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ENVSCI 716

Applied Freshwater Ecology

Freshwater Ecology and Environmental Science
 Habitat Fragmentation
Dams: removal and migratory fish restoration

Migratory Alewife
 Anadromous Alewife Life Cycle

Diagram by Katie Norris

 Alewives: stream response to lake predators
Size-selective predation Marine Nutrient Subsidy
1.0
Alewife
8.00 run
0.8 No Alewife
7.50
7.00 Alewife
6.50
Length (mm)

0.6

δ15N (per mil)

6.00
5.50
0.4
5.00
4.50
0.2 alewives 4.00
no alewives 3.50
3.00
0.0 Apr May Jul Sep Oct
Spring Summer

Mick Demi
Katie Norris
 Species Invasion: Invasive brown trout and native
Galaxias in Otago

15N

Riffle
Pool
Riffle
Pool
Riffle

N N
 Trophic Cascades Biomass
4 Invertebrates
3

(g m-2)
2

0
N G T
3
Algae

(µg cm-2)
1
No
Galaxias Trout
Fish
0
N G T
work by Alex Flecker, Angus McIntosh and Colin Townsend
 Invasive Mosquitofish

Finn Lee
 Invasive Mosquitofish:
Rising temperature, invader evolution and ecosystem function

Emma Moffett Dave Fryxell

Invaders and nutrient pollution combined….
Oligotrophic Eutrophic
diet

excretion

White Perch: Morone americana

 Eutrophication: Whole lake biomanipulation
Fix a green polluted pond? Quenton Tuckett

10 tonnes of fish in 2007

Yearly removal through 2012

Trap and gill netting

 Paleolimnology
Mesocosms

Perch invasion

Quenton Tuckett Kristin Strock

Water Pollution: DCD (Dicyandiamide)

Weimiao Zheng

0.16
0.14

Chlorophyll a (µg/cm2)
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
Control Nitrapyrin DCD-50 DCD-500 DCD-1000 DCD-2000
Treatment
 Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC)
Urbanization Effects on Streams
Invertebrates Organic Matter
380

360

Excitation wavelength (nm)

340

320

300

280

260

240
300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440 460 480

Emission wavelength (nm)

Thomas Parr

% Impervious Area

Thomas Parr
 Urban
Parallel FactorNutrients
Analysis (PARAFAC)
Microbial nutrient limitation in Auckland and Christchurch

Emma Moffett
Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC)
Freshwater Response to Mining

Javiera Mulet Bunder

Agriculture and Urbanisation:
Invertebrate changes

Kiran Parmar
 Who are you?

Why are you taking this class?

What is the healthiest freshwater

ecosystem you know?

What is the most damaged

freshwater ecosystem you know?
Key challenges in
freshwater
management and
assessment
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01318-8
 Fisheries, Point and
Harvesting Non-point Pollution

Land use, channel

modification

Land use, Dams,

Groundwater withdrawal

Willful and Accidental

Dudgeon et al. 2007

Freshwater as a global commodity
 Freshwater biodiversity and water security…conflict or accord?

Human water security

Biodiversity

Vorosmarty et al.
2010 Nature
https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12480
~40% PURE NEW ZEALAND
Local (NZ) perspective – big challenge = non-point problems from agriculture
 Agriculture and water quality

Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides…

Nutrients (more)
Riparian plants (less)
Temperature (higher)
Sediments (more)
Hydrology (variable)
 Ungrazed
tussock
grassland

Grazed,
oversown,
and fertilised
pasture
 Restoration examples…
Constructed wetlands

Does this work?

What response variable?
What time frame?

Riparian restoration
https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/science/schools-and-departments/biological-sciences/research/ferg/carex/
Agricultural effects are long lived…

1990’s
1950’s
What best explains current biodiversity?
1950’s land use!
Dodds and Whiles ISBN-13: 978-0123747242
Trends in NZ rivers
More Nutrients More Algae Lower Clarity
NZ Ministry for the Environment
Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB’s)

Cyanobacteria
STACY SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ

• Form toxins
• Float
• N-fixers
 Urban water quality
“Urban stream syndrome”
Walsh et al., J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 2005, 24(3):706–723
Changes to hydrology/geomorphology
Reduced infiltration = greater runoff

Paul and Meyer 2001 Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 32:333–65

 Changes to hydrology/geomorphology

Sharp hydrographs with

higher peak flows

Often reduced baseflow

Hypothetical hydrographs for an urban stream (yellow) and a rural

stream (green) after a storm, illustrating some common changes in
stormflow and baseflow that occur with urban development.
Changes to hydrology/geomorphology

Paul and Meyer 2001 Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 32:333–65

More than just changing flow and channel form....

Bernhardt and Palmer 2007 Kaushal and Belt in press

 Chemical pollutant loading

Chalmers et al. 2007

Fig. 2. Relations between concentrations of contaminants in sediments and urbanization, as indicated by percentage commercial, industrial and
transportation land use. Median values were used for four sites with multiple sample media (streambed sediment, suspended sediment and/or sediment cores).
Concentrations in sediment cores are median values for samples deposited during 1990–2000. Enrichment factors are the ratios of contaminant concentrations
to calculated reference concentrations for metals and PAHs. Reference concentrations (the mean of concentrations for samples in cores from the three
reference lakes farthest from the Boston metropolitan area, BRT, BBP, and CRK) are represented by a dashed line. Solid lines indicate sediment quality
guidelines probable effect concentrations (PECs) (MacDonald et al., 2000). Two outliers (circled) were not included in regression equations.
Emerging Contaminants: Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products, Plastic…
Biodiversity decline is commonly Non-linear
(typically ~10% impervious area)
 Understanding
trajectory of
response to stress is
important

Allan 2004 Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst.

Change the land, change the water

Riparian Zone – land and

vegetation adjacent to
streams and lakes
Increasing attempts at urban restoration
How do we measure success?
 Lake Washington

250
200 A

Total P in lake
(metric tons)
150
100
50
0
70

Surface chlorophyll a
56 B
1. Noticed shift to eutrophic

(µg L-1)
42
algal species 28
14
2. Sewage diverted from
0
Lake Washington in 1960’s (% of phytoplankton) 100
80 C
3. Cyanobacteria dropped
Cyanobacteria

60
out 40
20
4. Control trophic state
0
before hypolimnion went 61 63 65 67 69 71 73 75 77 79
anoxic Year
Bank stabilisation

Channel engineering

Riparian planting

Detention/Treatment devices

many attempted...
few adequately measured for
success (esp. long term)

Bernhardt and Palmer 2010

 Invasive organisms - plants
Key Ecological Effects:

habitat – clogging of interstitial

spaces, altered habitat complexity

physical/chemical properties – light,

nutrients (more, less, different
Lagarosiphon, Hydrilla, others places), oxygen (spatial, temporal)

biotic interactions – competitive

exclusion (stemming from above)

Didymosphenia
Invasive organisms - animals

Key Ecological Effects:

• biotic interactions –
competition, predation

• physical habitat –
smothering,
engineering

• disturbance regimes