Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Increased Habitat Connectivity Homogenizes Freshwater Communities: Historical And Landscape Perspectives, Angela L. Strecker, Jeffrey Thomas Brittain

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

1. Increases in habitat connectivity can have consequences for taxonomic, functional, and genetic diversity of communities. Previously isolated aquatic habitats were connected with canals and pipelines in the largest water development project in the US history, the Columbia Basin Project (CBP; eastern Washington, USA), which also altered environmental conditions; however, the ecological consequences are largely unknown.

2. Using a historical dataset, we examined long-term patterns in zooplankton communities, water chemistry and clarity, testing the hypothesis that increased connectivity will result in taxonomic homogenization. Further, we tested contemporary drivers of communities using a comprehensive set of environmental and landscape variables.

3. Waterbodies were sampled …

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Developing A Representative Snow-Monitoring Network In A Forested Mountain Watershed, Kelly E. Gleason, Anne Nolin, Travis R. Roth

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

A challenge in establishing new ground-based stations for monitoring snowpack accumulation and ablation is to locate the sites in areas that represent the key processes affecting snow accumulation and ablation. This is especially challenging in forested montane watersheds where the combined effects of terrain, climate, and land cover affect seasonal snowpack. We present a coupled modeling approach used to objectively identify representative snow-monitoring locations in a forested watershed in the western Oregon Cascades mountain range. We used a binary regression tree (BRT) non-parametric statistical model to classify peak snow water equivalent (SWE) based on physiographic landscape characteristics in an average …

Legacies Of Stream Channel Modification Revealed Using General Land Office Surveys, With Implications For Water Temperature And Aquatic Life, Seth M. White, Casey Justice, Denise A. Kelsey, Dale A. Mccullough, Tyanna Smith

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Land use legacies can have a discernible influence in present-day watersheds and should be accounted for when designing conservation strategies for riverine aquatic life. We describe the environmental history of three watersheds within the Grande Ronde subbasin of the Columbia River using General Land Office survey field notes from the 19th century. In the two watersheds severely impacted by Euro-American land use, stream channel widths—a metric representing habitat simplification—increased from an average historical width of 16.8 m to an average present width of 20.8 m in large streams; 4.3 m to 5.5 m in small, confined or partly confined streams; …

Using Transects To Understand Cyanobacterial Blooms, John Rueter

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation focuses on Toxic algae (and cyanobacteria) and on short-term mitigation:

• Monitoring
• Possible approaches

Understanding The Links Between Cyanobacteria Physiology And Hydrodynamics May Help Find Adaption Strategies For Toxic Blooms, John Rueter

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Even though we are managing lakes to decrease algal blooms overall, harmful algal blooms seem to be showing up more and more frequently. Although the word “blooms” connotes dominance and rapid growth, dangerous accumulations of cyanobacteria can occur because of combinations of physiological advantages and particular weather and hydrodynamic conditions. I am particularly interested in specific conditions that might favor Aphanizomenon versus those that might favor Microcystis in Upper Klamath and Agency Lakes. Aphanizomenon is a nuisance and large blooms can lead to oxygen depletion and fish deaths. Microcystis can both be a nuisance and is toxic. The comparison of …

Factors Influencing The Survival Of Outmigrating Juvenile Salmonids Through Multiple Dam Passages: An Individual-Based Approach, Timothy Elder, Christa M. Woodley, Mark A. Weiland, Angela L. Strecker

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Substantial declines of Pacific salmon populations have occurred over the past several decades related to large-scale anthropogenic and climatic changes in freshwater and marine environments. In the Columbia River Basin, migrating juvenile salmonids may pass as many as eight large-scale hydropower projects before reaching the ocean; however, the cumulative effects of multiple dam passages are largely unknown. Using acoustic transmitters and an extensive system of hydrophone arrays in the Lower Columbia River, we calculated the survival of yearling Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss) passing one, two, or three dams. We applied a unique index of biological characteristics …

Worldview-Based Scenarios Highlight Stakeholder Values And Assumptions, John Rueter

