Condition of stream ecosystems in the US: an overview of the first national assessment

Paulsen, Steven G.; Mayio, Alice; Peck, David V.; Stoddard, John L.; Tarquinio, Ellen; Holdsworth, Susan M.; Sickle, John Van; Yuan, Lester L.; Hawkins, Charles P.; Herlihy, Alan T.; Kaufmann, Philip R.; Barbour, Michael T.; Larsen, David P.; Olsen, Anthony R.

doi:10.1899/08-098.1

Cited by 166 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Third, spatial analyses of human health and ecological integrity are needed across larger geographic extents to evaluate the generality of the results presented here. The recent development of a continental-scale ecological integrity dataset (Paulsen et al, 2008) provides this opportunity in North America. Our results suggest that such a continental-scale analysis would be feasible and may provide important insights.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Integrity of Streams Related to Human Cancer Mortality Rates

Hitt

Hendryx

2010

EcoHealth

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Assessments of ecological integrity have become commonplace for biological conservation, but their role for public health analysis remains largely unexplored. We tested the prediction that the ecological integrity of streams would provide an indicator of human cancer mortality rates in West Virginia, USA. We characterized ecological integrity using an index of benthic macroinvertebrate community structure (West Virginia Stream Condition Index, SCI) and quantified human cancer mortality rates using county-level data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Regression and spatial analyses revealed significant associations between ecological integrity and public health. SCI was negatively related to age-adjusted total cancer mortality per 100,000 people. Respiratory, digestive, urinary, and breast cancer rates increased with ecological disintegrity, but genital and oral cancer rates did not. Smoking, poverty, and urbanization were significantly related to total cancer mortality, but did not explain the observed relationships between ecological integrity and cancer. Coal mining was significantly associated with ecological disintegrity and higher cancer mortality.Spatial analyses also revealed cancer clusters that corresponded to areas of high coal mining intensity. Our results demonstrated significant relationships between ecological integrity and human cancer mortality in West Virginia, and suggested important effects of coal mining on ecological communities and public health.Assessments of ecological integrity therefore may contribute not only to monitoring goals for aquatic life, but also may provide valuable insights for human health and safety.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Integrity of Streams Related to Human Cancer Mortality Rates

Hitt

Hendryx

2010

EcoHealth

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“…Agriculture, for example, often leads to removal of riparian canopy cover with subsequent loss of coarse allochthonous input (Warren et al 2007), increased deposition of fine particulate organic matter (Moore and Wondsell 2005;MacDonald and Coe 2007), and fundamental changes in water physicochemistry (Gravelle and Link 2007;Webb et al 2008). Riparian disturbance, with subsequent changes in nutrient and sediment input, has been repeatedly found to be the most widespread stressor of streams in the US generally, in the Plains and Lowlands region of the US, and in Michigan (Paulsen et al 2008;Wang et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abrupt biological discontinuity in a small Michigan (USA) stream due to historical riparian canopy loss

Houghton

Wasson

2013

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

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We assessed physicochemical and biological continuity in an 800-m reach of a small (<2 m wide) headwater stream during 2010 and 2012 in the northcentral U.S. Dense riparian canopy covered the first 600 m of stream reach, was lacking in an approximately 100-m portion due to historical (>10 years previously) agriculture, and returned in the last 100 m of the study area. Reflecting this difference, the forested area had less sunlight penetration to the water level and greater volume of woody debris in the stream. There was no difference in specific conductance or pH among sites. Water temperature was lower in the upstream forested sites and higher in the nonforested site and those downstream of it. Dissolved oxygen exhibited a reciprocal trend with temperature. The non-forested site exhibited an abrupt change in biological continuity as indicated by a decrease in benthic macroinvertebrate and adult caddisfly shredder abundance, an increase in filtering collector and scraper abundance, a decrease in trout abundance, and an increase in both total and warm-water fish species. The stream returned to its previous state when canopy returned downstream. Both years of the study yielded similar results. Our results indicate that abrupt changes in riparian canopy can lead to similarly abrupt changes in biological continuity, often within a relatively short (100 m) distance.

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“…Essentially, small streams become 'homogenized' and develop the characteristics of larger rivers Brusven 1992, 1993;Pringle et al 1993;Houghton 2007). In fact, riparian disturbance with subsequent nutrient and sediment input has been repeatedly found to be the most widespread stressor of streams in the US generally, in the Plains and Lowlands region, and in Michigan (Paulsen et al 2008;Wang et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological changes along the continuum of an agricultural stream: influence of a small terrestrial preserve and use of adult caddisflies in biomonitoring

Houghton

Berry

Gilchrist

et al. 2011

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

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We monitored benthic macroinvertebrates and adult caddisflies along an agricultural stream continuum upstream, within, and downstream of a small forested preserve. The habitat upstream of all sites was 460% disturbed by agricultural activities. The percentage of riparian disturbance was markedly lower adjacent to the sites inside the preserve than those outside. Water physicochemical factors did not exhibit clear changes among sites, except for nitrate concentration, which was highest upstream of the preserve. Biological diversity of adult caddisflies was significantly higher within the preserve. Biological diversity of benthic invertebrates exhibited similar results except for non-significance between the upstream and preserve sites. Pollution tolerance and percentage of filtering collector metrics were unchanged among sites for both assemblages. The percentage of adult caddisflies in the shredder functional group increased significantly within the preserve but remained small relative to that of pollution-tolerant filtering collectors. The small terrestrial preserve promoted a three-fold increase in species diversity, even without corresponding changes in water quality or trophic structure. Such an increase, however, may not be as detectable with traditional benthic biomonitoring techniques due to the difficulties of sampling benthic microhabitats representatively and identifying specimens to the species level.

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Condition of stream ecosystems in the US: an overview of the first national assessment

Cited by 166 publications

References 15 publications

Ecological Integrity of Streams Related to Human Cancer Mortality Rates

Ecological Integrity of Streams Related to Human Cancer Mortality Rates

Abrupt biological discontinuity in a small Michigan (USA) stream due to historical riparian canopy loss

Biological changes along the continuum of an agricultural stream: influence of a small terrestrial preserve and use of adult caddisflies in biomonitoring

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