A stream classification system to explore the physical habitat diversity and anthropogenic impacts in riverscapes of the eastern United States
Abstract
Describing the physical habitat diversity of stream types is important for understanding stream ecosystem complexity, but also prioritizing management of stream ecosystems, especially those that are rare. We developed a stream classification system of six physical habitat layers (size, gradient, hydrology, temperature, valley confinement, and substrate) for approximately 1 million stream reaches within the Eastern United States in order to conduct an inventory of different types of streams and examine stream diversity. Additionally, we compare stream diversity to patterns of anthropogenic disturbances to evaluate associations between stream types and human disturbances, but also to prioritize rare stream types that may lack natural representation in the landscape. Based on combinations of different layers, we estimate there are anywhere from 1,521 to 5,577 different physical types of stream reaches within the Eastern US. By accounting for uncertainty in class membership, these estimates could range from 1,434 to 6,856 stream types. However, 95% of total stream distance is represented by only 30% of the total stream habitat types, which suggests that most stream types are rare. Unfortunately, as much as one third of stream physical diversity within the region has been compromised by anthropogenic disturbances. To provide an example of the stream classification’smore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1455106
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1459314
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- PLoS ONE
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: PLoS ONE Journal Volume: 13 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-6203
- Publisher:
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; hydrology; biodiversity; ecosystems; freshwater ecology; community ecology; habitats; rivers; flooding
Citation Formats
McManamay, Ryan A., Troia, Matthew J., DeRolph, Christopher R., Olivero Sheldon, Arlene, Barnett, Analie R., Kao, Shih-Chieh, Anderson, Mark G., and Loiselle, ed., Steven Arthur. A stream classification system to explore the physical habitat diversity and anthropogenic impacts in riverscapes of the eastern United States. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0198439.
McManamay, Ryan A., Troia, Matthew J., DeRolph, Christopher R., Olivero Sheldon, Arlene, Barnett, Analie R., Kao, Shih-Chieh, Anderson, Mark G., & Loiselle, ed., Steven Arthur. A stream classification system to explore the physical habitat diversity and anthropogenic impacts in riverscapes of the eastern United States. United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198439
McManamay, Ryan A., Troia, Matthew J., DeRolph, Christopher R., Olivero Sheldon, Arlene, Barnett, Analie R., Kao, Shih-Chieh, Anderson, Mark G., and Loiselle, ed., Steven Arthur. Wed .
"A stream classification system to explore the physical habitat diversity and anthropogenic impacts in riverscapes of the eastern United States". United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198439.
@article{osti_1455106,
title = {A stream classification system to explore the physical habitat diversity and anthropogenic impacts in riverscapes of the eastern United States},
author = {McManamay, Ryan A. and Troia, Matthew J. and DeRolph, Christopher R. and Olivero Sheldon, Arlene and Barnett, Analie R. and Kao, Shih-Chieh and Anderson, Mark G. and Loiselle, ed., Steven Arthur},
abstractNote = {Describing the physical habitat diversity of stream types is important for understanding stream ecosystem complexity, but also prioritizing management of stream ecosystems, especially those that are rare. We developed a stream classification system of six physical habitat layers (size, gradient, hydrology, temperature, valley confinement, and substrate) for approximately 1 million stream reaches within the Eastern United States in order to conduct an inventory of different types of streams and examine stream diversity. Additionally, we compare stream diversity to patterns of anthropogenic disturbances to evaluate associations between stream types and human disturbances, but also to prioritize rare stream types that may lack natural representation in the landscape. Based on combinations of different layers, we estimate there are anywhere from 1,521 to 5,577 different physical types of stream reaches within the Eastern US. By accounting for uncertainty in class membership, these estimates could range from 1,434 to 6,856 stream types. However, 95% of total stream distance is represented by only 30% of the total stream habitat types, which suggests that most stream types are rare. Unfortunately, as much as one third of stream physical diversity within the region has been compromised by anthropogenic disturbances. To provide an example of the stream classification’s utility in management of these ecosystems, we isolated 5% of stream length in the entire region that represented 87% of the total physical diversity of streams to prioritize streams for conservation protection, restoration, and biological monitoring. We suggest that our stream classification framework could be important for exploring the diversity of stream ecosystems and is flexible in that it can be combined with other stream classification frameworks developed at higher resolutions (meso- and micro-habitat scales). Furthermore, the exploration of physical diversity helps to estimate the rarity and patchiness of riverscapes over large region and assist in conservation and management.},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0198439},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
number = 6,
volume = 13,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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