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Twenty-six key research questions in urban stream ecology: an assessment of the state of the science
Citation:
Wenger, S. J., A. ROY, C. Jackson, E. S. Bernhardt, AND T. L. Carter. Twenty-six key research questions in urban stream ecology: an assessment of the state of the science. JOURNAL OF THE NORTH AMERICAN BENTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. North American Benthological Society, Lawrence, KS, 28(4):1080-1098, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Although urban streams have been the focus of much research activity in recent years, there remain many unanswered questions about the mechanisms driving the “urban stream syndrome.” Identification of these key research questions is an important step toward effective, efficient management of urban streams to meet societal goals. We developed a list of priority research questions by (a) soliciting input from interested scientists via a listserv and online survey, (b) holding an open discussion on the questions at the Second Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology, and (c) reviewing the literature in preparing this paper. Here, we present the resulting list of 26 questions in the context of a review and summary of the present understanding of urban effects on streams. The key questions cover major gaps in understanding such as microbial responses to urbanization, temporal dynamics of urban stream changes, the role of trophic interactions in driving observed responses, interactions and synergies among stressors, and identification of the best target indictors of ecosystem structure and function for management. We discuss how to proceed with appropriate management activities given our current imperfect understanding of the urban stream syndrome.
URLs/Downloads:
Twenty-six key research questions in urban stream ecology: (PDF, NA pp, 1129 KB, about PDF)TWENTY-SIX KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS IN URBAN STREAM ECOLOGY:
