Ecological limit functions relating fish community response to hydrologic departures of the ecological flow regime in the Tennessee River basin, United States

Knight, Rodney R.; Murphy, Jennifer C.; Wolfe, William J.; Saylor, Charles; Wales, Amy K.

doi:10.1002/eco.1460

Cited by 36 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…The flow-ecology relationships used in this case study consist of a set of equations signifying statistically discernible upper bounds on fish species richness as functions of cumulative hydrologic departure from reference conditions [52]. Detailed descriptions of data and methods that produced these flow-ecology relationships are presented in [52,65] and are summarized as an annotated workflow in Figure S1.…”

Section: Step 3: Format Independent Variables For Flow-ecology Relatimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Detailed descriptions of data and methods that produced these flow-ecology relationships are presented in [52,65] and are summarized as an annotated workflow in Figure S1. This case study required that the SFCs obtained in step 2 be formatted in terms of cumulative hydrologic departure from reference conditions [52,61] for use as independent variables in flow-ecology relationships for the Cumberland Plateau ( Figure S2, Table S2). …”

Section: Step 3: Format Independent Variables For Flow-ecology Relatimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a few cases, predicted fish-species richness was negative because of high levels of hydrologic alteration and negative slope of flow-ecology relationships; these values were set to zero. Fish-species richness predictions were stratified according to ecologically meaningful categories based on trophic, habitat, and reproductive characteristics; see table I in [52] for fish category definitions. Because flow-ecology relationships were developed independently for each fish category ( Figure S2 and Table S2), predicted fish-species richness could not be compared directly from one fish category to another.…”

Section: Step 4: Predict Ecological Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To illustrate this four-step process, we present a case study in the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee and Kentucky, USA, in which existing flow-ecology relationships were operationalized into a DSS for prediction of fish community response to hypothetical water-management scenarios. Specifically, ecological-limit functions from [52] predict the upper bounds on fish species richness in response to cumulative hydrologic departure from reference conditions. Thus, for a given magnitude of cumulative hydrologic departure (as defined and quantified in [52]), ecological-limit functions predict the maximum fish species richness if other factors (e.g., water quality, habitat condition) are non-limiting.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, ecological-limit functions from [52] predict the upper bounds on fish species richness in response to cumulative hydrologic departure from reference conditions. Thus, for a given magnitude of cumulative hydrologic departure (as defined and quantified in [52]), ecological-limit functions predict the maximum fish species richness if other factors (e.g., water quality, habitat condition) are non-limiting. Thus, the DSS described here translates alternative water-management scenarios into predicted hydrologic response and predicted upper bounds on fish species richness.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Putting Flow–Ecology Relationships into Practice: A Decision-Support System to Assess Fish Community Response to Water-Management Scenarios

Cartwright

Caldwell

Nebiker

et al. 2017

Water

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This paper presents a conceptual framework to operationalize flow-ecology relationships into decision-support systems of practical use to water-resource managers, who are commonly tasked with balancing multiple competing socioeconomic and environmental priorities. We illustrate this framework with a case study, whereby fish community responses to various water-management scenarios were predicted in a partially regulated river system at a local watershed scale. This case study simulates management scenarios based on interactive effects of dam operation protocols, withdrawals for municipal water supply, effluent discharges from wastewater treatment, and inter-basin water transfers. Modeled streamflow was integrated with flow-ecology relationships relating hydrologic departure from reference conditions to fish species richness, stratified by trophic, reproductive, and habitat characteristics. Adding a hypothetical new water-withdrawal site was predicted to increase the frequency of low-flow conditions with adverse effects for several fish groups. Imposition of new reservoir release requirements was predicted to enhance flow and fish species richness immediately downstream of the reservoir, but these effects were dissipated further downstream. The framework presented here can be used to translate flow-ecology relationships into evidence-based management by developing decision-support systems for conservation of riverine biodiversity while optimizing water availability for human use.

