Removal of Woody Riparian Vegetation Substantially Altered a Stream Ecosystem in an Otherwise Undisturbed Grassland Watershed
Abstract
Riparian zones are key interfaces between stream and terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, we know of no whole-watershed experiments that cut only woody vegetation in the riparian zone in an otherwise intact watershed to isolate the role of riparian zones on stream ecology. We removed all of the woody riparian vegetation (from 10- and 30-m-wide buffers in headwaters and main channels, respectively) for 5 km of stream in a single watershed while leaving the remainder of the grassland watershed un-impacted. We assessed water chemistry changes 3 years before and 3 years after riparian wood removal and in two neighboring control watersheds with a before–after, control-impact design and analysis. Riparian woody removal caused 10–100-fold increases in mean stream water nitrate concentrations and pulses of high nitrate for 3 years thereafter. Other nutrients and total suspended solids increased 2–25 times for the 3 years of post-removal. In-stream rates of gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem production had large treatment effect sizes but also high variance among samples. Past studies of whole-watershed deforestations showed similar water quality responses to our riparian deforestation. Riparian zones of grassland streams are sensitive to disturbance and likely impart relatively greater influence on stream structure and function thanmore »
- Authors:
-
[3]
- Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States); Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources, Bemidji, MN (United States)
- Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States)
- Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1436026
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Ecosystems
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 22; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1432-9840
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; disturbance; prairie restoration; prairie stream; riparian buffer; water chemistry; whole-stream metabolism; woody encroachment; woody removal
Citation Formats
Larson, Danelle M., Dodds, Walter K., and Veach, Allison M.. Removal of Woody Riparian Vegetation Substantially Altered a Stream Ecosystem in an Otherwise Undisturbed Grassland Watershed. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1007/s10021-018-0252-2.
Larson, Danelle M., Dodds, Walter K., & Veach, Allison M.. Removal of Woody Riparian Vegetation Substantially Altered a Stream Ecosystem in an Otherwise Undisturbed Grassland Watershed. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-018-0252-2
Larson, Danelle M., Dodds, Walter K., and Veach, Allison M.. Mon .
"Removal of Woody Riparian Vegetation Substantially Altered a Stream Ecosystem in an Otherwise Undisturbed Grassland Watershed". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-018-0252-2. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1436026.
@article{osti_1436026,
title = {Removal of Woody Riparian Vegetation Substantially Altered a Stream Ecosystem in an Otherwise Undisturbed Grassland Watershed},
author = {Larson, Danelle M. and Dodds, Walter K. and Veach, Allison M.},
abstractNote = {Riparian zones are key interfaces between stream and terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, we know of no whole-watershed experiments that cut only woody vegetation in the riparian zone in an otherwise intact watershed to isolate the role of riparian zones on stream ecology. We removed all of the woody riparian vegetation (from 10- and 30-m-wide buffers in headwaters and main channels, respectively) for 5 km of stream in a single watershed while leaving the remainder of the grassland watershed un-impacted. We assessed water chemistry changes 3 years before and 3 years after riparian wood removal and in two neighboring control watersheds with a before–after, control-impact design and analysis. Riparian woody removal caused 10–100-fold increases in mean stream water nitrate concentrations and pulses of high nitrate for 3 years thereafter. Other nutrients and total suspended solids increased 2–25 times for the 3 years of post-removal. In-stream rates of gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem production had large treatment effect sizes but also high variance among samples. Past studies of whole-watershed deforestations showed similar water quality responses to our riparian deforestation. Riparian zones of grassland streams are sensitive to disturbance and likely impart relatively greater influence on stream structure and function than the upslope of the watershed. Finally, our results further emphasize the role of riparian zones in biogeochemically linking aquatic and terrestrial habitats.},
doi = {10.1007/s10021-018-0252-2},
journal = {Ecosystems},
number = 1,
volume = 22,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {4}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Alternative stable states in ecology
journal, September 2003
- Beisner, Be; Haydon, Dt; Cuddington, K.
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Vol. 1, Issue 7
An Ecosystem Perspective of Riparian Zones
journal, September 1991
- Gregory, Stanley V.; Swanson, Frederick J.; McKee, W. Arthur
- BioScience, Vol. 41, Issue 8
Mechanisms of shrubland expansion: land use, climate or CO2?
journal, January 1995
- Archer, Steve; Schimel, David S.; Holland, Elisabeth A.
- Climatic Change, Vol. 29, Issue 1
Ecosystem Characteristics of Remnant, Headwater Tallgrass Prairie Streams
journal, January 2013
- Larson, Danelle M.; Dodds, Walter K.; Jackson, Karen E.
- Journal of Environment Quality, Vol. 42, Issue 1
Wetland and Stream Buffer Size Requirements—A Review
journal, January 1994
- Castelle, A. J.; Johnson, A. W.; Conolly, C.
