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Agricultural Land Use Effects on Sediment Loading and Fish Assemblages in Two Minnesota (USA) Watersheds

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Abstract

We examined the relationship between water quality and fish communities within two agricultural areas using a computer simulation model. Our analyses focused on a coolwater stream, Wells Creek in southeastern Minnesota, and a warmwater stream, the Chippewa River in western Minnesota. We used the Agricultural Drainage and Pesticide Transport (ADAPT) model in relation to land use to calculate instream suspended sediment concentrations using estimates of sediment delivery, runoff, baseflow and streambank erosion, and quantified the effects of suspended sediment exposure on fish communities. We predicted the effects of agricultural practices on stream fish communities under several possible land use scenarios, with reference to current conditions. Land use changes led to reductions in sediment loading of up to 84% in Wells Creek and 49% in the Chippewa River. The reduction in sediment loading across scenarios may be directly related to a reduction in runoff by about 35% in both study areas. We found a 98% decrease in “lethal” concentrations of suspended sediment on fish in Wells Creek with an increase in conservation tillage, riparian buffers, and permanent vegetative cover. However, the effects of suspended sediment did not significantly decrease in the Chippewa River. This difference between study areas was likely due to differences in tolerance to suspended sediment between coolwater and warmwater fish communities and differences in topography, runoff and bank erosion between the two streams.

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Acknowledgements

This project was part of a larger study titled “Economic Analysis of Agriculture for Multiple Benefits” funded by three entities: Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources, approved by the Minnesota Legislature, 1999 Minnesota Laws, Ch. 231, Sec. 15, Subd. 7(n) as recommended by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources from the future resources fund; The Joyce Foundation; and the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) Program supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, US Department of Agriculture, and the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, under Cooperative Agreement number 99-COOP-1-7686. We thank George Boody, Dan French, Paul Homme, Mara Krinke, and Prasanna Gowda for their assistance with the ADAPT simulations, and Cis Berg for assistance with GIS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA

    Julie K. H. Zimmerman

  2. US Geological Survey Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Minnesota, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA

    Bruce Vondracek

  3. Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, 131 Agricultural Administration Building, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA

    John Westra

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  1. Julie K. H. Zimmerman
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Zimmerman, J., Vondracek, B. & Westra, J. Agricultural Land Use Effects on Sediment Loading and Fish Assemblages in Two Minnesota (USA) Watersheds . Environmental Management 32, 93–105 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-2989-3

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