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lake management, we have the privilege and responsibility to work with the public on highly visible resources. Everybody has an opinion based on his or her personal values and observations. While we might sometimes consider this plethora of value statements as the bane of our existence, we all realize that public engagement is crucial for the health and future of lakes. Poor lake health is often caused by many little insults that stem from a wide range of legitimate views for how the lake should be treated as a resource. We need a framework to be able to deal …

Increased Taxonomic And Functional Similarity Does Not Increase The Trophic Similarity Of Communities, Thomas K. Pool, Julien Cucherousset, Stéphanie Boulêtreau, Sébastien Villéger, Angela L. Strecker, Gaël Grenouillet

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aim: Despite a long-standing research interest in the association between the biodiversity (i.e. taxonomic and functional composition) and trophic structure of communities, our understanding of the relationship remains limited. Community assembly theory predicts that niche partitioning will result in communities with a diverse array of functional traits, which in turn may facilitate a correspondingly diverse array of trophic interactions that define the trophic niche of those communities. The aim of our study is to test this prediction.

Methods: We built a database composed of functional traits and stable isotope values (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) for …

Diurnal And Seasonal Variations Of No, No2 And Pm2.5 Mass As A Function Of Traffic Volumes Alongside An Urban Arterial, Christine M. Kendrick, Peter Koonce, Linda A. George

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Urban arterial corridors are landscapes that give rise to short and long-term exposures to transportation-related pollution. With high traffic volumes and a wide mix of road users, urban arterial environments are important targets for improved exposure assessment to traffic-related pollution. A common method to estimate exposure is to use traffic volumes as a proxy. The study presented here analyzes a unique yearlong dataset of simultaneous roadside air quality and traffic observations for a U.S. arterial to assess the reliability of using traffic volumes as a proxy for traffic-related exposure. Results show how the relationships of traffic volumes with NO and …

Empirical Evidence For The Scale Dependence Of Biotic Interactions, Jonathan Belmaker, Phoebe Zarnetske, Sara Zonneveld, Sydne Record, Angela L. Strecker, Lydia Beaudrot

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aim: Although it is recognized that ecological patterns are scale dependent, the exact scales over which specific ecological processes operate are still a matter of controversy. In particular, understanding the scales over which biotic interactions operate is critical for predicting changes in species distributions in the face of the ongoing biodiversity crisis. It has been hypothesized that biotic interactions operate predominately at fine grains, yet this conjecture has received relatively little empirical scrutiny. We use US woodpeckers as a model system to assess the relative importance of biotic interactions, environmental suitability and geographic proximity to other intraspecific occurrence sites, …

Type And Timing Of Stream Flow Changes In Urbanizing Watersheds In The Eastern U.S., Kristina G. Hopkins, Nathaniel B. Morse, Daniel J. Bain, Neil D. Bettez, Nancy B. Grimm, Jennifer L. Morse, Monica M. Palta

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Linking the type and timing of hydrologic changes with patterns of urban growth is essential to identifying the underlying mechanisms that drive declines in urban aquatic ecosystems. In six urbanizing watersheds surrounding three U.S. cities (Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, and Pittsburgh, PA), we reconstructed the history of development patterns since 1900 and assessed the magnitude and timing of stream flow changes during watershed development. Development reconstructions indicated that the majority of watershed development occurred during a period of peak population growth, typically between 1950 and 1970. Stream flow records indicated significant increases in annual frequency of high-flow events in all …

Comparison Of Fish Assemblages In Restored And Natural Mangrove Habitats Along An Urban Shoreline, Joseph R. Peters, Lauren A. Yeager, Craig A. Layman

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The installation of living shorelines is one strategy used to ameliorate habitat degradation along developed coastlines. In this process, existing hard structures, such as sea walls and riprap revetments, are supplemented with habitat forming species, e.g., oysters and mangrove trees, to improve habitat quality and function. Shoreline restorations in Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA, often utilize red mangroves, Rhizophora mangle (Linneaus, 1753), in addition to riprap revetments, to help stabilize the shoreline. This riprap-mangrove habitat provides structure for marine organisms to utilize and is believed to improve shoreline habitats in areas previously cleared of mangroves. We examined whether habitat provisioning was …

Effectiveness Of Fuel Treatments For Mitigating Wildfire Risk And Sequestering Forest Carbon: A Case Study In The Lake Tahoe Basin, E. Louise Loudermilk, Alison Stanton, Robert M. Scheller, Thomas E. Dilts, Peter J. Weisberg, Carl Skinner, Jian Yang

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fuel-reduction treatments are used extensively to reduce wildfire risk and restore forest diversity and function. In the near future, increasing regulation of carbon (C) emissions may force forest managers to balance the use of fuel treatments for reducing wildfire risk against an alternative goal of C sequestration. The objective of this study was to evaluate how long-term fuel treatments mitigate wildfires and affect forest C. For the Lake Tahoe Basin in the central Sierra Nevada, USA, fuel treatment efficiency was explored with a landscape-scale simulation model, LANDIS-II, using five fuel treatment scenarios and two (contemporary and potential future) fire regimes. …

Climate Change Effects On Northern Great Lake (Usa) Forests: A Case For Preserving Diversity, Matthew Joshua Duveneck, Robert M. Scheller, Mark A. White, Stephen D. Handler, Catherine Ravenscroft

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Under business as usual (BAU) management, stresses posed by climate change may exceed the ability of Great Lake forests to adapt. Temperature and precipitation projections in the Great Lakes region are expected to change forest tree species composition and productivity. It is unknown how a change in productivity and/or tree species diversity due to climate change will affect the relationship between diversity and productivity. We assessed how forests in two landscapes (i.e., northern lower Michigan and northeastern Minnesota, USA) would respond to climate change and explored the diversityproductivity relationship under climate change. In addition, we explored how tree species diversity …

Fish Species Introductions Provide Novel Insights Into The Patterns And Drivers Of Phylogenetic Structure In Freshwaters, Angela L. Strecker, Julian D. Olden

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite long-standing interest of terrestrial ecologists, freshwater ecosystems are a fertile, yet unappreciated, testing ground for applying community phylogenetics to uncover mechanisms of species assembly. We quantify phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion of native and non-native fishes of a large river basin in the American Southwest to test for the mechanisms (environmental filtering versus competitive exclusion) and spatial scales influencing community structure. Contrary to expectations, non-native species were phylogenetically clustered and related to natural environmental conditions, whereas native species were not phylogenetically structured, likely reflecting human-related changes to the basin. The species that are most invasive (in terms of ecological impacts) …

Winter Climate Change Affects Growing-Season Soil Microbial Biomass And Activity In Northern Hardwood Forests, Jorge Durán, Jennifer L. Morse, Peter M. Groffman, John L. Campbell, Lynn M. Christenson, Charles T. Driscoll, Timothy J. Fahey, Melany C. Fisk, Mryon J. Mitchell, Pamela H. Templer

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to global change remains a major challenge of ecological research. We exploited a natural elevation gradient in a northern hardwood forest to determine how reductions in snow accumulation, expected with climate change, directly affect dynamics of soil winter frost, and indirectly soil microbial biomass and activity during the growing season. Soils from lower elevation plots, which accumulated less snow and experienced more soil temperature variability during the winter (and likely more freeze/thaw events), had less extractable inorganic nitrogen (N), lower rates of microbial N production via potential net N mineralization and nitrification, and higher …

Effect Of Reducing Maximum Cycle Length On Roadside Air Quality And Travel Times On A Corridor In Portland, Or, Christine M. Kendrick, David Urowsky, Willie Rotich, Peter Koonce, Linda Acha George

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS), an adaptive signal system designed to reduce congestion, has been installed on a heavily trafficked roadway in Portland, OR. In addition to traffic performance metrics, we are investigating how this system affects roadway emissions of air pollutants. A twenty-second reduction to maximum cycle length was proposed for the SCATS system to address pedestrian delay concerns. A two-week trial period with this reduced cycle length was implemented. Travel times and roadside air pollution concentrations were monitored throughout this study period and compared to before and after periods with the current maximum cycle length. Average …

Impacts Of Fire And Climate Change On Long-Term Nitrogen Availability And Forest Productivity In The New Jersey Pine Barrens, Melissa S. Lucash, Robert M. Scheller, Alec M. Kretchun, Kenneth L. Clark, John Hom

