Figure 2
Maps of the Location of the Little Miami River Basin in the State of Ohio and the Locations of the Headwater Catchments and the Three Level IV Ecoregions Within the Basin.
Source publication
Griffith, Michael B., F. Bernard Daniel, Matthew A. Morrison, Michael E. Troyer, James M. Lazorchak, and Joseph P. Schubauer-Berigan, 2009. Linking Excess Nutrients, Light, and Fine Bedded Sediments to Impacts on Faunal Assemblages in Headwater Agricultural Streams. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1475-1492.
Abstra...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... LMR is a 170 km long tributary of the Ohio River, draining a 4,535 km 2 catchment in southwest- ern Ohio ( Figure 2). The LMR drainage is located within Omernik's (1987) Level III Ecoregion, Eastern Corn Belt Plains, but is subdivided into three Level IV ecoregions, which, from north to south, are the Darby Plains; the Loamy, High Lime Till Plains; and the Pre- Wisconsinan Drift Plains ( Woods et al., 1998). ...
Similar publications
Tropical montane ecosystems of the Andes are critically threatened by a rapid
land-use change which can potentially affect stream variables, aquatic communities,
and ecosystem processes such as leaf litter breakdown. However, these
effects have not been sufficiently investigated in the Andean region and at high
altitude locations in general. Here,...
Citations
... Some studies deploy artificial substrates and scrape new material from them (Figure 3-6). Examples of studies using periphyton scrapes include Griffith et al. (2009) and Danielson et al. (2011). See Section 4.4.2.1 in HCB-1 (ITRC 2021) for more information. ...
Cyanobacteria are microscopic, photosynthetic organisms that are found naturally in all aquatic environments. Under certain conditions, cyanobacteria can multiply and become very abundant, discoloring the water throughout a water body, producing and releasing cyanotoxins into the environment. A companion to ITRC's first Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms Document (HCB-1), the brand-new Benthic Harmful Cyanobacteria Blooms (HCB-2) Document addresses the unique challenges presented in evaluating and communicating the public health and environmental risks of Benthic HCBs, and provides insight into contemporary best management practices for dealing with these harmful blooms. https://hcb-2.itrcweb.org/
... Additionally, short time intervals between manure application and rainfall in spring can lead to significant nutrient runoff losses (Smith et al., 2007;Vadas et al., 2007;Komiskey et al., 2011). Such losses, particularly when coinciding with extreme precipitation or flooding events, can be detrimental to stream ecology and downstream water quality (Wang et al., 2007;Griffith et al., 2009). ...
Timing of manure application to agricultural soils remains a contentious topic in nutrient management planning, particularly with regard to impacts on nutrient loss in runoff and downstream water quality. We evaluated the effects of seasonal manure application and associated manure storage capacity on phosphorus (P) losses at both field and watershed scales over an 11‐yr period, using long‐term observed data and an upgraded, variable‐source water quality model called Topo‐SWAT. At the field level, despite variation in location and crop management, manure applications throughout fall and winter increased annual total P losses by 12 to 16% and dissolved P by 19 to 40% as compared with spring. Among all field‐level scenarios, total P loss was substantially reduced through better site targeting (by 48–64%), improving winter soil cover (by 25–46%), and reducing manure application rates (by 1–23%). At the watershed level, a scenario simulating 12 mo of manure storage (all watershed manure applied in spring) reduced dissolved P loss by 5% and total P loss by 2% but resulted in greater P concentrations peaks compared with scenarios simulating 6 mo (fall‐spring application) or 3 mo storage (four‐season application). Watershed‐level impacts are complicated by aggregate effects, both spatial and temporal, of manure storage capacity on variables such as manure application rate and timing, and complexities of field and management. This comparison of the consequences of different manure storage capacities demonstrated a tradeoff between reducing annual P loss through a few high‐concentration runoff events and increasing the frequency of low peaks but also increasing the annual loss.
Core Ideas
Spring manure application had less field‐level P loss than fall or winter application.
