Water, sediment, and nutrient discharge characteristics of Puerto Rico rivers and their potential influence on coral reefs

Warne, Andrew G.; Webb, R. M.; Larsen, Matthew C.

doi:10.3133/sir20055206

Cited by 38 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…Clearing land, creating impervious surfaces, and applying fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides can act in concert to accelerate terrestrial runoff of sediments and associated chemical contaminants known to cause decline in coral ecosystems (Wolanski et al 2004, Warne et al 2005, Richmond et al 2007. Physical smothering and mortality of reef-building scleractinian (stony) corals occurs with prolonged exposure to high levels of sediment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating landscape development intensity to coral reef condition in the watersheds of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Oliver

Lehrter²,

Fisher³

2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Land-based sources of pollution are a major threat to the health of coral reefs. We report, for the first time, a study that relates coral reef condition to human modifications of the landscape. Stony coral community richness, cover, colony size, and density were assessed along with 3-dimensional coral cover in the near-shore waters of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, in 2006 and 2007. Land use/land cover data (LULC, 2.4 m resolution) and a landscape development intensity (LDI) index, an indicator of human activity calculated from the LULC data, were used to explore relationships with coral indicators. The LDI index was more robust than other indicators of human activity, exhibiting negative correlations with stony coral colony density, taxa richness, colony size, and total coral cover. High variability observed in coral density and taxa richness was better explained when percent natural land and average coral station depth were considered along with the LDI index. Percent impervious surface in the watershed was negatively correlated with 1 coral condition indicator, total coral cover. The LDI index is an effective landscape indicator of human impact on St. Croix corals, highlighting the link between land-based human activity and marine ecosystems. Further development of this tool will aid in land use planning and prioritization of conservation efforts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating landscape development intensity to coral reef condition in the watersheds of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Oliver

Lehrter²,

Fisher³

2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Throughout Puerto Rico, floods caused by hurricanes and frontal storms damage infrastructure, and the associated suspended sediment clogs reservoirs and enters the ocean where it damages coral (Warne et al 2005). The impact of large storms is affected by landcover and their intensity and frequency of occurrence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planning for an uncertain future - Monitoring, integration, and adaptation

Webb¹,

Semmens²

2009

Scientific Investigations Report

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As part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program, four small watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico were monitored to identify and evaluate the effects of geology, landcover, atmospheric deposition, and other factors on stream water quality and quantity. Two catchments are located on coarse-grained granitic plutonic rocks, which weather to quartz-and clay-rich, sandy soils, and two are located on fine-grained volcanic rocks and volcaniclastic sediments, which weather to quartz-poor, fine-grained soils. These differing soil materials result in different hydrologic regimes. Soils on the granitic rocks have greater permeability than those developed on the volcaniclastic rocks, allowing more water infiltration and potentially greater landslide erosion rates. For each bedrock type, one catchment was covered with mature rainforest, and the other catchment was affected

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“…This catchment is one the many northward draining examples on the island that are characterised by high mean annual rainfall of between 2000 and 2500 mm yr -1 (Larsen and Torres-Sanchez, 1998), moderate to high annual sediment yields and moderate to high annual runoff (Warne et al, 2005). Rainfall is temporally variable with low-intensity localised rainfall events tending to be fairly evenly distributed throughout the driest months of the year (January to April); resulting in a persistent lowlevel base flow in the majority of northern catchment channels.…”

Section: The Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The remaining winter months are dominated by localised high intensity rainfall events linked to annually-recurring winter frontal storms. Major storms are intense but brief and in response most catchments on the island exhibit very flashy hydrological regimes in which maximum discharges can be up to four orders of magnitude above base flow, yet recede over hours, or at most a few days (Warne et al, 2005). In consequence, the occurrence of high sediment yields in northern catchments is often episodic with the highest sediment concentrations related to short-lived flood events associated with storms and landslides.…”

Section: The Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, comprehensive studies of other northern catchments on the island (e.g. Larsen, 1997;Larsen and Torres-Sanchez, 1998;Warne et al, 2005;Diaz-Ramirez et al, 2008) do allow the general characteristics of sediment dynamics to be posited. These indicate that a high degree of seasonality in sediment erosion, and hence of sediment supply to the stream network, is to be expected in conjunction with a rapid transit of suspended sediment through the upland stream network.…”

Section: The Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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DAMP: A protocol for contextualising goodness-of-fit statistics in sediment-discharge data-driven modelling

Abrahart¹,

Mount²,

Ghani³

et al. 2011

Journal of Hydrology

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The decision sequence which guides the selection of a preferred data-driven modelling solution is usually based solely on statistical assessment of fit to a test dataset, and lacks the incorporation of essential contextual knowledge and understanding included in the evaluation of conventional empirical models. This paper demonstrates how hydrological insight and knowledge of data quality issues can be better incorporated into the sediment-discharge data-driven model assessment procedure: by the plotting of datasets and modelled relationships; and from an understanding and appreciation of the hydrological context of the catchment being modelled. DAMP: a four-point protocol for evaluating the hydrological soundness of data-driven single-input single-output sediment rating curve solutions is presented. The approach is adopted and exemplified in an evaluation of seven explicit sediment-discharge models that are used to predict daily suspended sediment concentration values for a small tropical catchment on the island of Puerto Rico. Four neurocomputing counterparts are compared and contrasted against a set of traditional log-log linear sediment rating curve solutions and a simple linear regression model. The statistical assessment procedure provides one indication of the best model, whilst graphical and hydrological interpretation of the depicted datasets and models challenge this overly-simplistic interpretation. Traditional log-log sediment rating curves, in terms of soundness and robustness, are found to deliver a superior overall product -irrespective of their poorer global goodness-of-fit statistics.

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Water, sediment, and nutrient discharge characteristics of Puerto Rico rivers and their potential influence on coral reefs

Cited by 38 publications

References 0 publications

Relating landscape development intensity to coral reef condition in the watersheds of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Relating landscape development intensity to coral reef condition in the watersheds of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Planning for an uncertain future - Monitoring, integration, and adaptation

DAMP: A protocol for contextualising goodness-of-fit statistics in sediment-discharge data-driven modelling

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