Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Effort-based predictors of headwater stream conditions: comparing the proximity of land use pressures and instream stressors on macroinvertebrate assemblages

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Aquatic Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Environmental agencies are often faced with resource and time constraints in assessing waterbody health. We compared the strengths of varying levels of effort (field measures, laboratory chemistry, land use, and multiple combinations of these) to explain macroinvertebrate assemblage response along a gradient of urban land use intensity among 30 headwater streams in northern West Virginia. Because the spatial arrangement of human disturbance can govern biotic response, land use effects were analyzed at five spatial scales (whole catchment, and 100 m buffer zone at three fixed upstream distances and total stream network upstream of site); instream ecological measures included physical habitat, algal concentrations and water chemistry. Of the five spatial scales, we predicted that riparian land use nearest the site would explain the most variation but that instream measures would be the overall driver of the macroinvertebrate assemblages. Regression analysis evaluated the strength of single and multiple variables in explaining macroinvertebrate multimetric index (MMI) and ordination patterns, and revealed that assemblages were highly responsive to numerous stressors. In contrast to predictions, total upstream network riparian forest cover explained the most variation overall (83%) while specific conductance was the single best instream measure (64%). Stepwise regression models using combinations of field, laboratory, and land use variables all performed reasonably well but we found that a 3-variable model [% forest (catchment), road density, and specific conductance] that minimized colinearity and cost/effort explained 90% of the variation in the MMI. Validation and spatial autocorrelation results suggest that this model could potentially be used to forecast stream condition for prioritizing conservation and remediation efforts in headwaters within the ecoregion, and our general approach would be broadly applicable in other settings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allan JD (2004) Landscapes and riverscapes: the influence of land use on stream ecosystems. Ann Rev Ecol Evolut Syst 35:257–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RC, Reynoldson TB, Yates AG, Bailey J, Linke S (2007) Integrating stream bioassessment and landscape ecology as a tool for land use planning. Freshw Biol 52:908–917

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker ME, King RS (2010) A new method for detecting and interpreting biodiversity and ecological community thresholds. Methods Ecol Evol 1:25–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbour MT, Gerritsen J, Snyder BD, Stribling JB (1999) Rapid bioassessment protocols for use in streams and wadeable rivers: periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish, 2nd edn. EPA 841-B-99-002. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernhardt ES, Lutz BD, King RS, Fay JP, Carter CE, Helton AM, Campagna D, Amos J (2012) How many mountains can we mine? Assessing the regional degradation of central Appalachian rivers by surface coal mining. Environ Sci Technol 46:8115–8122

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bond NR, Lake PS (2003) Local habitat restoration in streams: constraints on the effectiveness of restoration for stream biota. Ecol Manage Restor 4:193–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brabec E, Schulte S, Richards PL (2002) Impervious surfaces and water quality: a review of current literature and its implications for watershed planning. J Plan Lit 16:499–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown DG, Walker R, Manson S, Seto K (2012) Modeling land use and land cover change. In Land change science. Springer Netherlands, The Netherlands, pp 395–409

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant WL, Carlisle DM (2012) The relative importance of physicochemical factors to stream biological condition in urbanizing basins: evidence from multimodel inference. Freshw Sci 31:154–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlisle DM, Hawkins CP (2008) Land use and the structure of western US stream invertebrate assemblages: predictive models and ecological traits. J N Am Benthol Soc 27:986–999

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cormier SM, Suter GW, Zheng L (2013a) Derivation of a benchmark for freshwater ionic strength. Environ Toxicol Chem 32:263–271

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cormier SM, Suter GW, Zheng L, Pond GJ (2013b) Assessing causation of the extirpation of stream macroinvertebrates by a mixture of ions. Environ Toxicol Chem 32:277–287

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cuffney TF, Brightbill RA, May JT, Waite IR (2010) Responses of benthic macroinvertebrates to environmental changes associated with urbanization in nine metropolitan areas. Ecol Appl 20:1384–1401

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK, Clements WH, Gido K, Hilderbrand RH, King RS (2010) Thresholds, breakpoints, and nonlinearity in freshwaters as related to management. J N Am Benthol Soc 29:988–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Findlay S, Kelly VR (2011) Emerging indirect and long-term road salt effects on ecosystems. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1223:58–68

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gergel SE, Turner MG, Miller JR, Melack JM, Stanley EH (2002) Landscape indicators of human impacts to riverine systems. Aquat Sci 64:118–128

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith MB, Norton SB, Alexander LC, Pollard AI, LeDuc SD (2012) The effects of mountaintop mines and valley fills on the physicochemical quality of stream ecosystems in the central Appalachians: a review. Sci Total Environ 417:1–12

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hale AN, Noble G, Piper K, Garmire K, Tonsor SJ (2016) Controlling for hydrologic connectivity to assess the importance of catchment-and reach-scale factors on macroinvertebrate community structure. Hydrobiologia 763:285–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Homer CH, Fry JA, Barnes CA (2012) The national land cover database US Geological Survey Fact Sheet 3020:1–4

