Empirical assessment of effects of urbanization on event flow hydrology in watersheds of Canada’s Great Lakes-St Lawrence basin

Trudeau, M.P.; Richardson, Murray

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.08.051

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Many individual observation sites recorded increased fish richness with increased UP and increased fish richness with maximum acceleration (Figure , middle and right panels, respectively). Increased event acceleration is positively associated with UP (Trudeau and Richardson, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With respect to the second possible explanation, the result that hydrologic variables were more strongly negatively associated with fish richness than UP may reflect very early negative effects of flow regime change on fish richness. Changes in mean acceleration in the study area began to occur at very low percent urban land use, possibly as early as 4% UP (Trudeau and Richardson, ). If flow acceleration has a strong negative effect on fish richness, the effects may occur prior to commencement of other changes commonly associated with urbanization, such as alterations of water temperature and chemistry.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data for this study were obtained from multiple sources: Environment Canada Water Survey of Canada hydrologic data with 15‐min temporal resolution from 1969 to 2010; Watershed scale urban land use delineation estimated by year, with scattered temporal coverage between 1969 and 2011 (multiple sources, described in Trudeau and Richardson, ); Baseflow index estimates (Dr. J Buttle pers.comm. (2015) and Neff, Day, Piggott, & Fuller, ) Fish species characterization, including invasive species (R. Eakins, pers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flow acceleration (in units of cubic meters per second per second) was calculated for rising limb event flows based on the difference between each sequential 15‐min flow record, divided by 15 min (converted to seconds). Custom R scripts were used to isolate events in the flow records and to calculate accelerations (see Trudeau and Richardson () for additional detail). The maximum acceleration used in empirical statistical models was the highest calculated rising limb acceleration within the flow record for each hydrologic site for each year within the database.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Watershed scale urban land use delineation estimated by year, with scattered temporal coverage between 1969 and 2011 (multiple sources, described in Trudeau and Richardson, 2016); • Fish data for eight river systems at a temporal resolution of day or month, between 1928month, between and 2011month, between . Recent fish data (i.e., since 2000 collected by the CVCA, the TRCA, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) were accessed through data-sharing agreements for the Provincial database, Flowing Waters Information System.…”

Section: Databasementioning

confidence: 99%

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Associations of event‐scale flow hydrology with fish richness in urbanizing Canadian watersheds of Lake Ontario

Trudeau¹,

Morin

2017

Ecohydrology

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Urbanization is associated with declines in aquatic biodiversity and changes to flow regimes. This empirical research examined high temporal resolution (15 min) hydrologic records and associations with fish species richness in eight river systems in theToronto region, Canada. The dataset spanned approximately five decades and covered the annual post-freshet period to mid-November. The high-temporal resolution flow records allowed estimation of flow acceleration (a measure of the rate of change in flow) in response to rain events. Maximum rising limb event flow acceleration and skew in instantaneous runoff explained a higher proportion of variation than percent urban land use in empirical models with long-term fish records. Models fit using only the most recent decade of records did not produce the same results, likely indicating that analyses of flow with fish diversity require sufficient range in flow conditions for the statistical signals to be detected. Historic fish data are difficult to obtain and pose analytical challenges due to bias and inconsistent collection methods. Despite the data limitations, the study results point to the need for more research into potential causal factors contributing to negative fish richness in urbanizing watercourses with periods of high flow acceleration.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Databasementioning

confidence: 99%

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Associations of event‐scale flow hydrology with fish richness in urbanizing Canadian watersheds of Lake Ontario

Trudeau¹,

Morin

2017

Ecohydrology

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Evaluation of infiltration‐based stormwater management to restore hydrological processes in urban headwater streams

