Evaluating the Illinois Stream Valley Segment Model as an Effective Management Tool

Warrner, Stephen S.; Fischer, Robert U.; Holtrop, Ann Marie; Hinz, Leon C.; Novak, J. M.

doi:10.1007/s00267-010-9551-x

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…A wide range of environmental variables on climate, geology, land use, soils and topography were summarised at four different spatial scales, all of which are related to the reach: (i) the total catchment (WT), the drainage above the downstream end of a reach; (ii) the local catchment (W), the area that drains into a reach directly; (iii) the 30‐m riparian zone in the total catchment (RT); and (iv) the 30‐m riparian zone in the local catchment (R). The effectiveness of reaches in partitioning the variation in fish assemblages and habitat variables among sampling sites has been confirmed in two recent studies (Warner et al ., ; Wang et al ., ).…”

Section: Sampling and Analytical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling and mapping the distribution, diversity and abundance of freshwater mussels (Family Unionidae) in wadeable streams of Illinois, U.S.A.

et al. 2015

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1. Freshwater mussels are one of the most imperilled animal groups in the world. Their effective conservation and restoration require a better understanding of their spatial distributions at a relevant scale and of their relationships with natural environmental factors and human disturbances. 2. In this study, we sampled over 900 sites on wadeable streams throughout Illinois, U.S.A., and compiled environmental data for a wide range of natural and anthropogenic factors related to climate, geology, land use, and connections to large rivers, dams and ponds. 3. Using random forest classification and regression, we modelled the presence-absence of mussels as a group (87% accuracy), the abundances of 29 individual mussel species (R 2 = 0.2-0.51), species richness (R 2 = 0.52) and total mussel abundance in a standard sample (R 2 = 0.41). 4. The abundances of most species increased with stream size, the proportion of agricultural land in the catchment and the distance to the nearest dam or pond, but decreased with increasing catchment or channel slope and the proportion of forest in the catchment. Species varied in their relationships with climate variables, suggesting that they respond differently to climate change. Geology, particularly bedrock depth, was important for many species. Species richness and total mussel abundance responded positively to stream size and negatively to the slope of streams or catchments. 5. The models were applied to unsampled wadeable stream reaches to generate mussel distribution maps at the reach scale, useful tools for resource managers to effectively protect and restore mussel biodiversity. The models also improve our understanding of how mussel populations and assemblages are structured by natural factors and human disturbances at a broad scale.

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Section: Sampling and Analytical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling and mapping the distribution, diversity and abundance of freshwater mussels (Family Unionidae) in wadeable streams of Illinois, U.S.A.

et al. 2015

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“…In a hierarchical framework this generalizes finer scale variability within segments such as sedimentary links, pools, rifles, and lateral sediment sources to answer questions at appropriate scales (Frissell et al 1986;Rice and Church 1998). Recently, stream network segmentation schemas have been tested to assess the homogeneity within segments and whether assigned classes are actually different (Warrner et al 2010). For these types of assessments, researchers avoid sampling near confluences because they are not representative of stream reaches and segments as a whole because of complex fluvial dynamics and flow mixing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tributary effects in rivers: interactions of spatial scale, network structure, and landscape characteristics

Jones

Schmidt

2017

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Landscape characteristics in combination with the physical structure of branched stream networks define the environmental conditions available for lotic biota. From simple stream network “laws” can emerge a spatially explicit understanding of habitat heterogeneity. Based on geographic information system analyses, we explore how stream networks integrate spatial heterogeneity of the landscape and form new characteristics as stream segments accumulate into progressively larger drainages and how these changes in landscape characteristics relate to confluence symmetry ratio and drainage size. Simple expectations for stream networks include the following: (i) abrupt changes in longitudinal patterns are more probable among the numerous small and diverse headwater streams than in large, rare, and characteristically similar tributaries, (ii) the many small tributaries flowing into large mainstem channels cause individually small, yet collectively gradual, changes in longitudinal patterns. Such a spatial understanding of where change is likely to occur helps to reconcile gradual river continuum and abrupt discontinuum views of patterns in rivers and predict the locations of important confluences, ecological transitions, longitudinal gradients, and patterns of biodiversity in stream networks.

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“…Dams, ponds, or abrupt change points for slope or geology also can act as the boundary of a reach. Both habitats and fish samples were more similar within a reach than among reaches in other studies, and a reach is thus an appropriate unit of stream network (Warrner et al 2010;Wang et al 2011). The total watershed (WT) was defined as the total upstream land area draining into the most downstream point of the reach sampled, and analyses at this scale were intended to evaluate effects of inputs from the entire drainage area on a sampling location.…”

Section: Land-cover Data Compilingmentioning

confidence: 93%

Influence of a forest preserve on aquatic macroinvertebrates, habitat quality, and water quality in an urban stream

et al. 2015

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The use of nature areas as an effective tool for conservation of streams and their biota is a relatively unexplored option in urban stream management. Benthic macroinvertebrates and water quality in an urban stream, Poplar Creek, were monitored along a continuum within and downstream of a forest preserve in the western Chicago metropolitan area, USA. Taxa richness and a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biological integrity (MIBI) increased as the stream progressed within the preserve, but percentage of Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and Plecoptera (%EPT) showed no improvement. Reductions in the amount of silt substrates and increases in gravel-dominated substrate were evident at sites within the preserve. There were no improvements in water-quality measures tested although trends may have been obscured by precipitation events between sampling occasions. The benefits in stream quality attained within the forest preserve extended beyond the downstream border of the preserve and were not diminished by the presence of a railway, which bisected the stream. The nature preserve provided an opportunity for increased macroinvertebrate biodiversity, likely through local reductions in impervious surfaces and improvements in stream substrate, despite lack of evidence that it improved water quality.

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Evaluating the Illinois Stream Valley Segment Model as an Effective Management Tool

Abstract: This research is a product of the graduate program in Biological Sciences at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program.

Cited by 9 publications

References 39 publications

Modelling and mapping the distribution, diversity and abundance of freshwater mussels (Family Unionidae) in wadeable streams of Illinois, U.S.A.

Modelling and mapping the distribution, diversity and abundance of freshwater mussels (Family Unionidae) in wadeable streams of Illinois, U.S.A.

Tributary effects in rivers: interactions of spatial scale, network structure, and landscape characteristics

Influence of a forest preserve on aquatic macroinvertebrates, habitat quality, and water quality in an urban stream

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