The impact of application timing depended on precipitation and field characteristics.
Changes in manure storage capacity did not significantly affect annual watershed P loss.
Twelve‐month storage barely reduced P loads but created greater P concentration peaks.
Optimizing site targeting and soil cover is needed for all seasonal applications.
... The contributing area comprises a 9-digit hydrologic unit (HUC9) according to the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD; U.S. Geological Survey, 2001). Elevated nutrients are a common problem throughout the EFLMR (Griffith et al., 2009;Scown et al., 2017), as land use grades from predominantly urban to predominantly agriculture, with comparatively low proportions of forested area throughout (Fig. 1). ...
... Although demonstrating cause and effect has proven difficult, the circumstantial case for a causal link between nutrient enrichment and aquatic community health is strong (Smith et al., 2007;Meador and Carlisle, 2007;Miltner, 2010). Nutrient enrichment indirectly affects sensitive fishes and macroinvertebrates by its effect on dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations via increased microbial respiration (Sabater et al., 2000;Griffith et al., 2009). Nutrient enrichment is often related to bioassessment indicators of aquatic community condition (Heiskary and Markus, 2003;Miltner, 2010). ...
... For example, nutrient enrichment has been linked to degraded fish community health in Ohio streams (Miltner, 2010). Similar studies in the region have also demonstrated empirical associations between nutrients and periphyton, periphyton and DO, and DO and macroinvertebrates and fish (Griffith et al., 2009). ...
Part of the ecological risk assessment process involves examining the potential for environmental stressors and ecological receptors to co-occur across a landscape. In this study, we introduce a Bayesian joint modeling framework for use in evaluating and mapping the co-occurrence of stressors and receptors using empirical data, open-source statistical software, and Geographic Information Systems tools and data. To illustrate the approach, we apply the framework to bioassessment data on stream fishes and nutrients collected from a watershed in southwestern Ohio. The results highlighted the joint model's ability to parse and exploit statistical dependencies in order to provide empirical insight into the potential environmental and ecotoxicological interactions influencing co-occurrence. We also demonstrate how probabilistic predictions can be generated and mapped to visualize spatial patterns in co-occurrences. For practitioners, we believe that this data-driven approach to modeling and mapping co-occurrence can lead to more quantitatively transparent and robust assessments of ecological risk.
... Both factors (latitude, HSG D) were important predictor variables in the nutrient and IBI BRT analyses and are indicative of the Level IV Ecoregion gradient across the watershed (Predictor Variables: Derivation of Watershed and RBA Metrics). The Ecoregion gradient trends from permeable glacial till soils in the northern part of the watershed to clayey, less permeable soils in the south from the Pre-Wisconsinan Drift Plain (i.e., where HSG D soils are more prevalent) (Griffith et al., 2009;Daniel et al., 2010). ...
... Furthermore, while Wang et al. (2007) found that, combined, nutrients explained 22% of the variability in macroinvertebrate community characteristics, they explained only JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION 15% of the fish assemblage measured in wadeable streams. Thus, the direct relationships between nutrients and the IBI can be confounded by distance along the food web and other multiple interacting and mediating factors (e.g., periphyton metrics, benthic sediments, macroinvertebrate community, time lags (Griffith et al., 2009)). ...
Boosted regression tree (BRT) models were developed to quantify the nonlinear relationships between landscape variables and nutrient concentrations in a mesoscale mixed land cover watershed during base-flow conditions. Factors that affect instream biological components, based on the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), were also analyzed. Seasonal BRT models at two spatial scales (watershed and riparian buffered area [RBA]) for nitrite-nitrate (NO2-NO3), total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and total phosphorus (TP) and annual models for the IBI score were developed. Two primary factors — location within the watershed (i.e., geographic position, stream order, and distance to a downstream confluence) and percentage of urban land cover (both scales) — emerged as important predictor variables. Latitude and longitude interacted with other factors to explain the variability in summer NO2-NO3 concentrations and IBI scores. BRT results also suggested that location might be associated with indicators of sources (e.g., land cover), runoff potential (e.g., soil and topographic factors), and processes not easily represented by spatial data indicators. Runoff indicators (e.g., Hydrological Soil Group D and Topographic Wetness Indices) explained a substantial portion of the variability in nutrient concentrations as did point sources for TP in the summer months. The results from our BRT approach can help prioritize areas for nutrient management in mixed-use and heavily impacted watersheds.