  • King RS, Baker ME (2010) Considerations for analyzing ecological community thresholds in response to anthropogenic environmental gradients. J N Am Benthol Soc 29:998–1008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King RS, Baker ME, Whigham DF, Weller DE, Jordan TE, Kazyak PF, Hurd MK (2005) Spatial considerations for linking watershed land cover to ecological indicators in streams. Ecol Appl 15:137–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King RS, Baker ME, Kazyak PF, Weller DE (2011) How novel is too novel? Stream community thresholds at exceptionally low levels of catchment urbanization. Ecol Appl 21:1659–1678

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kristensen EA, Baattrup-Pedersen A, Andersen HE (2012) Prediction of stream fish assemblages from land use characteristics: implications for cost-effective design of monitoring programmes. Environ Monit Assess 184:1435–1448

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kutner MH, Nachtsheim CJ, Neter J (2004) Applied Linear Regression Models, 4th edn. McGraw-Hill, Irwin

    Google Scholar 

  • Lammert M, Allan JD (1999) Assessing biotic integrity of streams: effects of scale in measuring the influence of land use/cover and habitat structure on fish and macroinvertebrates. Environ Manage 23:257–270

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ligeiro R, Ferreira W, Hughes RM, Callisto M (2013) The problem of using fixed-area subsampling methods to estimate macroinvertebrate richness: a case study with Neotropical stream data. Environ Monit Assess 85:4077–4085

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macedo DR, Hughes RM, Ligeiro R, Ferreira WR, Castro MA, Junqueira NT, Oliveira DR, Firmiano KR, Kaufmann PR, Pompeu PS, Callisto M (2014) The relative influence of catchment and site variables on fish and macroinvertebrate richness in cerrado biome streams. Lands Ecol 29:1001–1016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McBride M, Booth DB (2005) Urban impacts on physical stream condition: effects of spatial scale, connectivity, and longitudinal trends. J Am Water Resour Assoc 41:565–580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCune B, Grace JB (2002) Analysis of ecological communities. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach

    Google Scholar 

  • McManus MG, Pond GJ, Reynolds L, Griffith MB (2016) Multivariate condition assessment of watersheds with linked micromaps. J Am Water Resour Assoc 52:494–507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merriam ER, Petty JT, Strager MP, Maxwell AE, Ziemkiewicz PF (2013) Scenario analysis predicts context-dependent stream response to landuse change in a heavily mined central Appalachian watershed. Freshw Sci 32:1246–1259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer JL, Strayer DL, Wallace JB, Eggert SL, Helfman GS, Leonard NE (2007) The contribution of headwater streams to biodiversity in river networks. J Am Water Resour Assoc 43:86–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore AA, Palmer MA (2005) Invertebrate biodiversity in agricultural and urban headwater streams: implications for conservation and management. Ecol Appl 15:1169–1177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan RP II, Kline KM, Cushman SF (2007) Relationships among nutrients, chloride and biological indices in urban Maryland streams. Urban Ecosyst 10:153–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ourso RT, Frenzel SA (2003) Identification of linear and threshold responses in streams along a gradient of urbanization in Anchorage, Alaska. Hydrobiologia 501:117–131

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paul MJ, Meyer JL (2001) Streams in the urban landscape. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 2011:333–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pond GJ, Passmore ME, Borsuk FA, Reynolds L, Rose CJ (2008) Downstream effects of mountaintop coal mining: comparing biological conditions using family-and genus-level macroinvertebrate bioassessment tools. J N Am Benthol Soc 27:717–737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pond GJ, Bailey JE, Lowman BM, Whitman MJ (2011) The West Virginia GLIMPSS (genus-level index of most probable stream status): a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biotic integrity for West Virginia’s wadeable streams. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water and Waste Management, Watershed Assessment Branch, Charleston, WV. http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/watershed/bio_fish/Documents/20110829GLIMPSSFinalWVDEPDOI.pdf. Accessed 21 Nov 2016

  • Pond GJ, Bailey JE, Lowman BM, Whitman MJ (2012) Calibration and validation of a regionally and seasonally stratified macroinvertebrate index for West Virginia wadeable streams. Environ Monit Assess 185:1515–1540

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rios SL, Bailey RC (2006) Relationship between riparian vegetation and stream benthic communities at three spatial scales. Hydrobiologia 553:153–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roth NE, Allan JD, Erickson DL (1996) Landscape influences on stream biotic integrity assessed at multiple spatial scales. Landscape Ecol 11:141–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy AH, Shuster WD (2009) Assessing impervious surface connectivity and applications for watershed management. JAWRA J Am Water Resour Assoc 45:198–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy AH, Rosemond AD, Paul MJ, Leigh DS, Wallace JB (2003) Stream macroinvertebrate response to catchment urbanisation (Georgia, USA). Freshw Biol 48:329–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy AH, Freeman BJ, Freeman MC (2007) Riparian influences on stream fish assemblage structure in urbanizing streams. Landsc Ecol 22:385–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy AH, Dybas AL, Fritz KM, Lubbers HR (2009) Urbanization affects the extent and hydrologic permanence of headwater streams in a midwestern US metropolitan area. J N Am Benthol Soc 28:911–928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sliva L, Williams DD (2001) Buffer zone versus whole catchment approaches to studying land use impact on river water quality. Water Res 35:3462–3472

