Setting Goals and Measuring Success: Linking Patterns and Processes in Stream Restoration

Ryder, Darren; Miller, Wendy

doi:10.1007/s10750-005-1512-7

Cited by 31 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Clear articulation and documentation of goals and objectives is essential for success and the ability to assess progress towards its achievement [3,22,42]. One way of ensuring that goals are clear, realistic and achievable is to state them quantitatively.…”

Section: Obstacles To Building the Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying Challenges to Building an Evidence Base for Restoration Practice

Ntshotsho¹,

Esler

Reyers

2015

Sustainability

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Global acknowledgement of ecological restoration, as an important tool to complement conservation efforts, requires an effort to increase the effectiveness of restoration interventions. Evidence-based practice is purported to promote effectiveness. A central tenet of this approach is decision making that is based on evidence, not intuition. Evidence can be generated experimentally and in practice but needs to be linked to baseline information collection, clear goals and monitoring of impact. In this paper, we report on a survey conducted to assess practitioners' perceptions of the evidence generated in restoration practice in South Africa, as well as challenges encountered in building this evidence base. Contrary to a recent assessment of this evidence base which found weaknesses, respondents viewed it as adequate and cited few obstacles to its development. Obstacles cited were mostly associated with planning and resource availability. We suggest that the disparity between practitioners' perceptions and observed weaknesses in the evidence base could be a challenge in advancing evidence-based restoration. We explore opportunities to overcome this disparity as well as the obstacles listed by practitioners. These opportunities involve a shift from practitioners as users of scientific knowledge and evidence, to practitioners involved in the co-production of evidence needed to increase the effectiveness of restoration interventions.

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Section: Obstacles To Building the Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While broad goals are good for providing a view of the envisioned outcome of restoration, it is the quantifiable objectives that are crucial in the monitoring of progress towards success. The importance of measurable targets has long been emphasized [42,43].…”

Section: Obstacles To Building the Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Challenges to Building an Evidence Base for Restoration Practice

Ntshotsho¹,

Esler

Reyers

2015

Sustainability

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“…The biotic compartment consists of all species, where the community structure is a measure of the species composition. This includes species abundance, richness and diversity, and the species relationships within communities and their physical environment (Ryder and Miller 2005). The abiotic compartment consists of nutrients in organic and inorganic forms (Naeem et al 1999).…”

Section: Ecosystem Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These processes, along with biodiversity and community structures ascribe the functions of an ecosystem. Ecosystem function is therefore a result of the interactions between energy and matter within different levels of biota and the abiotic, physical and chemical conditions of the environment (Naeem et al 1999, Ryder andMiller 2005). Ecosystem functional attributes then further provide goods and services valued by humans (Callicott andMumford 1997, De Groot et al 2002).…”

Section: Ecosystem Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…restoring biodiversity does not necessarily result in restoration of ecosystem function (Barmuta 2003, Lake 2005, Ryder and Miller 2005. To maintain and restore ecosystems successfully, the key processes need to be understood, where the links between biodiversity and processes together may provide better indicators for assessing aquatic ecosystem function.…”

Section: Management Of River Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microbial communities in an ephemeral stream system and the implications of saline mine discharge

Beyer-Robson¹

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The Fitzroy River Basin (FRB), Queensland, contains the largest coal reserve in Australia. Driven by an increasing need to conserve fresh water, coal mine operators in the region have placed significant emphasis on reducing freshwater use by implementing water re-use. As a consequence, the salinity of stored water on mine sites has increased due to accumulation of salts through evaporation, groundwater input and mine operations. When excess water is discharged into the environment, this reduced water quality may constitute an environmental risk to the receiving ecosystem. Reports on the impact of mine site discharge highlighted the lack of data on potential impacts of saline discharge on the aquatic environment following flood events in 2007/08.The FRB is a semi-arid region in which the river systems only flow for a few months a year. In such intermittent rivers, major biogeochemical cycling occurs in river sediments and is largely driven by microbial metabolic processes. These microbial processes are of particular importance in maintaining downstream water quality and healthy functioning of the aquatic ecosystem. Current assessment tools do not capture nutrient cycles mediated by microorganisms, but instead focus on the impacts of larger organisms such as fish and macroinvertebrates. There is a need for a combined approach which includes assessing potential impacts on ecosystem processes.Little is known on the effects of salinity on ecosystem processes mediated by microorganisms in freshwater systems and insights have largely been inferred from comparisons with other ecosystems such as estuarine and marine environments. Further, most research has been conducted on perennial streams and little is known on microbial ecology and nutrient cycling in ephemeral streams.The aim of this thesis was to gain insights into microbial communities and ecosystem processes in an ephemeral stream system to guide management decisions in the context of saline water discharge from coal mines. The thesis was guided by two objectives: 1) to examine microbial community distribution in an ephemeral river system; and 2) to investigate the effect of increased salinity on selected ecosystem processes.The first objective, to examine microbial community distribution in an ephemeral river system (The Upper Isaac catchment, located within the FRB), used a field-based approach to build on the conceptual understanding of microbial communities and microbially driven ecosystem processes.To gain an understanding of microbial distribution, the habitats within the Upper Isaac Catchment were characterised. This provided a framework under which microbial community distribution could be examined. Habitat characterisation was based on physical environmental parameters, for which key habitat characteristics were the presence/absence of surface water in relation to seasonal flow, levels of detritus in stream beds and substrate type.Using 16S rRNA pyrosequencing, key microbial groups were identified; such as high abundances of spore forming bacteri...

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Evaluating stream restoration: A case study from two partially developed 4th order Connecticut, U.S.A. streams and evaluation monitoring strategies

Schiff¹,

Benoit

MacBroom³

2011

River Research & Apps

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Stream rehabilitation and enhancement projects in the Norwalk River (urban-forest watershed) and Merrick Brook (agriculture-forest watershed) were evaluated. Instream structure installation, streambank stabilization and meander re-creation were performed 2-5 years before monitoring. Physical, chemical and biological variables were monitored at control, enhanced (treatment sites originally controls), impaired and rehabilitated (treatment sites originally impaired) sites for three field seasons to evaluate the projects and formulate monitoring strategies. Small improvements in local habitat and macroinvertebrate assemblages were observed at rehabilitated sites on the Norwalk River however control conditions were not attained. Changes to stream health were less evident at the reach scale suggesting that watershed processes that form and maintain habitat were too altered for more widespread recovery. A localized sediment source from a failing streambank was eliminated from Merrick Brook protecting the abundant nearby quality habitat, yet fining occurred at the rehabilitation site due to hydraulic changes leading to localized shifts in macroinvertebrate assemblages. Single-season sampling created a useful snapshot to compare enhanced and rehabilitated sites to control and impaired sites. We recommend a tiered sampling strategy where effectiveness monitoring may include a detailed effort at many sites over a short time (as performed here), a relatively low level of detail (e.g. a rapid assessment) at an intermediate number of sites over a short time, and a detailed long-term monitoring at few sites (e.g. before-after-control-impact, BACI). More research is needed to continue the trend of increased project evaluation to advance the science and application of stream restoration.

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Setting Goals and Measuring Success: Linking Patterns and Processes in Stream Restoration

Cited by 31 publications

References 57 publications

Identifying Challenges to Building an Evidence Base for Restoration Practice

Identifying Challenges to Building an Evidence Base for Restoration Practice

Microbial communities in an ephemeral stream system and the implications of saline mine discharge

Evaluating stream restoration: A case study from two partially developed 4th order Connecticut, U.S.A. streams and evaluation monitoring strategies

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