... Very fine sediment was not quantified in this study, but agricultural springs had visibly higher amounts of fine sediment covering substrate materials, took longer for the water to clear when disturbed, had higher numbers of vascular plants, and had more fine-substrate burrowing taxa such as Pedicia than forested springs. Increased numbers of burrowing taxa is one response to increased sedimentation (Griffith et al. 2009). The connection between the plant communities and the invertebrates, as discussed above, was primarily structural, providing habitat for the invertebrates. ...
... The connection between the plant communities and the invertebrates, as discussed above, was primarily structural, providing habitat for the invertebrates. However, the combination of nutrients and light availability may also affect other food resources in the spring, such as the microscopic algal community (Griffith et al. 2009;Wojtal and Sobczyk 2012). ...
... This study has demonstrated that measuring nutrients or sediment addition alone would have provided an incomplete picture of agricultural impacts on springs. The primary agricultural factors affecting the springs in this study were those that affected light availability to the spring, and potential impacts from commonly measured nutrients (nitrate, phosphate) or sediment (e.g., Williams et al. 1997;Barquin and Scarsbrook 2008;Griffith et al. 2009) were not present or else obscured by the larger effects of light limitation. The extent of the riparian area is widely known to be important in maintaining spring health (Erman 2002;Barquin and Scarsbrook 2008;Griffith et al. 2009); this study shows that the tree species composition within the riparian zone is also critically important, specifically relating to providing shade to the spring pool. ...
Many freshwater cool springs can be characterized by nearly constant temperatures and chemical composition. Agricultural activities may leach nutrients to the groundwater, add sediment and nutrients from overland flow, and change the cover of the riparian area surrounding springs, all factors that influence aquatic invertebrate and plant communities. Twenty limnocrene springs in Prince Edward Island, Canada (10 surrounded by and within 20 m of agricultural land, and 10 located in forested areas with<5% agriculture within 1 km) were studied to determine effects of agricultural activities on invertebrate and plant community structure. Chemical, flow, sediment, and cover variables were examined in all 20 springs, and invertebrates and macrophytes were evaluated in a subset of four agricultural and four forested springs. Although nutrients (particularly nitrate) were higher in agricultural springs than in forested ones, and plant communities differed between springs in the two land use types, light level (relating to the riparian canopy in the two landuse types) was a stronger predictor of aquatic plant community composition than nutrients. Plant diversity was highest in open agricultural sites. Overall invertebrate richness and abundance were higher in forested sites than agricultural sites, but invertebrate community composition differed between the two land-use types, and was primarily related to aquatic plant composition. Few taxa responded directly to elevated nutrients. The composition of the riparian area may be more important than direct inputs of nutrients and sedimentation when assessing agricultural impacts on springs.
... Stream fish assemblages are structured by environmental factors, especially physical habitats and water quality, in agricultural regions (Cooper 1993, Allan 2004, Vondracek et al. 2005, Griffith et al. 2009). Physical disturbances in agricultural watersheds, such as riparian vegetation removal and channelization, can often increase water temperature and sediment input ( Nagasaka and Nakamura 1999, Heartsill-Scalley and Aide 2003, Zaimes and Schultz 2011, which can reduce habitat quality and diversity, subsequently changing fish communities ( Nerbonne and Vondracek 2001, Vondracek et al. 2005, Mueller et al. 2011. ...