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sponseller RA, Benfield EF, Valett HM (2001) Relationships between land use spatial scale and stream macroinvertebrate communities. Freshw Biol 46:1409–1424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swan CM, DePalma CA (2012) Elevated chloride and consumer presence independently influence processing of stream detritus. Urban Ecosyst 15:625–635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tran CP, Bode RW, Smith AJ, Kleppel GS (2010) Land-use proximity as a basis for assessing stream water quality in New York State (USA). Ecol Indic 10:727–733

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Utz RM, Hilderbrand RH, Boward DM (2009) Identifying regional differences in threshold responses of aquatic invertebrates to land cover gradients. Ecol Indic 9:556–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Utz RM, Hopkins KG, Beesley L, Booth DB, Hawley RJ, Baker ME, Freeman MC, L Jones K (2016) Ecological resistance in urban streams: the role of natural and legacy attributes. Freshw Sci 35:380–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Sickle J, Johnson CB (2008) Parametric distance weighting of landscape influence on streams. Landsc Ecol 23:427–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Sickle J, Baker J, Herlihy A, Bayley P, Gregory S, Haggerty P, Ashkenas L, Li, J (2004) Projecting the biological condition of streams under alternative scenarios of human land use. Ecol Appl 14:368–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ver Hoef JM, Peterson EE, Clifford D, Shah R (2014) SSN: an R package for spatial statistical modeling on stream networks. J Stat Softw 56:1–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Villeneuve B, Souchon Y, Usseglio-Polatera P, Ferréol M, Valette L (2015) Can we predict biological condition of stream ecosystems? A multi-stressors approach linking three biological indices to physico-chemistry, hydromorphology and land use. Ecol Indic 48:88–98

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wahl CM, Neils A, Hooper D (2013) Impacts of land use at the catchment scale constrain the habitat benefits of stream riparian buffers. Freshw Biol 58:2310–2324

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace AM, Biastoch RG (2016) Detecting changes in the benthic invertebrate community in response to increasing chloride in streams in Toronto, Canada. Freshw Sci 35:353–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh CJ, Roy AH, Feminella JW, Cottingham PD, Groffman PM, Morgan RP II (2005) The urban stream syndrome: current knowledge and the search for a cure. J N Am Benthol Soc 24:706–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh CJ, Waller KA, Gehling J, Nally RM (2007) Riverine invertebrate assemblages are degraded more by catchment urbanisation than by riparian deforestation. Freshw Biol 52:574–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Lyons J, Rasmussen P, Seelbach P, Simon T, Wiley M, Kanehl P, Baker E, Niemela S, Stewart PM (2003) Watershed, reach, and riparian influences on stream fish assemblages in the Northern Lakes and Forest Ecoregion, USA. Can J Fish Aquatic Sci 60:491–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Seelbach PW, Lyons J (2006) Effects of levels of human disturbance on the influence of catchment, riparian, and reach-scale factors on fish assemblages. In: RM Hughes, L Wang, PW Seelbach (eds) Landscape influences on stream habitats and biological assemblages. American Fisheries Society Symposium 48, Bethesda, Maryland, pp 641–664

  • [WVDEP] West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (2015) Watershed assessment branch 2015 standard operating procedures. Division of Water and Waste Management, Watershed Assessment Branch, Charleston, WV. http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/watershed/Pages/WBSOPs.aspx

  • Wickham J, Neale A, Mehaffey M, Jarnagin T, Norton D (2016) Temporal Trends in the Spatial Distribution of Impervious Cover Relative to Stream Location. J Am Water Resour Assoc 52:409–419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woods AJ, Omernik JM, Brown DD, Kiilsgaard CW (1996) Level III and IV Ecoregions of Pennsylvania and the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ridge and Valley, and the Central Appalachians of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland EPA/600R-96/077. USEPA, ORD, Corvallis

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We recognize John Pomponio, John Forren, Bill Jenkins, and Don Evans (EPA Region III) for programmatic support to the authors. Appreciation for field assistance goes to Frank Borsuk and to Christine Mazzarella (EPA Region III) for GIS advice. We thank Trevor Dunn and Lindsey Burton for macroinvertebrate subsampling assistance, EPA Region III’s Office of Analytical Services and Quality Assurance Branch for water chemistry analyses, and Karen Blocksom and Mike McManus (EPA Office of Research and Development) for statistical advice and reviews. An earlier draft of the manuscript was improved by Jeff Bailey and Michael Whitman (WVDEP), Stefania Shamet (EPA Region III) and two anonymous reviewers. Although this research was supported by EPA, the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the EPA or the US government.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory J. Pond.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 1564 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pond, G.J., Krock, K.J.G., Cruz, J.V. et al. Effort-based predictors of headwater stream conditions: comparing the proximity of land use pressures and instream stressors on macroinvertebrate assemblages. Aquat Sci 79, 765–781 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-017-0534-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-017-0534-3

Keywords

Navigation