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Assessment of Aquatic Biological Communities Along a Gradient of Urbanization in the Willamette Valley Ecoregion, Oregon and Washington. Ian Waite, Kurt Carpenter, Andrew Arnsberg, Frank Rinella, Steve Sobieszczyk, Ian Wigger, Curt Hughes and Mike Sarantou
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Assessment of Aquatic Biological Communities Along a Gradient of Urbanization in the Willamette Valley Ecoregion, Oregon and Washington Ian Waite, Kurt Carpenter, Andrew Arnsberg, Frank Rinella, Steve Sobieszczyk, Ian Wigger, Curt Hughes and Mike Sarantou National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program
Seattle Portland Milwaukee-Green Bay Boston Salt Lake City Sacramento Denver Raleigh Birmingham Dallas-Ft. Worth Atlanta NAWQA Urban Gradient Studies
Willamette River Valley, Oregon Willamette River Valley Oregon
Willamette Urban Intensity Index Urban Index Population Density per sq mile
Willamette Urban and Ag Willamette Valley Ecoregion
Tickle Creek near Boring, Oregon Urban Index = 32
Urban Streams Amazon Creek Claggett Creek Urban Index = 77 - 100 Pringle Creek
Invertebrate Algal Water chemistry Fish assemblages Habitat
Y-Axis Invertebrate Tolerance (Weighted Abundance) Y-Axis % Ephemeroptera Plecoptera Trichoptera Richness Y-Axis Invertebrate Tolerance (Weighted Abundance)
nMDS Ordination of Invertebrate Density (Log X+1) w/ overlay of Population Density AXIS 2 AXIS 1
Low/Med Pop.Den High AG+Urb High Pop.Den Med/High AG+Urb Low AG+Urb Plot of Population Density vs.% AG+Urban Land Use (% disturbance) Transition
B: Sum_PEST < 0.075 (> 0.087) Multivariate Regression Tree (MRT: Primer) Linking Inverts to Environmental Data (coded by %AG+Urban) A: DO > 3.4 (< 2.5) TEQ < 1080 (>1120) A B TEQ, DO and Sum_PEST % AG+Ur Categories < 15 % 15 – 39 40 – 69 > 69 % C H D
A B C H D I E J F K L G Nonparametric Regression Tree Linking Inverts to Environmental Data (coded by %AG+Urban) • H: TEQ • I: DO • J: Sum_PEST • K: TEQ • L: Sum_PEST • C: TEQ • D & E: DO • F & G: Sum_PEST
poor condition % Fish Metric % Fish Metric • Includes 4 Metrics • % Salmonids • % Native (other species) • % Reticulate Sculpin • % Introduced or Exotic • Includes 4 Metrics • % Salmonids • % Native (other species) • % Reticulate Sculpin • % Introduced or Exotic
Exotic Species “What do you mean cooties, no cooties on me.” FZ
nMDS Ordination of Fish Abundance(Log X+1)with overlay of Population Density per sq mile 600 2400 4200 6000
Preliminary CONCLUSIONS • Fish showed a linear response as urban intensity increases based on individual metrics • Invertebrates showed a smooth threshold for some metrics at Urban Index values of ~25 or < 5-10% Impervious % EPT Richness
Preliminary CONCLUSIONS • Flashiness of urban stream flows usually related to % impervious does not seem to be the dominate factor affecting the biological assemblages in the Willamette Valley • Biotic assemblages were strongly related to differences in WQ among sites (e.g., TEQ, Pesticides, DO, and Water Temp.) likely due to Urban and AG land use disturbances – either singularly or in combination.
Preliminary CONCLUSIONS • Little difference found in fish and inverts between High AG+Urban (% disturbance) and High Population Density sites High AG+Urb & Low/Med Pop.Den High Pop.Den & High AG+Urb Low Pop.Den & Low AG+Urb
Preliminary CONCLUSIONS • Prediction of invertebrate metrics at unsampled sites using the urban index will be attempted using EPA and/or ODEQ sites in Willamette Valley – still amassing the data % EPT Richness
Contact Info: Ian Waite iwaite@usgs.gov, 503-251-3463 Evaluating the Effects of Urbanization on Water Quality I – II Concurrent Session F & G: Tues. 1 – 5 pm Panel Discussion Effects of Urbanization on Streams Tuesday 7:00-9:00 pm Meeting Room A8, SJ Convention Center
nMDS Ordination of Invertebrate Density Sites coded by %AG+Urban %AG+Ur Categories < 15 % 15 – 39 40 – 69 > 69 % AXIS 2 AXIS 1
Hypothetical response to increasing urban intensity…..threshold or linear or none? Resistance Minimum threshold Maximum threshold
Environmental Variables usually surrogates for many processes Population Density % Impervious 0.98 % Urban 0.98 Road Den. 0.95 Urban Index 0.98 Mean Watershed Elev. -0.88 Watershed Slope -0.81 3 Flow Stats 0.73 DOC 0.70, SO4 0.71 TN 0.81, TP 0.73 Pest. Tox. Index_Summer 0.70 Sum_Insecticide 0.70 TEQ 0.79