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Watershed Planning within a Quantitative Scenario Analysis Framework

Watershed Planning within a Quantitative Scenario Analysis Framework

Published on: July 24, 2016

Integrating human impacts and ecological integrity into a risk-based protocol for conservation planning.

Kimberly M Mattson¹, Paul L Angermeier

¹Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321, USA. mattsonh@vt.edu

Environmental Management

|November 24, 2006

Summary

Conservation planning can assess freshwater ecosystem integrity using biotic drivers as surrogates for ecological health. The Ecological Risk Index (ERI) protocol evaluates human impacts to guide biodiversity protection efforts.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Conservation Biology
Environmental Science

Background:

Biodiversity conservation relies on maintaining ecosystem processes, but data are often insufficient.
Human activities complicate ecological integrity assessments and can alter ecosystems at various scales.
Freshwater conservation targets are influenced by aquatic and landscape factors, with local data potentially being misleading.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose biotic drivers as surrogates for assessing freshwater ecological integrity.
To develop a risk-based protocol for identifying watersheds at risk to conservation targets.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the Ecological Risk Index (ERI) in conservation planning.

Main Methods:

Utilized five biotic drivers (energy sources, physical habitat, flow regime, water quality, biotic interactions) as indicators of ecological integrity.
Developed the Ecological Risk Index (ERI) protocol, integrating human-induced stressors (frequency, severity) with biotic drivers and land-use data.
Applied the ERI protocol to a case study in the upper Tennessee River basin, USA, using principal components analysis.

Main Results:

The ERI protocol effectively identified watersheds with varying levels of risk to conservation targets.
Dominant land uses, such as mining and agriculture, influenced risk patterns across different drainages.
Localized, moderately severe threats significantly contributed to threat composition differences among watersheds.
The analysis revealed that the spatial scale of assessment impacts the perceived importance of threats.

Conclusions:

Changes in biotic drivers can serve as reliable surrogates for assessing freshwater ecological integrity.
The ERI protocol provides a valuable tool for evaluating ecosystem-wide risk and informing conservation planning.
The study highlights the importance of considering both the type and scale of threats in conservation strategies.