Intensive agriculture has degraded streams in subtropical Taiwan, but agricultural impacts on fish assemblages are not well studied. The goal of this study was to understand changes in structure and function of fish assemblages along environmental gradients in an agricultural region of South-central Taiwan. Nineteen sites in the hill and upper plain regions were selected for fish sampling during the base flow period. Water chemistry analyses and rapid habitat assessment were also conducted. Cluster analysis separated fish assemblages into four assemblage groups and a single site. A redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that environmental variables explained 73.9% of species variance. RDA axis 1 represented a habitat-diversity, cover, and nutrient gradient, whereas RDA axis 2 represented a complex riparian condition gradient. Relative abundances of dominant fish species and assemblage groups were related to water and habitat variables. Trophic and tolerance guilds were correlated with RDA axes. Number of fish species increased with decreasing elevation. Both structure and function of fish assemblages changed with water and habitat gradients in these subtropical agricultural streams.
... Ideally, a comprehensive representation of integrity would simultaneously include fish and macroinvertebrates because they can reflect conditions at different scales and react differently to varying stressors [19,20,22e24]. For example, in general, fish tend to respond to broader scale factors like flow and landuse, due to their range of movement and lifespan [18,22], while macroinvertebrates tend to respond to more localized habitat factors [23]. ...
In order to study the impacts of bioenergy crop expansions on stream health the adaptive neural-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used to simulate three macroinvertebrate and one fish stream health measure. Macroinvertebrate measures considered were the Hil-senhoff Biotic Index (HBI), Family Index of Biological Integrity (Family IBI), and Number of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera taxa (EPT taxa) and the fish measure used was the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI). Water quality and quantity variables obtained from a high-resolution biophysical model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) were considered as inputs to the stream health predictive models. In order to examine the potential impacts of bioenergy crop expansions on stream health measures, 20 different rotations were examined in the Saginaw Bay basin. Overall, for the second-generation of biofuel crops, improvement in water quality was associated with less intensive agricultural activities, while traditional intensive row crops generated more pollution than current landuse conditions. Regarding the impacts of landuse changes on stream health measures, all three macroinvertebrate measures were negatively impacted under intensive row crops scenario while these measures were improved under perennial crops. However, for the fish measures, the expansion of native grass, switchgrass, and miscanthus resulted in negative impacts on IBI compared to first-generation row crops.
... Rebecca M. Kreiling,* Joseph P. Schubauer-Berigan, William B. Richardson, Lynn A. Bartsch, Peter E. Hughes, Jennifer C. Cavanaugh, and Eric A. Strauss I n the Mississippi River basin, nonpoint runoff primarily from agricultural activities and secondarily from urban areas (Goolsby et al., 1999, 2000; Alexander et al., 2008) is having detrimental eff ects on the water quality and ecology of local streams and rivers (Griffi th et al., 2009) and coastal Gulf of Mexico ecosystems (Turner and Rabalais, 1991; Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, 2000; Rabalais et al., 2002; USEPA, 2008; Broussard and Turner, 2009; Battaglin et al., 2010; Sprague et al., 2011). Increased sediment loading leads to the fi lling of off -channel areas (Bhowmik and Adams, 1989), and greater loads of suspended solids limit light transmission into the water column, hindering the growth of aquatic macrophytes (Moore et al., 2010), phytoplankton (Whalen and Benson, 2007), and invertebrates (Griffi th et al., 2009). ...
... Rebecca M. Kreiling,* Joseph P. Schubauer-Berigan, William B. Richardson, Lynn A. Bartsch, Peter E. Hughes, Jennifer C. Cavanaugh, and Eric A. Strauss I n the Mississippi River basin, nonpoint runoff primarily from agricultural activities and secondarily from urban areas (Goolsby et al., 1999, 2000; Alexander et al., 2008) is having detrimental eff ects on the water quality and ecology of local streams and rivers (Griffi th et al., 2009) and coastal Gulf of Mexico ecosystems (Turner and Rabalais, 1991; Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, 2000; Rabalais et al., 2002; USEPA, 2008; Broussard and Turner, 2009; Battaglin et al., 2010; Sprague et al., 2011). Increased sediment loading leads to the fi lling of off -channel areas (Bhowmik and Adams, 1989), and greater loads of suspended solids limit light transmission into the water column, hindering the growth of aquatic macrophytes (Moore et al., 2010), phytoplankton (Whalen and Benson, 2007), and invertebrates (Griffi th et al., 2009). Excess N and P inputs contribute to localized eutrophication , and the combination of increasing nutrients and sediment degrades the fl oodplain (Nietch et al., 2005; Griffi th et al., 2009; Houser and Richardson, 2010). ...
