Download or read book Using Indicators of Biotic Integrity for Assessment of Stream Condition written by Stephanie A. Ogren and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Multiple indices of biotic integrity and biological condition gradient models have been developed and validated to assess ecological integrity in the Laurentian Great Lakes Region. With multiple groups such as Tribal, Federal, and State agencies as well as scientists and local watershed management or river-focused volunteer groups collecting data for bioassessment it is important that we determine the comparability of data and the effectiveness of indices applied to these data for assessment of natural systems. We evaluated the applicability of macroinvertebrate and fish community indices for assessing site integrity. Site quality (i.e., habitat condition) could be classified differently depending on which index was applied. This highlights the need to better understand the metrics driving index variation as well as reference conditions for effective communication and use of indices of biotic integrity in the Upper Midwest. We found the macroinvertebrate benthic community index for the Northern Lakes and Forests Ecoregion and a coldwater fish index of biotic integrity for the Upper Midwest were most appropriate for use in the Big Manistee River watershed based on replicate sampling, ability to track trends over time and overall performance. We evaluated three sites where improper road stream crossings (culverts) were improved by replacing them with modern full-span structures using the most appropriate fish and macroinvertebrate IBIs. We used a before-after-control-impact paired series analytical design and found mixed results, with evidence of improvement in biotic integrity based on macroinvertebrate indices at some of the sites while most sites indicated no response in index score. Culvert replacements are often developed based on the potential, or the perception, that they will restore ecological integrity. As restoration practitioners, researchers and managers, we need to be transparent in our goals and objectives and monitor for those results specifically. The results of this research serve as an important model for the broader field of ecosystem restoration and support the argument that while biotic communities can respond to actions undertaken with the goal of overall restoration, practitioners should be realistic in their expectations and claims of predicted benefit, and then effectively evaluate the true impacts of the restoration activities.
Download or read book Methods in Stream Ecology written by F. Richard Hauer and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2011-04-27 with total page 894 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Methods in Stream Ecology, Second Edition, provides a complete series of field and laboratory protocols in stream ecology that are ideal for teaching or conducting research. This updated edition reflects recent advances in the technology associated with ecological assessment of streams, including remote sensing. In addition, the relationship between stream flow and alluviation has been added, and a new chapter on riparian zones is also included. The book features exercises in each chapter; detailed instructions, illustrations, formulae, and data sheets for in-field research for students; and taxanomic keys to common stream invertebrates and algae. With a student-friendly price, this book is key for all students and researchers in stream and freshwater ecology, freshwater biology, marine ecology, and river ecology. This text is also supportive as a supplementary text for courses in watershed ecology/science, hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, and landscape ecology. Exercises in each chapter Detailed instructions, illustrations, formulae, and data sheets for in-field research for students Taxanomic keys to common stream invertebrates and algae Link from Chapter 22: FISH COMMUNITY COMPOSITION to an interactive program for assessing and modeling fish numbers
Download or read book Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams written by Thibault Datry and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2017-07-11 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams: Ecology and Management takes an internationally broad approach, seeking to compare and contrast findings across multiple continents, climates, flow regimes, and land uses to provide a complete and integrated perspective on the ecology of these ecosystems. Coupled with this, users will find a discussion of management approaches applicable in different regions that are illustrated with relevant case studies. In a readable and technically accurate style, the book utilizes logically framed chapters authored by experts in the field, allowing managers and policymakers to readily grasp ecological concepts and their application to specific situations. Provides up-to-date reviews of research findings and management strategies using international examples Explores themes and parallels across diverse sub-disciplines in ecology and water resource management utilizing a multidisciplinary and integrative approach Reveals the relevance of this scientific understanding to managers and policymakers
Download or read book Biological Response Signatures written by Thomas P. Simon and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2002-07-17 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The use of environmental assessment procedures within monitoring frameworks demands that there be some relevancy to the decisions that management agencies make using biological criteria. These biological criteria standards are the basis for environmental indicators, which provide a direct measure of environmental quality. Biological Response Signat
Download or read book Riverine Ecosystem Management written by Stefan Schmutz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book surveys the frontier of scientific river research and provides examples to guide management towards a sustainable future of riverine ecosystems. Principal structures and functions of the biogeosphere of rivers are explained; key threats are identified, and effective solutions for restoration and mitigation are provided. Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems of the world. They increasingly suffer from pollution, water abstraction, river channelisation and damming. Fundamental knowledge of ecosystem structure and function is necessary to understand how human acitivities interfere with natural processes and which interventions are feasible to rectify this. Modern water legislation strives for sustainable water resource management and protection of important habitats and species. However, decision makers would benefit from more profound understanding of ecosystem degradation processes and of innovative methodologies and tools for efficient mitigation and restoration. The book provides best-practice examples of sustainable river management from on-site studies, European-wide analyses and case studies from other parts of the world. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of aquatic ecology, river system functioning, conservation and restoration, to postgraduate students, to institutions involved in water management, and to water related industries.
