Do golf courses reduce the ecological value of headwater streams for salamanders in the southern Appalachian Mountains?

Mackey, Mark J.; Connette, Grant M.; Peterman, William E.; Semlitsch, Raymond D.

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.01.013

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Miles et al (1992) examined surface water and groundwater associated with golf courses and detected 10 out of 17 pesticides analyzed (60%); whereas Ryals et al (1998) determined that the impact of golf course pesticide use was minimal to the golf course ponds as most values above the detectible limit were below the EPA's health advisory level. In addition, studies have found concentrations of pesticides, when detected, are similar to those in our study (Ryals et al 1998;Mackey et al 2014). These results suggest, in this study system, commonly used pesticides were not detrimental to water quality, chlorophyll a and phycocyanin in golf course ponds; however, we did not measure biotic impacts in this study and note that indirect or sub-lethal impacts on biota could also occur.…”

Section: Water Chemistry and Pesticidessupporting

confidence: 84%

Characterizing lentic habitats in golf courses and adjacent green spaces: water quality, water chemistry, pesticide concentrations, and algal concentrations

Piacente

Milanovich

Berg

et al. 2020

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Water Chemistry and Pesticidessupporting

confidence: 84%

Characterizing lentic habitats in golf courses and adjacent green spaces: water quality, water chemistry, pesticide concentrations, and algal concentrations

Piacente

Milanovich

Berg

et al. 2020

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Specific enhancements at TGC include conversion of fairways to naturalized roughs (no irrigation, fertilization or pesticides) adjacent to creek banks, reduction of chemical inputs and safer product choices, reduction of irrigation footprints, irrigation upgrades, sediment pond construction, riparian restoration and enhancements in downstream reaches. However, due to the frequent use of fertilizers and pesticides to maintain turf systems, golf courses can be contributors of water pollution [4,5], particularly, golf courses have been described to increase total phosphorous concentration in stream water [6]. Nitrogen and phosphorus are essential plant nutrients that are applied to golf courses, where they have been detected in leachate and surface runoff [1].…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examination of Nutrient Sources and Transport in a Catchment with an Audubon Certified Golf Course

Grande

Visser

Beitz³

et al. 2019

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water bodies in the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), California, United States, provide aesthetic value and critical ecosystem services, but are often adversely affected by the activities and infrastructure of the intensely urban environment that surrounds the parks. EBRPD leases a golf course (Tilden Golf Course (TGC)) in Tilden Regional Park, one of its most popular parks located in the Berkeley Hills, which was certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in 2013. Nonetheless, application of nutrients and pesticides (fungicides, plant growth regulators and herbicides) are commonly used to maintain turf systems and may be transported via surface runoff or through subsurface drainage to surface waters, leading to the concern that golf courses are a major contributor to water pollution. We studied the possible contribution of nutrients (NO3-N and PO4-P) and pesticides transported via storm-generated surface runoff and via groundwater from TGC to the primary drainage in the watershed, Wildcat Creek. Lake Anza, a popular open water swimming lake, is located downstream from TGC and experiences occasional nutrient-driven algal blooms that have caused swim beach closures. Measured NO3-N and PO4-P in the stream, at times, exceeded concentration limits of 1 mg/L (as N) and 0.05 mg/L (as P), respectively, considered protective of aquatic ecosystems by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (1986). We found that phosphorous likely has a dominant natural source, but nitrogen is primarily derived from a golf course fertilizer source and its concentration increases in the stream during runoff events, while other soluble species decrease. Analyses of pesticides in water reveal the presence of Azoxystrobin in stream water at the golf course, but with concentrations well below the regulatory limit. These results indicate that all other pesticides applied on TGC are not likely transported to the stream, suggesting future reactive transport research must treat contaminant species independently based on their specific transport behaviors.

show abstract

“…For example, Baris et al [8] conducted a meta-analysis of 44 studies investigating pesticide and nutrient concentration in the water bodies surrounding 80 golf courses over a 20-year period. Other researchers have focused on the impact of pesticides on soil biota [9], stream salamanders [10], birds [11], and golfers [12]. However, large-scale studies on actual pesticide use on golf courses, including product selection, application rates, and areas treated, are scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Hybrid Statistical Learning Framework Coupled with Random Forest and Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm to Forecast Pesticide Use on Golf Courses

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Golf course maintenance requires the use of several inputs, such as pesticides and fertilizers, that can be harmful to human health or the environment. Understanding the factors associated with pesticide use on golf courses may help golf-course managers reduce their reliance on these products. In this study, we used a database of about 14,000 pesticide applications in the province of Québec, Canada, to develop a novel hybrid machine learning approach to predict pesticide use on golf courses. We created this proposed model, called RF-SVM-GOA, by coupling a support vector machine (SVM) with random forest (RF) and the grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA). We applied RF to handle the wide range of datasets and GOA to find the optimal SVM settings. We considered five different dependent variables—region, golf course ID, number of holes, year, and treated area—as input variables. The experimental results confirmed that the developed hybrid RF-SVM-GOA approach was able to estimate the active ingredient total (AIT) with a high level of accuracy (R = 0.99; MAE = 0.84; RMSE = 0.84; NRMSE = 0.04). We compared the results produced by the developed RF-SVM-GOA model with those of four tree-based techniques including M5P, random tree, reduced error pruning tree (REP tree), and RF, as well as with those of two non-tree-based techniques including the generalized structure of group method of data handling (GSGMDH) and evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR). The computational results showed that the accuracy of the proposed RF-SVM-GOA approach was higher, outperforming the other methods. We analyzed sensitivity to find the most effective variables in AIT forecasting. The results indicated that the treated area is the most effective variable in AIT forecasting. The results of the current study provide a method for increasing the sustainability of golf course management.

show abstract

Do golf courses reduce the ecological value of headwater streams for salamanders in the southern Appalachian Mountains?

Cited by 12 publications

References 50 publications

Characterizing lentic habitats in golf courses and adjacent green spaces: water quality, water chemistry, pesticide concentrations, and algal concentrations

Characterizing lentic habitats in golf courses and adjacent green spaces: water quality, water chemistry, pesticide concentrations, and algal concentrations

Examination of Nutrient Sources and Transport in a Catchment with an Audubon Certified Golf Course

Novel Hybrid Statistical Learning Framework Coupled with Random Forest and Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm to Forecast Pesticide Use on Golf Courses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About