... Increased sediment loading leads to the fi lling of off -channel areas (Bhowmik and Adams, 1989), and greater loads of suspended solids limit light transmission into the water column, hindering the growth of aquatic macrophytes (Moore et al., 2010), phytoplankton (Whalen and Benson, 2007), and invertebrates (Griffi th et al., 2009). Excess N and P inputs contribute to localized eutrophication , and the combination of increasing nutrients and sediment degrades the fl oodplain (Nietch et al., 2005; Griffi th et al., 2009; Houser and Richardson, 2010). Further downstream, nutrients, particularly NO 3 − , are associated with a large annual hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico (Turner et al., 2008). ...
Restored riparian wetlands in the Upper Mississippi River basin have potential to remove sediment and nutrients from tributaries before they flow into the Mississippi River. For 3 yr we calculated retention efficiencies of a marsh complex, which consisted of a restored marsh and an adjacent natural marsh that were connected to Halfway Creek, a small tributary of the Mississippi. We measured sediment, N, and P removal through a mass balance budget approach, N removal through denitrification, and N and P removal through mechanical soil excavation. The marsh complex had average retention rates of approximately 30 Mg sediment ha yr, 26 kg total N ha yr, and 20 kg total P ha yr. Water flowed into the restored marsh only during high-discharge events. Although the majority of retention occurred in the natural marsh, portions of the natural marsh were hydrologically disconnected at low discharge due to historical over-bank sedimentation. The natural marsh removed >60% of sediment, >10% of P, and >5% of N loads (except the first year, when it was a N source). The marsh complex was a source of NH and soluble reactive P. The average denitrification rate for the marsh complex was 2.88 mg N m h. Soil excavation removed 3600 Mg of sediment, 5.6 Mg of N, and 2.7 Mg of P from the restored marsh. The marsh complex was effective in removing sediment and nutrients from storm flows; however, retention could be increased if more water was diverted into both restored and natural marshes before entering the river.
... Th e impacts of increased deposited sediment on stream community structure and ecosystem function are well documented (Waters 1995;Wood and Armitage, 1997;Henley et al., 2000). Impacts on biota range from direct eff ects, such as increased macroinvertebrate drift (Culp et al., 1986) and smothering and scouring of periphyton (Griffi th et al., 2009;Molinos and Donohue, 2009), to indirect eff ects, such as reduction of critical habitat used by macroinvertebrates and vertebrates for reproduction, rearing, refuge, and food acquisition (Zweig and Rabeni, 2001;Sutherland et al., 2002;Griffi th et al., 2009). ...
... Th e impacts of increased deposited sediment on stream community structure and ecosystem function are well documented (Waters 1995;Wood and Armitage, 1997;Henley et al., 2000). Impacts on biota range from direct eff ects, such as increased macroinvertebrate drift (Culp et al., 1986) and smothering and scouring of periphyton (Griffi th et al., 2009;Molinos and Donohue, 2009), to indirect eff ects, such as reduction of critical habitat used by macroinvertebrates and vertebrates for reproduction, rearing, refuge, and food acquisition (Zweig and Rabeni, 2001;Sutherland et al., 2002;Griffi th et al., 2009). ...
