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Linking stream and landscape trajectories in the southern Appalachians

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Abstract

A proactive sampling strategy was designed and implemented in 2000 to document changes in streams whose catchment land uses were predicted to change over the next two decades due to increased building density. Diatoms, macroinvertebrates, fishes, suspended sediment, dissolved solids, and bed composition were measured at two reference sites and six sites where a socioeconomic model suggested new building construction would influence stream ecosystems in the future; we label these “hazard sites.” The six hazard sites were located in catchments with forested and agricultural land use histories. Diatoms were species-poor at reference sites, where riparian forest cover was significantly higher than all other sites. Cluster analysis, Wishart’s distance function, non-metric multidimensional scaling, indicator species analysis, and t-tests show that macroinvertebrate assemblages, fish assemblages, in situ physical measures, and catchment land use and land cover were different between streams whose catchments were mostly forested, relative to those with agricultural land use histories and varying levels of current and predicted development. Comparing initial results with other regional studies, we predict homogenization of fauna with increased nutrient inputs and sediment associated with agricultural sites where more intense building activities are occurring. Based on statistical separability of sampled sites, catchment classes were identified and mapped throughout an 8,600 km2 region in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge physiographic province. The classification is a generalized representation of two ongoing trajectories of land use change that we suggest will support streams with diverging biota and physical conditions over the next two decades.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA

    Edward P. Gardiner

  2. Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602-2502, USA

    Edward P. Gardiner

  3. Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave., Winter Park, FL, 32789, USA

    Andrew B. Sutherland

  4. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 167 Castetter Hall, MSC03 2020, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Rebecca J. Bixby

  5. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, 153 Hopewell Rd., Pendleton, SC, 29670, USA

    Mark C. Scott

  6. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602-2202, USA

    Judy L. Meyer, Gene S. Helfman & Cathy M. Pringle

  7. Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    E. Fred Benfield

  8. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Paul V. Bolstad

  9. USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 12254, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA

    David N. Wear

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  1. Edward P. Gardiner
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  2. Andrew B. Sutherland
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  3. Rebecca J. Bixby
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Correspondence to Edward P. Gardiner.

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Gardiner, E.P., Sutherland, A.B., Bixby, R.J. et al. Linking stream and landscape trajectories in the southern Appalachians. Environ Monit Assess 156, 17–36 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-008-0460-x

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