TY - JOUR
T1 - Shifts in attributes along agriculture-forest transitions of two streams in central Ohio, USA
AU - Goss, Charles W.
AU - Goebel, P. Charles
AU - Sullivan, S. Mažeika P.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by The Ohio State University Climate, Water, and Carbon (CWC) Targeted Investment in Excellence Program and The National Science Foundation STEM Graduate Fellows in K-12 Education Program , Grant No. 0638669 . N. Rosenbaum and S. Francis-Bongue assisted with aquatic macroinvertebrate identification. J.R. Holomuzki and M.J. Paul contributed insightful comments on the initial study design. Finally, we would like to thank The Wilderness Center and other land owners for their cooperation and permission to conduct this study on their property.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Riparian forests are strongly linked to stream ecosystems, and the creation and/or conservation of riparian forests can mitigate the influence of agriculture on streams. Although riparian forest buffers are commonly advocated as best management practices, the extent of forest necessary to effectively mitigate upstream agricultural effects on streams remains unresolved. To determine how soon agricultural streams exhibit detectable effects after entering forest fragments, we surveyed sixteen sites distributed across two 2nd-order headwater streams in agricultural landscapes of central Ohio that exhibit abrupt transitions as they flow from upstream agricultural land up to 1km into downstream forest fragments. Along these transitions we measured leaf-colonizing benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, leaf-litter breakdown, and physicochemical habitat. Our results indicated that forest fragments can rapidly alter physicochemical and biological attributes of agricultural streams. At both study streams, daily maximum temperature declined within the first 200m of entering forest fragments. Changes in water quality were more variable, but there was evidence of a strong decline in NO3-N along an agriculture-forest transition. There was also evidence of a decline in fine sediment with distance into the forest at one stream. Aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages exhibited strong changes in composition ranging from the forest edge up to 324m into forest fragments. Taxa that declined after entering forests were generally more tolerant of anthropogenic disturbance and/or those that rely on in-stream primary productivity (i.e., scrapers) whereas most of the taxa that increased after entering forests were relatively sensitive to disturbance and rely on allochthonous organic matter inputs from the forest (i.e., shredders). Collectively, the rapid changes in biological and physicochemical attributes that we observed suggest that even relatively small forest fragments may be able to markedly influence impaired streams and that conservation and restoration of small, discontinuous forest fragments may be important for maintaining stream ecosystem integrity in agricultural landscapes.
AB - Riparian forests are strongly linked to stream ecosystems, and the creation and/or conservation of riparian forests can mitigate the influence of agriculture on streams. Although riparian forest buffers are commonly advocated as best management practices, the extent of forest necessary to effectively mitigate upstream agricultural effects on streams remains unresolved. To determine how soon agricultural streams exhibit detectable effects after entering forest fragments, we surveyed sixteen sites distributed across two 2nd-order headwater streams in agricultural landscapes of central Ohio that exhibit abrupt transitions as they flow from upstream agricultural land up to 1km into downstream forest fragments. Along these transitions we measured leaf-colonizing benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, leaf-litter breakdown, and physicochemical habitat. Our results indicated that forest fragments can rapidly alter physicochemical and biological attributes of agricultural streams. At both study streams, daily maximum temperature declined within the first 200m of entering forest fragments. Changes in water quality were more variable, but there was evidence of a strong decline in NO3-N along an agriculture-forest transition. There was also evidence of a decline in fine sediment with distance into the forest at one stream. Aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages exhibited strong changes in composition ranging from the forest edge up to 324m into forest fragments. Taxa that declined after entering forests were generally more tolerant of anthropogenic disturbance and/or those that rely on in-stream primary productivity (i.e., scrapers) whereas most of the taxa that increased after entering forests were relatively sensitive to disturbance and rely on allochthonous organic matter inputs from the forest (i.e., shredders). Collectively, the rapid changes in biological and physicochemical attributes that we observed suggest that even relatively small forest fragments may be able to markedly influence impaired streams and that conservation and restoration of small, discontinuous forest fragments may be important for maintaining stream ecosystem integrity in agricultural landscapes.
KW - Agricultural landscapes
KW - Aquatic macroinvertebrates
KW - Forest fragment
KW - Headwater streams
KW - Land-cover transitions
KW - Stream restoration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907358398&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2014.07.026
DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2014.07.026
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84907358398
SN - 0167-8809
VL - 197
SP - 106
EP - 117
JO - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
JF - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
ER -