knotweed with 4.7x10-1 m3/m and 8.3x10-2 m3/m more erosion than those dominated by trees at Chelten Hills and Mill Run respectively. Turbidity responses to storm events were also higher (76.7 v 54.2 NTU) in reaches with knotweed, although this increase was found when the reach dominated by knotweed was also incised. Thus, this study linked knotweed to increased erosion using multiple methods.
Author: F. Richard Hauer Publisher: Academic Press ISBN: 0080547435 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 894
Book Description
Methods in Stream Ecology, Second Edition, provides a complete series of field and laboratory protocols in stream ecology that are ideal for teaching or conducting research. This updated edition reflects recent advances in the technology associated with ecological assessment of streams, including remote sensing. In addition, the relationship between stream flow and alluviation has been added, and a new chapter on riparian zones is also included. The book features exercises in each chapter; detailed instructions, illustrations, formulae, and data sheets for in-field research for students; and taxanomic keys to common stream invertebrates and algae. With a student-friendly price, this book is key for all students and researchers in stream and freshwater ecology, freshwater biology, marine ecology, and river ecology. This text is also supportive as a supplementary text for courses in watershed ecology/science, hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, and landscape ecology. - Exercises in each chapter - Detailed instructions, illustrations, formulae, and data sheets for in-field research for students - Taxanomic keys to common stream invertebrates and algae - Link from Chapter 22: FISH COMMUNITY COMPOSITION to an interactive program for assessing and modeling fish numbers
Author: Sean Baumgarten Publisher: ISBN: 9781950313075 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
The Peninsula Watershed has been integral to the story of San Francisco's growth ever since the Gold Rush. The rapid influx of settlers to San Francisco during the Gold Rush spurred a sudden demand for a reliable water source, which led to the formation of the Spring Valley Water Works (later purchased by the Spring Valley Water Company [SVWC]) in 1858 (Hanson 2005 ). Over the subsequent 70 years, SVWC bought up large swaths of land on the Peninsula, and constructed a complex system of dams, tunnels, and pipes to capture and transport water to San Francisco. Within the Peninsula Watershed, this system includes the Crystal Springs and San Andreas reservoirs, located in the San Andreas Creek, Laguna Creek, and Upper San Mateo Creek basins along the San Andreas Fau The City of San Francisco purchased SVWC in 1930, and today the Peninsula Watershed, managed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), continues to be a key source of water for San Francisco and for other communities in the South and East Bay. Despite the past 150 years of reservoir construction and other hydrologic modifications, the construction of transportation and utility corridors, and the large-scale suburban development that has occurred to the east, the Peninsula Watershed has remained largely undeveloped and is managed to protect water quality, water supply, wildlife habitat, and a range of other natural and cultural resources. The watershed supports some of the largest intact remnants of contiguous habitat in the region, including extensive oak woodlands, old-growth Douglas-fir forests, serpentine grasslands, chaparral, and coastal scrub. Over the past 250 years since Spanish explorers first set foot on the watershed, however, changes in disturbance regimes and other large-scale anthropogenic modifications, including fire suppression, homesteading, livestock grazing, agriculture, tree planting, introduction of plant pathogens, spread of invasive species, and climate change, have altered vegetation dynamics and changed the distribution and structure of vegetation communities throughout the watershed. The changes have raised many questions about the historical ecology of the watershed: What was the extent, distribution, and composition of terrestrial, riparian, and wetland habitats prior to Euro-American modification? How have vegetation distributions changed over the past two centuries, and what are the implications of those changes for species support? Are there remnant patches of relatively unmodified habitat present in the watershed, or areas that are currently in a state of recovery? Where are current habitat characteristics most similar to or different from historically documented conditions? How have key natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes and processes changed over time? The Peninsula Watershed Historical Ecology Study aims to advance understanding of landscape conditions of the Peninsula Watershed prior to major Euro-American modification, and to provide insights into the nature and drivers of vegetation change since the first Spanish explorers set foot in the watershed 250 years ago. The primary goal of the research was to examine the historical extent, distribution, and composition of terrestrial vegetation types and their trajectories of change within the watershed. To the extent possible, research also addressed historical riparian, wetland, and estuarine habitats; hydrology and sediment dynamics; wildlife support; land use history; and a range of other topics.
Author: William S. Alevizon Publisher: Bookbaby ISBN: 9781543948349 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The original report From the Sierra to the Sea: Ecological History of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Watershed was a product of a three-year effort to develop a landscape level overview of the natural ecological structure, function and organization of the watershed, and the way it had changed over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Technical review and contributions from government and water agencies helped produce a collaborative document that provided information on the historical ecological baseline in order to assist in what was envisioned at the time as the most ambitious restoration effort ever undertaken in the United States. We are proud of the fact that the original document is still used as an objective reference, and has provided a foundation and inspiration for similar but more intensively researched localized efforts by others in the Bay-Delta watershed. This 20th anniversary edition contains a new Afterword describing changes to the estuary and its watershed since the report was originally published in 1998.
Author: Holly Singer
Author: Holly Singer
Author: Molly Van Appledorn
Author: Monica Veale Yesildirek
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Author: Emily G. Arnold
Author: F. Richard Hauer
Author: Sean Baumgarten
Author: William S. Alevizon
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Author: Jon A. Kusler