... Of these, two metrics, MFBI and EPT relative abundance, were consistently related to our best performing geomorphic measures. Th e relative abundance of EPT was roughly three times as great in streambeds with the least percent fi nes compared with those having the greatest percent fi nes, a pattern found in other studies (Nerbonne and Vondracek, 2001;Zweig and Rabeni, 2001;Cormier et al., 2008;Griffi th et al., 2009;Larsen et al., 2009). Increased quantity and fi ning of stream sediments not only leads to habitat degradation but can also be linked to increased drift (Culp et al., 1986;Larsen and Ormerod, 2010), decreased density and hatching success of benthic macroinvertebrates (Keff ord et al., 2010), and decreased biotic integrity of aquatic vertebrate and macroinvertebrate assemblages (Bryce et al., 2010). ...
Excessive sedimentation in streams and rivers remains a pervasive problem for the protection of aquatic habitat and the sustainability of aquatic communities. Whereas water quality criteria have been determined for suspended sediments in many jurisdictions across North America, comparably little has been done for deposited (also known as bedded) sediments. Through Canada's National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative, assessment techniques and analytical tools were developed for estimating environmental thresholds for deposited sediments in agricultural watersheds in New Brunswick (NB) and Prince Edward Island (PEI) in the Atlantic Maritimes of Canada. Physical thresholds were developed through assessment of geomorphic metrics, which were then analyzed using y-intercept and 25th percentile approaches. For NB, there was strong agreement in physical thresholds for both analytical approaches (e.g., percent fines <2 mm were 7.5 for y-intercept and 6.9 for 25th percentile approaches). In contrast, physical thresholds for PEI differed considerably between approaches (e.g., percent fines <2 mm were 6.1 for y-intercept and 19.6 for 25th percentile approaches), likely due to a narrower range in agricultural land cover. Cross-calibration of our provisional physical thresholds for NB with ecological (i.e., benthic macroinvertebrate) assessments show that ecological thresholds, calculated as change-points in relationships between Ephemeroptera-Plecoptera-Trichoptera relative abundance or Modified Family Biotic Index and geomorphic criteria, were more liberal than physical thresholds. These results suggest that provisional thresholds developed using geomorphic criteria should demarcate change from the least disturbed condition and reduce the risk of sedimentation degrading benthic ecosystems.
... Ideally, a comprehensive representation of integrity would simultaneously include fish and macroinvertebrates because they can reflect conditions at different scales and react differently to varying stressors [19,20,22e24]. For example, in general, fish tend to respond to broader scale factors like flow and landuse, due to their range of movement and lifespan [18,22], while macroinvertebrates tend to respond to more localized habitat factors [23]. Multiple approaches have been used in linking disturbances and stream variables to aquatic biota [25e27]. ...
In this study, the environmental impacts of large scale bioenergy crops were evaluated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Daily pesticide concentration data for a study area consisting of four large watersheds located in Michigan (totaling 53,358 km²) was estimated over a six year period (2000-2005). Model outputs for atrazine, bromoxynil, glyphosate, metolachlor, pendimethalin, sethoxydim, triflualin, and 2,4-D model output were used to predict the possible long-term implications that large-scale bioenergy crop expansion may have on the bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and humans. Threshold toxicity levels were obtained for the bluegill and for human consumption for all pesticides being evaluated through an extensive literature review. Model output was compared to each toxicity level for the suggested exposure time (96-hour for bluegill and 24-hour for humans). The results suggest that traditional intensive row crops such as canola, corn and sorghum may negatively impact aquatic life, and in most cases affect the safe drinking water availability. The continuous corn rotation, the most representative rotation for current agricultural practices for a starch-based ethanol economy, delivers the highest concentrations of glyphosate to the stream. In addition, continuous canola contributed to a concentration of 1.11 ppm of trifluralin, a highly toxic herbicide, which is 8.7 times the 96-hour ecotoxicity of bluegills and 21 times the safe drinking water level. Also during the period of study, continuous corn resulted in the impairment of 541,152 km of stream. However, there is promise with second-generation lignocellulosic bioenergy crops such as switchgrass, which resulted in a 171,667 km reduction in total stream length that exceeds the human threshold criteria, as compared to the base scenario. Results of this study may be useful in determining the suitability of bioenergy crop rotations and aid in decision making regarding the adaptation of large-scale bioenergy cropping systems.
