Implications of Colorado river (Texas, USA) freshwater inflow to benthic ecosystem dynamics: A modeling study

Kim, Hae-Cheol; Montagna, Paul A.

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2009.04.033

Cited by 28 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Salinity in the Lavaca-Colorado Estuary has been reported to have estuary-wide positive relationships with abundance and biomass using yearly averages over a long-time period . Decreases in freshwater inflow (increases in salinity) are thought to change the dominant trophic guild from filter feeder to deposit feeder in the Lavaca-Colorado and other Texas estuaries (Kim & Montagna, 2009, 2012. This change of dominant trophic guild as inflow decreases may be a decrease in functional diversity if inflow reductions are severe enough to cause filter feeders to be lost.…”

Section: Infaunal Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Impacts of droughts and low flows on estuarine water quality and benthic fauna

Palmer

Montagna

2015

Hydrobiologia

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effects of droughts on benthic infaunal communities and three epifaunal species were determined in three semi-arid central Texas estuaries with different inflow dynamics and consequent salinity regimes: the Nueces, Lavaca-Colorado, and Guadalupe Estuaries. Periods (months or years) were considered to be in drought if mean salinities were in the upper quartile of historic salinities. This drought classification method was verified by comparing the Palmer Drought Severity Index of the catchments with the drought classifications within each estuary. Droughts have demonstrable effects on estuary water column condition, notably decreases in turbidity, nutrient concentrations, and chlorophyll concentrations. Droughts do not appear to be important drivers of infaunal communities in estuarine regions with normally high salinities (25-32) although they coincide with increased diversity and changes in community composition in estuarine regions that have lower salinities (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). Droughts cause decreases in Litopenaeus setiferus (white shrimp) and Callinectes sapidis (blue crab) abundances and spatial extents. This indicates that droughts, especially when combined with water diversions, may negatively affect primary and secondary productions in other semi-arid estuaries of the world.

show abstract

Section: Infaunal Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Impacts of droughts and low flows on estuarine water quality and benthic fauna

Palmer

Montagna

2015

Hydrobiologia

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Lagoon, river, and major bay estuaries are located along the entire Gulf of Mexico coast, and nine in Texas were studied over a 5-year period. The control sites in this study were the major bay sites located in Lavaca Bay and Matagorda Bay (the Lavaca-Colorado Estuary), which has been well-studied (Ward & Armstrong, 1980;Wilber & Bass, 1998;Montagna, 2000;Montagna et al, 2008a;Kim & Montagna, 2009;Pollack et al, 2009). Control sites are needed in research studies to compare reference conditions to experimental conditions (Piegorsh & Bailer, 1997).…”

Section: Analytical Approachmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Numerous studies have examined the effects of freshwater inflow on macrobenthos productivity in the major bay systems (Kalke & Montagna, 1991;Montagna & Yoon, 1991;Montagna & Kalke, 1992;1995;Wilber & Bass, 1998;Russell et al, 2006;Kim & Montagna, 2009;Pollack et al, 2009;Shank et al, 2009). These studies demonstrated that regional scale processes and long-term hydrological cycles interact and regulate benthic abundance, productivity, diversity, and community structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The role of freshwater inflow in lagoons, rivers, and bays

et al. 2011

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study was to compare the impact of different freshwater inflow volumes on benthic communities and water column dynamics in different estuary classes. Benthic and water column spatial dynamics were contrasted in lagoons (with no direct inflow sources), tidal rivers that empty directly into the Gulf of Mexico, and bar-built bay systems (with direct inflow sources) along the Texas (USA) coast to determine the role of inflow in regulating ecosystem structure and function. Chlorophyll-a and nutrient concentrations were inversely correlated with salinity and were thus highest in the river systems, but lowest in lagoons. All Texas estuary types studied have conservative mixing for silicate and ammonium but are sinks for nitrite plus nitrate and phosphate. Macrobenthic production (abundance and biomass) was lowest in rivers and highest in lagoons. Diversity was low in estuaries with salinities between 1 and 17, but increased with salinities of up to 30, before decreasing in hypersaline conditions. Macrofaunal community structure divided the estuaries into two groups. The first group represented polyhaline communities and contained lagoons (East Matagorda, Matagorda, Christmas, and South Bays). The second group represented oligo-mesohaline community characteristics and contained the secondary bays (Lavaca Bay and Cedar Lakes) and rivers (San Bernard River, Brazos River, and the Rio Grande). The implications of these results for managing freshwater flows is that altered hydrology can change the character of estuarine systems regardless of their classification as bays, lagoons, or tidal rivers.

show abstract

“…An essentially synthetic approach can be seen being actively developed in a few studies to date from across the globe (e.g. see Anderson et al 2006, Powell 2008, Kim & Montagna 2009, Lester et al 2009, Zweig & Kitchens 2009) to fulfil a need that water resource managers shall feel keenly over the years to come. This synthesis entails an ability to realistically infer what the future climate is likely to be in specific locations, translate how that might diminish water flows but increase demands for irrigation and other extractive uses, and then foresee the ecological consequences of such changes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Excessive extraction of water upstream for human uses can, in turn, threaten an estuary's future and considerable progress has been made recently in modelling these relationships using relatively simple models (e.g. Kim & Montagna 2009, Lester & Fair-weather 2009a,b, 2010, Zweig & Kitchens 2009). Many of these modelling approaches, such as state-and-transition modelling, have implied thresholds associated with whatever environmental changes trigger the transitions between identified states.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting future ecological degradation based on modelled thresholds

Fairweather¹,

Lester²

2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Threshold models are becoming important in determining the ecological consequences of our actions within the environment and have a key role in setting bounds on targets used by natural resource managers. We have been using thresholds and related concepts adapted from the multiple stable-states literature to model ecosystem response in the Coorong, the estuary for Australia's largest river. Our modelling approach is based upon developing a state-and-transition model, with the states defined by the biota and the transitions defined by a classification and regression tree (CART) analysis of the environmental data for the region. Here we explore the behaviour of thresholds within that model. Managers tend to plan for a set of often arbitrarily-derived thresholds in their natural resource management. We attempt to assess how the precision afforded by analyses such as CART translates into ecological outcomes, and explicitly trial several approaches to understanding thresholds and transitions in our model and how they might be relevant for management. We conclude that the most promising approach would be a mixture of further modelling (using past behaviour to predict future degradation) in conjunction with targeted experiments to confirm the results. Our case study of the Coorong is further developed, particularly for the modelling stages of the protocol, to provide recommendations to improve natural resource management strategies that are currently in use.

show abstract

Implications of Colorado river (Texas, USA) freshwater inflow to benthic ecosystem dynamics: A modeling study

Cited by 28 publications

References 22 publications

Impacts of droughts and low flows on estuarine water quality and benthic fauna

Impacts of droughts and low flows on estuarine water quality and benthic fauna

The role of freshwater inflow in lagoons, rivers, and bays

Predicting future ecological degradation based on modelled thresholds

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About