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Summary: Urban Ecosystems, 7: 267281, 2004
c 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands.
Exurban residential subdivision development:
Effects on water quality and public perception
JOAN IVERSON NASSAUER nassauer@umich.edu
J. DAVID ALLAN
THOMAS JOHENGEN
SANDRA E. KOSEK
DANA INFANTE
School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA
Abstract. We investigated how future alternative designs for exurban residential subdivision development in
agricultural landscapes might affect aquatic ecosystems and public perceptions, and we asked whether better
aquatic ecological quality would correspond with public perceptions of greater landscape attractiveness. The
alternative exurban futures we compared were: ecologically beneficial subdivisions, conventional subdivisions,
and conventional agriculture. To judge their aquatic ecology effects we measured the chemistry and biota of
six first-order streams within our study area, the Huron and Raisin River watersheds in the Detroit CMSA. We
chose two stream catchments that exhibited land cover to represent the same proportions as each of three types
of alternative exurban futures. Streams in catchments representing ecologically beneficial subdivision designs
had the most total macroinvertebrate taxa, the most sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa, lowest nitrates, lowest total
phosphorus, and lowest total suspended materials. Nutrient concentrations were highest in agricultural catchments,
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