- Journal of Environment Quality, Vol. 23, Issue 5
Quantitative review of riparian buffer width guidelines from Canada and the United States
journal, February 2004
- Lee, Philip; Smyth, Cheryl; Boutin, Stan
- Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 70, Issue 2
Woody Encroachment of a Riparian Corridor in a Tallgrass Prairie: Dendrochronological Evidence from Kansas
journal, January 2016
- Weihs, Brandon; Bergstrom, Ryan; Ruffing, Claire
- Papers in Applied Geography, Vol. 2, Issue 1
Hydrologic Connectivity in the High-Elevation Tropics: Heterogeneous Responses to Land Change
journal, December 2013
- Ponette-González, Alexandra G.; Marín-Spiotta, Erika; Brauman, Kate A.
- BioScience, Vol. 64, Issue 2
Biohydrologic effects of eastern redcedar encroachment into grassland, Oklahoma, USA
journal, January 2013
- Wine, Michael; Hendrickx, Jan
- Biologia, Vol. 68, Issue 6
Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems
journal, October 2001
- Scheffer, Marten; Carpenter, Steve; Foley, Jonathan A.
- Nature, Vol. 413, Issue 6856
Do Woody Plants Affect Streamflow on Semiarid Karst Rangelands?
journal, February 2005
- Wilcox, Bradford P.; Owens, M. Keith; Knight, Robert W.
- Ecological Applications, Vol. 15, Issue 1
Soil Solution Nitrogen Losses During Clearing of Lowland Amazon Forest for Pasture
journal, March 2006
- Neill, Christopher; Piccolo, Marisa C.; Cerri, Carlos C.
- Plant and Soil, Vol. 281, Issue 1-2
Correction: Fire and Grazing Influences on Rates of Riparian Woody Plant Expansion along Grassland Streams
journal, May 2015
- Veach, Allison M.; Dodds, Walter K.; Skibbe, Adam
- PLOS ONE, Vol. 10, Issue 5
Biogeochemistry of beetle-killed forests: Explaining a weak nitrate response
journal, January 2013
- Rhoades, C. C.; McCutchan, J. H.; Cooper, L. A.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 5
Riparian deforestation, stream narrowing, and loss of stream ecosystem services
journal, September 2004
- Sweeney, B. W.; Bott, T. L.; Jackson, J. K.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 101, Issue 39
Abiotic controls and temporal variability of river metabolism: multiyear analyses of Mississippi and Chattahoochee River data
journal, December 2013
- Dodds, Walter K.; Veach, Allison M.; Ruffing, Claire M.
- Freshwater Science, Vol. 32, Issue 4
Ecohydrological Implications of Woody Plant Encroachment
journal, February 2005
- Huxman, Travis E.; Wilcox, Bradford P.; Breshears, David D.
- Ecology, Vol. 86, Issue 2
In-stream uptake dampens effects of major forest disturbance on watershed nitrogen export
journal, July 2003
- Bernhardt, E. S.; Likens, G. E.; Buso, D. C.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 100, Issue 18
Headwater Influences on Downstream Water Quality
journal, November 2007
- Dodds, Walter K.; Oakes, Robert M.
- Environmental Management, Vol. 41, Issue 3
Streamside Forest Buffer Width Needed to Protect Stream Water Quality, Habitat, and Organisms: A Literature Review
journal, November 2013
- Sweeney, Bernard W.; Newbold, J. Denis
- JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, Vol. 50, Issue 3
Vegetated Filter Strip Removal of Cattle Manure Constituents in Runoff
journal, January 1998
- T. T. Lim,
- Transactions of the ASAE, Vol. 41, Issue 5
Sediment and Chemical Load Reduction by Grass and Riparian Filters
journal, January 1996
- Daniels, R. B.; Gilliam, J. W.
- Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 60, Issue 1
An Ecosystem in Transition: Causes and Consequences of the Conversion of Mesic Grassland to Shrubland
journal, January 2005
- Briggs, John M.; Knapp, Alan K.; Blair, John M.
- BioScience, Vol. 55, Issue 3
Hillslope Nutrient Dynamics Following Upland Riparian Vegetation Disturbance
journal, March 2003
- Yeakley, J. Alan; Coleman, David C.; Haines, Bruce L.
- Ecosystems, Vol. 6, Issue 2
Surprises and Insights from Long-Term Aquatic Data Sets and Experiments
journal, August 2012
- Dodds, Walter K.; Robinson, Christopher T.; Gaiser, Evelyn E.
- BioScience, Vol. 62, Issue 8
A review of catchment experiments to determine the effect of vegetation changes on water yield and evapotranspiration
journal, February 1982
- Bosch, J. M.; Hewlett, J. D.
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 55, Issue 1-4
Rising variance: a leading indicator of ecological transition: Variance and ecological transition
journal, January 2006
- Carpenter, S. R.; Brock, W. A.
