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Rapid ecosystem response to restoration in an urban stream

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Abstract

Stream restoration seeks to re-establish ecological structure and function of river systems, and understanding its ecological consequences is a current focus of stream ecology. To characterize the short-term ecosystem response to restoration in an urbanized Pacific Northwest stream, we measured whole-system ammonium and phosphorus uptake, benthic and drifting aquatic insects, and fish community composition before and after restoration. We predicted that (1) nutrient demand would temporarily decrease ammonium and phosphorus concentrations, (2) periphyton accrual would structure the insect consumer response, and (3) restoration would change the fish community. After restoration, nutrient demand for ammonium and phosphorus temporarily increased to levels that have rarely been reported, but demand for both recovered to background levels within 35 days. Aquatic insect density tracked rapid periphyton accrual after restoration, and benthic insect density stabilized in less than a month whereas composition continued changing for 10 weeks. Within 11 months, the fish community returned to its pre-restoration composition dominated by non-native eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Restoration did not alter the community and ecosystem metrics we studied, but this urban stream underwent rapid succession during restoration-induced disturbance, perhaps because urban streams have resilient communities well-suited to rapid recovery.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Tyler Beals, James Lamperth, Allison Johnson, Corrie Murray, Martin Blevins, Paul Duke, and Alexa Maine for assistance with fish sampling, Jacquie Lillard for help with sample analysis, and Jody Scheffelmaier for access to analytical equipment. We also thank Bob Hall and Jake Beaulieu for helpful comments about statistical analysis, and we thank Alison Scoville for assistance with R. This manuscript was improved by the comments of Jake Beaulieu and three anonymous reviewers. CPA was supported by Grant number 2009WA265B from Washington Water Resources Council during this research, which was made possible by CWU Facilities Management and by an undergraduate research award to KBH.

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  1. Department of Biological Science, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, 98926, USA

    Clay P. Arango, Paul W. James & Kyle B. Hatch

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  1. Clay P. Arango
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  2. Paul W. James
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Correspondence to Clay P. Arango.

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Arango, C.P., James, P.W. & Hatch, K.B. Rapid ecosystem response to restoration in an urban stream. Hydrobiologia 749, 197–211 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-2167-z

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