Download or read book Freshwater Algae of North America written by John D. Wehr and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2015-06-05 with total page 1067 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freshwater Algae of North America: Ecology and Classification, Second Edition is an authoritative and practical treatise on the classification, biodiversity, and ecology of all known genera of freshwater algae from North America. The book provides essential taxonomic and ecological information about one of the most diverse and ubiquitous groups of organisms on earth. This single volume brings together experts on all the groups of algae that occur in fresh waters (also soils, snow, and extreme inland environments). In the decade since the first edition, there has been an explosion of new information on the classification, ecology, and biogeography of many groups of algae, with the use of molecular techniques and renewed interest in biological diversity. Accordingly, this new edition covers updated classification information of most algal groups and the reassignment of many genera and species, as well as new research on harmful algal blooms. Extensive and complete Describes every genus of freshwater algae known from North America, with an analytical dichotomous key, descriptions of diagnostic features, and at least one image of every genus. Full-color images throughout provide superb visual examples of freshwater algae Updated Environmental Issues and Classifications, including new information on harmful algal blooms (HAB) Fully revised introductory chapters, including new topics on biodiversity, and taste and odor problems Updated to reflect the rapid advances in algal classification and taxonomy due to the widespread use of DNA technologies
Download or read book Communities as Bio indicators written by Katelyn E. Ludwig and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bioassessment utilizes biological assemblages to assess ecological condition in disturbed areas. The most popular quantitative evaluation of biological health in streams involves an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) for benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs), which incorporates an assessment of species’ trophic status, abundance, and disturbance sensitivity. Tools similar to the IBI have been developed for riparian vegetation and are used to assess impacts of cattle grazing. The US Forest Service (USFS) Region 5 Range Monitoring Protocol uses proportional dominance of seral groups within riparian plant communities to make assertions regarding habitat quality. The objective of this study was to determine whether the IBI for BMIs and the USFS Range Monitoring Protocol would assess habitat quality in a comparable way when applied to the same sites. Twenty riparian field sites exposed to cattle disturbance were randomly selected to implement each assessment method. IBI metrics and composite IBI scores were calculated and compared to vegetative condition scores. Results indicate that the Range Monitoring Protocol and the IBI for BMIs are not comparable techniques. Each protocol ranked sites contrarily and identified different sites as most and least impaired. NMDS ordination was utilized to assess similarities in community composition between sites and to identify variables correlated with assemblage patterns. Results revealed grazing intensity drives community assemblage patterns for vegetation (R2 = 0.2953, p = 0.0162*) but not for invertebrates (R2 = 0.0027, p = 0.8273). Composition of plant communities under low grazing intensity was strongly correlated with stream bank slope and upland vegetation, which indicates grazing is not the only variable influencing composition. NMDS ordination for vegetative communities depicts an association between high grazing and community diversity and richness, which may provide support for the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Further study should address the utility of the Range Monitoring Protocol and the extent to which it can be applied to sites with varying abiotic characteristics.
Download or read book Assessing the Sustainability and Biological Integrity of Water Resources Using Fish Communities written by Thomas P. Simon and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2020-08-26 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the application of fish community characteristics to evaluate the sustainability and biological integrity of freshwaters. Topics include perspectives on use of fish communities as environmental indicators in program development, collaboration, and partnership forming; influence of specific taxa on assessment of the IBI; regional applications for areas where the IBI had not previously been developed; and specific applications of the IBI developed for coldwater streams, inland lakes, Great Lakes, reservoirs, and tailwaters.
Download or read book Biological Criteria written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Scientific Investigations Report written by Sharon E. Kroening and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Fishes of Illinois written by Philip Wayne Smith and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illinois bodies of water are home to a diverse population of fishes. This title includes the twenty-eight families of fishes, identifying each family's common and scientific name and detailing its evolutionary relationships and economic importance.
