No abstract

Headwater streams are the beginnings of fluvial networks and therefore fill a critical role in the development of the Earth’s drainages. Therefore, it is important that we understand the role that disturbances have on these systems and how they translate disturbance downstream. Hurricane Sandy struck the eastern seaboard of the United States in late October 2012 and produced record snowfall in the Appalachian Mountains, which caused widespread destruction of trees and subsequent deposition of large wood (LW; pieces ≥1.0 m × 0.05 m) in many headwater streams throughout the region. We investigated these effects in 25 West Virginia headwater streams and found varying levels (0%–195% change from previous annual data; 0–820 LW pieces·km−1) of new wood additions. When compared with years prior to Sandy, the rate of LW deposition was significant across all size classes and streams (p < 0.0001). We also found a significantly (p < 0.01) negative pattern of LW impact based upon elevation, with higher elevations receiving lower levels of LW deposition. This research provides a unique glimpse at the initial magnitude of natural wood addition on headwater streams following a large disturbance.

Understanding perceptions of water quality held by residents is critical to address gaps in public awareness and knowledge and may provide insight into what defines communities that are more/less resilient to changing water conditions locally. We sought to identify spatial patterns of water quality perceptions gathered in a survey of Southern West Virginia (WV) residents during spring/summer 2018. Using over 500 survey responses across 15 counties, we calculated spatial autocorrelation metrics and modeled the relationships between overall water quality perceptions and county-level socioeconomic endpoints, such as poverty rate, per capita income, and education level. We identified significant differences across counties labeled as socioeconomically "transitional", "at-risk", and "distressed", as it pertained to responses for water quality perceptions, education level, and income level. We also found significant positive relationships between overall water quality perceptions, elevation, and income level. We calculated an empirical semivariogram and fit an exponential model to explain a significant autocorrelation pattern within a range of 104.2 km. Using that semivariance function, we created a kriging interpolation surface across the study area to identify significant clusters of water quality perceptions. This work highlights the influence of location on water quality perceptions within Southern West Virginia, but the analytical framework should be considered in further research, when samples are spread across large areas with varying socioeconomics.

Understanding the economic value of marine sanctuaries such as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) is important to justify public and private investments and to provide information to support management activities and understand their role in the nation’s blue economy. Very few studies have employed economic contribution analysis in examining economic value, even though it is more useful in influencing the behaviors of decision makers. This study therefore employs such a methodology to determine the economic importance of tourism and visitor spending in the sanctuary to Monroe County, Florida’s economy. Visitors who came to the area for ocean recreation and tourism spent a total of USD 1.7 billion, which translates to a contribution of 19,688 total jobs, USD 752 million in total labor income, USD 1.2 billion in total value added, and USD 2 billion in total output to the region. With regard to the spending of snorkelers and divers only, total spending is about USD 1.07 billion, contributing about 12,441 total jobs, USD 466 million in total labor income, USD 767 million in total value added, and USD 1.2 billion in total output. Ocean recreation is therefore an important economic driver in the region and efforts should be directed at protecting the diverse and sensitive ecosystem of the sanctuary.

Examining variation in fish populations over time is strengthened when climatic variations are understood and incorporated into analyses. We used a 18‐year brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) data set with samples across a ~4800 km2 spatial area in the Central Appalachian Mountains, combined with PRISM climate data at the HUC‐12 subwatershed level to investigate temporal trends of each. We found significant increases in air temperature (p < .01) with no significant trends in precipitation across time, including no trends in changes in variation of temperature and precipitation also. Extreme rainfall events (# of days above 95% percentile for total daily precipitation in a year) and consecutive dry days (cumulative # of consecutive days with <3 mm precipitation in a year) were also examined and produced no significantly changing trends over time. Using random forests, seasonal climate variables identified as changing over time explained 35.1% of the variability in young‐of‐the‐year brook trout abundance over the 18‐year monitoring period. The same procedure explained 25.1% of the variability in juvenile abundance and only 5.1% in adult abundance. Variable selection following random forest generation illustrated significant effects for winter and spring precipitation (both negative on young‐of‐the‐year abundance. Spring degree days and spring precipitation both had significant negative effects on juvenile abundance. Random effects for stream and year explained a maximum of 27.7% and 10.8% of the variation in abundance across all models. A significant, positive interaction between spring degree days and precipitation was also identified, lending support to the important balance between temperature and flow in these systems that is critical to brook trout persistence. This work provides long‐term evidence to help understand the dynamics of these sentinel headwater fish populations as they experience a changing climate.