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increased wildfires and temperatures due to climate change are expected to have profound effects on forest productivity and nitrogen (N) cycling. Forecasts about how wildfire and climate change will affect forests seldom consider N availability, which may limit forest response to climate change, particularly in fire-prone landscapes. The overall objective of this study was to examine how wildfire and climate change affect long-term mineral N availability in a fire-prone landscape. We employed a commonly used landscape simulation model (LANDIS-II) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a landscape characterized by frequent small fires and fire-resilient vegetation. We found that fire had …

The Eugene Water And Electric Board’S Mckenzie River Payment For Watershed Services Program: Research Findings On Ratepayers, Landowners, And Local Stakeholders, Max Nielsen-Pincus

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on the following research objectives:

• How much are ratepayers willing to pay and what effects that willingness?
• How much do landowners need to receive and what affects their interest?

Emerging Contaminants In Oregon Coastal Waters: Hotspots, Landscape Drivers And Synergistic Effects On Bivalves, Elise F. Granek, William Fish, Angela L. Strecker

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on the following research questions:

• Types and levels of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in Oregon’s coastal ocean?
• Levels of CECs in native and commercial oysters?
• Ecological effects (growth, reproductive output, etc.) of these contaminants in marine bivalves?

Carbon Dynamics In The Future Forest: The Importance Of Long-Term Successional Legacy And Climate–Fire Interactions, E. Louise Loudermilk, Robert M. Scheller, Peter J. Weisberg, Jian Yang, Thomas E. Dilts, Sarah L. Karam, Carl Skinner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding how climate change may influence forest carbon (C) budgets requires knowledge of forest growth relationships with regional climate, long-term forest succession, and past and future disturbances, such as wildfires and timber harvesting events. We used a landscape-scale model of forest succession, wildfire, and C dynamics (LANDIS-II) to evaluate the effects of a changing climate (A2 and B1 IPCC emissions; Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory General Circulation Models) on total forest C, tree species composition, and wildfire dynamics in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California, and Nevada. The independent effects of temperature and precipitation were assessed within and among climate models. Results …

Long-Term Integrated Studies Show Complex And Surprising Effects Of Climate Change In The Northern Hardwood Forest, Peter M. Groffman, Lindsay E. Rustad, Pamela H. Templer, John L. Campbell, Lynn M. Christenson, Nina K. Lany, Anne M. Socci, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Paul G. Schaberg, Geoffrey W. Wilson, Charles T. Driscoll, Timothy J. Fahey, Melany C. Fisk, Christine L. Goodale, Mark B. Green, Steven P. Hamburg, Chris E. Johnson, Mryon J. Mitchell, Jennifer L. Morse, Linda H. Pardo, Nicholas L. Rodenhouse

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Evaluations of the local effects of global change are often confounded by the interactions of natural and anthropogenic factors that overshadow the effects of climate changes on ecosystems. Long-term watershed and natural elevation gradient studies at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and in the surrounding region show surprising results demonstrating the effects of climate change on hydrologic variables (e.g., evapotranspiration, streamflow, soil moisture); the importance of changes in phenology on water, carbon, and nitrogen fluxes during critical seasonal transition periods; winter climate change effects on plant and animal community composition and ecosystem services; and the effects of anthropogenic disturbances and …

Beyond Adaptive Capacity Checklists: Examining The Construction Of Capacity In Mexico City And Santiago, Patricia Romero-Lankao, Sara Hughes, Angélica Rosas-Huerta, Roxana Borquéz, Melissa Haeffner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cities are vulnerable to a range of environmental hazards that are likely to be exacerbated by climate change: floods, droughts, poor air quality, and heat islands are a few examples. Assessments of this vulnerability often include an evaluation of a city’s adaptive capacity, or its potential to respond to changes in the frequency or severity of environmental hazards as well as its ability to take advantage of or mitigate these changes. For example, at the city (e.g., institutional) level, a common metric of adaptive capacity is the availability and effective use of information. In many cases, a city would receive …

A New Model For Simulating Climate Change And Carbon Dynamics In Forested Landscapes, Caren C. Dymond, Robert M. Scheller, Sarah Beukema

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Journal of Ecosystems & Management vol. 13 no. 2 2012 news brief .