- Ecology Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 3
Blazing and grazing: influences of fire and bison on tallgrass prairie stream water quality
journal, September 2013
- Larson, Danelle M.; Grudzinski, Bartosz P.; Dodds, Walter K.
- Freshwater Science, Vol. 32, Issue 3
Riparian vegetated buffer strips in water-quality restoration and stream management
journal, April 1993
- Osborne, Lewis L.; Kovacic, David A.
- Freshwater Biology, Vol. 29, Issue 2
Sample Size Determination Based on Rank Tests in Clinical Trials
journal, January 2003
- Wang, Hansheng; Chen, Bin; Chow, Shein-Chung
- Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics, Vol. 13, Issue 4
Control of Tamarix in the Western United States: Implications for Water Salvage, Wildlife Use, and Riparian Restoration
journal, March 2005
- Shafroth, Patrick B.; Cleverly, James R.; Dudley, Tom L.
- Environmental Management, Vol. 35, Issue 3
The expansion of woody riparian vegetation, and subsequent stream restoration, influences the metabolism of prairie streams: Riparian expansion influences prairie stream metabolism
journal, March 2012
- Riley, Alyssa J.; Dodds, Walter K.
- Freshwater Biology, Vol. 57, Issue 6
Can't See the Forest for the Stream? In-stream Processing and Terrestrial Nitrogen Exports
journal, January 2005
- Bernhardt, Emily S.; Likens, Gene E.; Hall, Robert O.
- BioScience, Vol. 55, Issue 3
In Defense of Experimental Watersheds
journal, February 1969
- Hewlett, John D.; Lull, Howard W.; Reinhart, Kenneth G.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 5, Issue 1
Importance of the riparian zone to the conservation and management of freshwater fish: a review
journal, January 2003
- Pusey, Bradley J.; Arthington, Angela H.
- Marine and Freshwater Research, Vol. 54, Issue 1
The effects of whole-tree clear-cutting on soil processes at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA
journal, January 1994
- Dahlgren, R. A.; Driscoll, C. T.
- Plant and Soil, Vol. 158, Issue 2
Woody Vegetation Removal Stimulates Riparian and Benthic Denitrification in Tallgrass Prairie
journal, December 2012
- Reisinger, Alexander J.; Blair, John M.; Rice, Charles W.
- Ecosystems, Vol. 16, Issue 4
Effects of experimental forest removal on macroinvertebrate production and functional structure in tallgrass prairie streams
journal, June 2015
- Vandermyde, J. M.; Whiles, M. R.
- Freshwater Science, Vol. 34, Issue 2
Effects of Forest Cutting and Herbicide Treatment on Nutrient Budgets in the Hubbard Brook Watershed-Ecosystem
journal, January 1970
- Likens, Gene E.; Bormann, F. Herbert; Johnson, Noye M.
- Ecological Monographs, Vol. 40, Issue 1
Ecological thresholds and regime shifts: approaches to identification
journal, January 2009
- Andersen, Tom; Carstensen, Jacob; Hernández-García, Emilio
- Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 24, Issue 1
Nutrient uptake in mycorrhizal symbiosis
journal, February 1994
- Marschner, H.; Dell, B.
- Plant and Soil, Vol. 159, Issue 1
On Rejection Rates of Paired Intervention Analysis
journal, June 2002
- Murtaugh, Paul A.
- Ecology, Vol. 83, Issue 6
Woody Plant Invasion of Unburned Kansas Bluestem Prairie
journal, January 1976
- Bragg, Thomas B.; Hulbert, Lloyd C.
- Journal of Range Management, Vol. 29, Issue 1
Monitoring the effects of timber harvest on annual water yield
journal, March 1996
- Stednick, John D.
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 176, Issue 1-4
Grass Versus Trees: Managing Riparian Areas to Benefit Streams of Central North America
journal, August 2000
- Lyons, John; Thimble, Stanley W.; Paine, Laura K.
- Journal of the American Water Resources Association, Vol. 36, Issue 4
Fire and Grazing Influences on Rates of Riparian Woody Plant Expansion along Grassland Streams
journal, September 2014
- Veach, Allison M.; Dodds, Walter K.; Skibbe, Adam
- PLoS ONE, Vol. 9, Issue 9
A technique for establishing reference nutrient concentrations across watersheds affected by humans: Determining lotic baseline nutrient level
journal, October 2004
- Dodds, Walter K.; Oakes, Robert M.
- Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, Vol. 2, Issue 10
Works referencing / citing this record:
Sediment excavation as a wetland restoration technique had early effects on the developing vegetation community
journal, November 2019
- Larson, Danelle M.; Riens, John; Myerchin, Sheldon
- Wetlands Ecology and Management, Vol. 28, Issue 1
Effects of submergence frequency on soil C:N:P ecological stoichiometry in riparian zones of Hulunbuir steppe
journal, December 2019
- Li, Xingfu; Ding, Chengxiang; Bu, He
- Journal of Soils and Sediments, Vol. 20, Issue 3