Fanelli

Prestegaard

Palmer

2017

Hydrological Processes

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Urbanization threatens headwater stream ecosystems globally. Watershed restoration practices, such as infiltration‐based stormwater management, are implemented to mitigate the detrimental effects of urbanization on aquatic ecosystems. However, their effectiveness for restoring hydrologic processes and watershed storage remains poorly understood. Our study used a comparative hydrology approach to quantify the effects of urban watershed restoration on watershed hydrologic function in headwater streams within the Coastal Plain of Maryland, USA. We selected 11 headwater streams that spanned an urbanization–restoration gradient (4 forested, 4 urban‐degraded, and 3 urban‐degraded) to evaluate changes in watershed hydrologic function from both urbanization and watershed restoration. Discrete discharge and continuous, high‐frequency rainfall‐stage monitoring were conducted in each watershed. These datasets were used to develop 6 hydrologic metrics describing changes in watershed storage, flowpath connectivity, or the resultant stream flow regime. The hydrological effects of urbanization were clearly observed in all metrics, but only 1 of the 3 restored watersheds exhibited partially restored hydrologic function. At this site, a larger minimum runoff threshold was observed relative to the urban‐degraded watersheds, suggesting enhanced infiltration of stormwater runoff within the restoration structure. However, baseflow in the stream draining this watershed remained low compared to the forested reference streams, suggesting that enhanced infiltration of stormwater runoff did not recharge subsurface storage zones contributing to stream baseflow. The highly variable responses among the 3 restored watersheds were likely due to the spatial heterogeneity of urban development, including the level of impervious cover and extent of the storm sewer network. This study yielded important knowledge on how restoration strategies, such as infiltration‐based stormwater management, modulated—or failed to modulate—hydrological processes affected by urbanization, which will help improve the design of future urban watershed management strategies. More broadly, we highlighted a multimetric approach that can be used to monitor the restoration of headwater stream ecosystems in disturbed landscapes.

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Agricultural intensification and urban expansion affect the seasonal flow regime in southern Ontario watersheds

Lockett,

Buttle,

Leach

et al. 2024

Hydrological Processes

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The mosaic of urban, agricultural and natural covers that typifies most developed landscapes makes it challenging to identify the primary causes of stream flow perturbation in mixed landcover watersheds. This is especially true in southern Ontario, Canada, where approximately 1/3 of the Canadian population lives in urban areas surrounded by agriculture. Whilst previous studies have examined the impacts of urban or agricultural landcover on stream flow separately, they are rarely considered together. Furthermore, major expansions in tile‐drained (TD) cropland in Ontario over the past several decades could affect the flow regime; however, this has never been examined. This study assessed the effect of landcover on flow regime at 19 proximal watersheds that varied in agriculture (0%–87%), natural (2%–97%) and urban landcover (2%–96%) using the Richards–Baker index (RBI), the coefficient of variation (CV) and a Baseflow index (BFI). Urbanized watersheds were consistently the most flashy (highest RBI and CV), regardless of season, whereas agricultural watersheds had moderately flashy conditions that varied between the growing (GS) and non‐growing seasons (NGS). Natural watersheds were the least flashy and had the highest BFI. Watersheds dominated by TD cropland were flashier during the NGS compared with un‐tiled agricultural watersheds. Furthermore, TD‐streams were warmer in the NGS and cooler in the GS, such that the former could affect ice breakup. A 50‐year analysis at three watersheds showed statistically significant increases in flashiness and decreases in BFI at an urbanizing watershed. In contrast, watersheds that remained agricultural or natural underwent small but significant declines in flashiness and increases in baseflow, potentially due to increases in precipitation and forest maturation. Our results suggest that continued expansions of urban and TD cropland may increase NGS flashiness. In contrast, enhanced soil moisture storage provided by TD could decrease the potential for flooding in the GS in southern Ontario.

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Empirical assessment of effects of urbanization on event flow hydrology in watersheds of Canada’s Great Lakes-St Lawrence basin

Cited by 26 publications

References 36 publications

Associations of event‐scale flow hydrology with fish richness in urbanizing Canadian watersheds of Lake Ontario

Associations of event‐scale flow hydrology with fish richness in urbanizing Canadian watersheds of Lake Ontario

Evaluation of infiltration‐based stormwater management to restore hydrological processes in urban headwater streams

Agricultural intensification and urban expansion affect the seasonal flow regime in southern Ontario watersheds

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