The Sociology Of Landowner Interest In Restoring Fire-Adapted, Biodiverse Habitats In The Wildland-Urban Interface Of Oregon's Willamette Valley Ecoregion, Max Nielsen-Pincus

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

In many parts of the world, the combined effects of wildfire, climate change, and population growth in the wildland-urban interface pose increasing risks to both people and biodiversity. These risks are exemplified in western Oregon’s Willamette Valley Ecoregion, where population is projected to double by 2050 and climate change is expected to increase wildfire risk. Restoring elements of the region’s historic fire-adapted prairie, savanna, and woodland habitats may help to reduce future wildfire risk and help conserve the region’s threatened biodiversity. We report on a mail survey (n = 939) examining the socio-demographic factors influencing private landowners’ likelihood of restoring …

Forest Restoration In A Mixed-Ownership Landscape Under Climate Change, Catherine Ravenscroft, Robert M. Scheller, David J. Mladenoff, Mark A. White

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article presents a study regarding forest management associated with climate change. It mentions that preservation endeavors and restoration schemes should diminish current threats like unsuited forest management and development while integrating possible effects of climate change. It also stresses that an adaptive approach to management can be the most efficient strategy of forest restoration given the doubts of climate change impacts.

Conservation Des Habitats De Roussettes De Livingstone – Les Massifs Forestiers D’Anjouan Et Moheli, Comores: Utilisation D’Indicateurs Sociaux Et Ecologiques, Elise F. Granek

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Le déboisement sur les lles d'Anjouan et Moheli a augmenté a un taux alarmant au cours de ce siecle (PNUD 1998). Ce changement de la couverture des sols et des forets naturelles a des consequences nefastes pour toutes les especes vivant sur les iles, en particulier pour les especes vegetales et animales endemiques, et les communautes humaines locales. Pour diminuer la pression anthropique sur Ie milieu naturel, le Fonds pour l'Environnement Mondial et Ie PNUD ont mis en place un projet de cinq ans qui travaille avec Ie Ministere comorien de l'Environnement pour creer un reseau d'aires protegees dans les …

An Analysis Of Pteropus Livingstonii Roost Habitat: Indicators For Forest Conservation On Anjouan And Moheli, Elise F. Granek

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Livingstone's fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii) is an endangered and endemic species found only on the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli, Comoros. A study was conducted into the habitats selected by P. livingstonii, as part of a project to assess areas for nature reserves which will be able to protect and conserve forest resources in the islands; the bat is postulated to be a useful indicator of undisturbed forest. Known roost sites (n=9) before the survey were between 500 and 1100 m altitude, on steeply sloping land, with some indigenous forest cover present. Thirteen new potential roost sites were identified, of …

Final Environmental Impact Statement For The Bal'diyaka Interpretive Center At Gregory Point On The Oregon Coast In Coos County, Joseph A. Maser

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, in partnership with the Coos Bay District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are proposing to construct and operate an interpretive center near or on the South Coast of Oregon, near Coos Bay. The Bal'diyaka Interpretive Center is envisioned to contain a 51,000 square foot main building, a recreated coastal Indian village, an ethnobotanical interpretive trail, vehicular circulation and parking, and utilities infrastructure.

This Environmental Impact Statement analyzes four alternatives for this proposed interpretive center. The proposed action of the BLM would locate the Bal'diyaka Interpretive Center on Gregory …

Intercomparison Of Local Hydroxyl Measurements By Radiocarbon And Fage Techniques, Malcolm J. Campbell, Brad D. Hall, John C. Sheppard, Philip L. Utley, Robert J. O'Brien, Thomas M. Hard, Linda Acha George

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

A direct intercomparison of near-surface tropospheric HO concentration measurements by two different techniques was made in October–November 1992 at a rural site near Pullman, Washington. The atmosphere at the site is believed to contain low levels of anthropogenic pollution. The instruments' inlets were located at the same height (3.5 m) above the ground and were separated by 10 m along a line normal to the prevailing wind. Readings of the FAGE3 and radiocarbon instruments showed a high correlation (r² = 0.74) despite HO concentrations that were frequently near the detection limit of the instruments. An unweighted least squares regression shows …