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Section: Step 3: Format Independent Variables For Flow-ecology Relatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Step 3: Format Independent Variables For Flow-ecology Relatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Step 4: Predict Ecological Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Putting Flow–Ecology Relationships into Practice: A Decision-Support System to Assess Fish Community Response to Water-Management Scenarios

Cartwright

Caldwell

Nebiker

et al. 2017

Water

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Environmental flows in the context of unconventional natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale

Buchanan

Auerbach

McManamay

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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Quantitative flow-ecology relationships are needed to evaluate how water withdrawals for unconventional natural gas development may impact aquatic ecosystems. Addressing this need, we studied current patterns of hydrologic alteration in the Marcellus Shale region and related the estimated flow alteration to fish community measures. We then used these empirical flow-ecology relationships to evaluate alternative surface water withdrawals and environmental flow rules. Reduced high-flow magnitude, dampened rates of change, and increased low-flow magnitudes were apparent regionally, but changes in many of the flow metrics likely to be sensitive to withdrawals also showed substantial regional variation. Fish community measures were significantly related to flow alteration, including declines in species richness with diminished annual runoff, winter low-flow, and summer median-flow. In addition, the relative abundance of intolerant taxa decreased with reduced winter high-flow and increased flow constancy, while fluvial specialist species decreased with reduced winter and annual flows. Stream size strongly mediated both the impact of withdrawal scenarios and the protection afforded by environmental flow standards. Under the most intense withdrawal scenario, 75% of reference headwaters and creeks (drainage areas <99 km ) experienced at least 78% reduction in summer flow, whereas little change was predicted for larger rivers. Moreover, the least intense withdrawal scenario still reduced summer flows by at least 21% for 50% of headwaters and creeks. The observed 90th quantile flow-ecology relationships indicate that such alteration could reduce species richness by 23% or more. Seasonally varying environmental flow standards and high fixed minimum flows protected the most streams from hydrologic alteration, but common minimum flow standards left numerous locations vulnerable to substantial flow alteration. This study clarifies how additional water demands in the region may adversely affect freshwater biological integrity. The results make clear that policies to limit or prevent water withdrawals from smaller streams can reduce the risk of ecosystem impairment.

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A comparison of hydrologic models for ecological flows and water availability

et al. 2015

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Robust hydrologic models are needed to help manage water resources for healthy aquatic ecosystems and reliable water supplies for people, but there is a lack of comprehensive model comparison studies that quantify differences in streamflow predictions among model applications developed to answer management questions. We assessed differences in daily streamflow predictions by four fine‐scale models and two regional‐scale monthly time step models by comparing model fit statistics and bias in ecologically relevant flow statistics (ERFSs) at five sites in the Southeastern USA. Models were calibrated to different extents, including uncalibrated (level A), calibrated to a downstream site (level B), calibrated specifically for the site (level C) and calibrated for the site with adjusted precipitation and temperature inputs (level D). All models generally captured the magnitude and variability of observed streamflows at the five study sites, and increasing level of model calibration generally improved performance. All models had at least 1 of 14 ERFSs falling outside a +/−30% range of hydrologic uncertainty at every site, and ERFSs related to low flows were frequently over‐predicted. Our results do not indicate that any specific hydrologic model is superior to the others evaluated at all sites and for all measures of model performance. Instead, we provide evidence that (1) model performance is as likely to be related to calibration strategy as it is to model structure and (2) simple, regional‐scale models have comparable performance to the more complex, fine‐scale models at a monthly time step. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Ecological limit functions relating fish community response to hydrologic departures of the ecological flow regime in the Tennessee River basin, United States

Cited by 36 publications

References 90 publications

Putting Flow–Ecology Relationships into Practice: A Decision-Support System to Assess Fish Community Response to Water-Management Scenarios

Putting Flow–Ecology Relationships into Practice: A Decision-Support System to Assess Fish Community Response to Water-Management Scenarios

Environmental flows in the context of unconventional natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale

A comparison of hydrologic models for ecological flows and water availability

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