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LINKING STORMFLOW HYDROLOGY AND BIOTIC ASSESSMENTS IN SUBURBAN STREAMS
Citation:
ROY, A., W. D. SHUSTER, Y. ZHANG, AND M. A. MORRISON. LINKING STORMFLOW HYDROLOGY AND BIOTIC ASSESSMENTS IN SUBURBAN STREAMS. Presented at North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting, Anchorage, AK, June 04 - 08, 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Suburban land development has been found to alter the hydrology of landscapes, changing streamflow transient behavior (i.e., "flashiness" of storm runoff response), which may contribute to some of the commonly observed and typically negative impacts of development on aquatic ecosystems. In five suburban, headwater streams (0.2-0.6 km2) in Cincinnati, OH (USA), we sampled continuous stream depth (5 min intervals), and macroinvertebrate and periphyton assemblages (collected every 6 weeks April through October) from 2004-2005. Land use, water quality, and habitat data were also compiled. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling revealed that macroinvertebrate and periphyton assemblages varied along a gradient of land use (e.g., total impervious area and forest land cover); however, preliminary data did not indicate a relationship between assemblages and stormflow rise and fall rates. We expect that an expanded set of hydrologic indices, water quality data, and habitat variables may offer a mechanistic explanation for the structure of macroinvertebrate and periphyton assemblages, thereby linking land use to biological condition. These subcatchments will be used to test the potential for parcel-level best management practices (i.e., rain barrels and rain gardens) distributed across the catchment to restore some aspects of hydrology, and, subsequently, biotic assemblages within these degraded stream ecosystems.