Download or read book The State of the Nation s Ecosystems written by H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-09-09 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We all rely on a familiar set of indicators - interest rates, unemployment, inflation, the Dow Jones index, and GDP, for example - to gauge the performance of national economies. No such measures are currently available to describe the environment. This book lays out a blueprint for periodic reporting on the condition and use of ecosystems in the United States. Developed by experts from businesses, environmental organizations, universities, and federal, state, and local government agencies, it is designed to provide policymakers and the general public with a succinct and comprehensive - yet scientifically sound and non-partisan - view of 'how we are doing'. This book should prove invaluable for decision makers in natural resource management and environmental policy in government and environmental organizations, businesses, and trade associations; academics with a research or teaching interest in environmental issues; and the general public interested in the continued well-being of American ecosystems.
Download or read book MidAtlantic highlands streams assessment final report written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Watershed Management written by Robert J. Naiman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 738 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conceptual separation of humans and natural ecosystems is reflected in the thinking of most natural resource management professions, including for estry, wildlife management, fisheries, range management, and watershed management (Burch 1971). Such thinking can deny the reality of the human element in local, regional, and global ecosystems (Bonnicksen and Lee 1982, Klausner 1971, Vayda 1977). As complex organisms with highly developed cultural abilities to modify their environment, humans directly or indirectly affect almost all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Bennett 1976). Conse quently, information for managing watershed ecosystems is incomplete without consideration of human institutions and activities. Sociologists have studied the relationships between human societies and the land base or ecosystems on which they depend for over 60 years (Field and Burch 1990). These studies are distinguished by (1) a holistic perspec tive that sees people and their environments as interacting systems, (2) flex ible approaches that permit either the environment or human society to be treated as the independent variable in analyzing of society-environment re lations, and (3) accumulation of a substantial body of knowledge about how the future welfare of a society is influenced by its uses (or misuses) of land and water (Firey 1990).
Download or read book Biological Assessment and Criteria written by Wayne S. Davis and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1995-03-03 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biological Assessment and Criteria presents a state-of-the-art overview of the applications of biological assessments and biocriteria for water quality management in fresh waters. The book presents case studies which illustrate how bioassessment has been used to identify and diagnose water quality problems. It also provides examples of the use of qualitative and quantitative biocriteria as regulatory tools to complement water quality criteria and standards. The first book to present the technical foundation, rationale, program and policy relevance, and legal basis for the most accurate tools used to assess freshwater natural resource and regulatory efforts, this book provides useful and timely information for water quality managers.
Download or read book Assessing the Ecological Integrity of Running Waters written by M. Jungwirth and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The assessment of the ecological integrity of running waters is a prerequisite to an understanding of the effects of human alterations. The evaluation of degradation processes provides key information on how to avoid further negative impacts. The success of future conservation, mitigation and restoration activities will rely on sound assessment methodologies and their ecological relevance and applicability. Assessment methodologies are therefore an integral part of sustainable river management. This book synthesizes and discusses state-of-the-art experiences in assessment methodologies. Including the latest knowledge on structures, processes and functions of running waters as a fundamental basis for developing adequate assessment methods, the book focuses on method development, application, and in particular on integrated assessment methods. This book is directed at scientists and managers with the aim of more effective preservation, restoration and maintenance of the ecological integrity of running water ecosystems.
Download or read book Ecological Integrity written by David Pimentel and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2013-04-22 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Integrity Project has brought together leading scientists and thinkers from around the world to examine the combined problems of threatened and unequal human well-being, degradation of the ecosphere, and unsustainable economies. Based on the proposition that healthy, functioning ecosystems are a necessary prerequisite for both economic security and social justice, the project is built around the concept of ecological integrity and its practical implications for policy and management. Ecological Integrity presents a synthesis and findings of the project. Contributors -- including Robert Goodland, James Karr, Orie Loucks, Jack Manno, William Rees, Mark Sagoff, Robert Ulanowicz, Philippe Crabbe, Laura Westra, David Pimentel, Reed Noss, and others -- examine the key elements of ecological integrity and consider what happens when integrity is lost or compromised. The book: examines historical and philosophical foundations of the concept of ecological integrity explores how integrity can be measured examines the relationships among ecological integrity, human health, and food production looks at economic and ethical issues that need to be considered in protecting ecological integrity offers concrete recommendations for reversing ecological degradation while promoting social and economic justice and welfare . Contributors argue that there is an urgent need for rapid and fundamental change in the ecologically destructive patterns of collective human behavior if society is to survive and thrive in coming decades. Ecological Integrity is a groundbreaking book that integrates environmental science, economics, law, and ethics in problem analysis, synthesis, and solution, and is a vital contribution for anyone concerned with interactions between human and planetary health.
