Stream Quality and Biodiversity in Patapsco River Watersheds

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Stream Quality and Biodiversity in Patapsco River
Watersheds

• Mark Southerland, Nancy Roth, Don Strebel,
  Allison Brindley, and Ginny Mercurio - Versar
• Paul Kazyak, Lynn Davidson, and Sandi Patty -
  Maryland Department of Natural Resources

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Assessing Watershed Condition

• Supports DNRs ecosystem approach to natural
  resources management
• Identifies and prioritizes environmental problems
• Provides a baseline for ecological restoration
• Addresses cumulative impacts of power generation
  and other stressors

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Data on Watershed Condition

• Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS)
• Heritage and Biodiversity Conservation Programs
• Landscape Model of Cumulative Effects

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Maryland Biological Stream Survey

• 1,000 stream sites from 1995-1997
• Probability-based design stratified on river
  basin and stream order
• Measured water chemistry, physical habitat, and
  biological communities
• Developed reference-based indicators of integrity
  for fish, benthic invertebrates, and physical
  habitat

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Heritage and Biodiversity Conservation Programs

• Rare, threatened, and endangered (RTE) species
  occurrences
• 3,328 occurrences of 597 RTE species since 1980
• 498 terrestrial and 99 aquatic species
• Ten major taxa dicot plants, monocots,
  ferns/mosses/horsetails, mammals, birds,
  reptiles, amphibians, fish, mollusks, insects

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Patapsco River Watersheds
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MBSS Sites in the Patapsco River Basin
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Fish Index of Biotic Integrity
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Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity
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Physical Habitat Index
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Stream Quality in Patapsco River Basin
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Biodiversity in the Patapsco River Basin
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RTE Species by Watershed
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RTE Watershed Ranking
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MBSS and RTE Status of Watersheds
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Watershed Stressors
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Watershed Stressors
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Patapsco River Basin Land Use
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Landscape Model of Cumulative Effects

• Goal Use land use to predict ecological
  condition at sites that have not been sampled
• Benefits
• (1) provide a preliminary assessment of condition
  
• (2) identify areas for future field assessment

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Landscape Model Approach

• Phase I Determine the relationship of land use
  to fish IBI in the Patapsco
• Phase II Determine the relationship of land use
  to fish IBI, benthic IBI, and PHI in Patapsco and
  validate it in the Patuxent and
  Potomac-Washington Metro basins

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Land Use at Three Scales
Catchment
Riparian Corridor
Local
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Fish IBI vs. Urban Land Use

• Catchment scale r20.59
• Riparian scale r20.56
• Local scale r20.51
• Impervious surface r20.49

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Summary

• Probability-based MBSS provides accurate
  estimates of stream condition at the watershed
  scale
• Heritage RTE species richness is a useful
  indicator of biodiversity in watersheds
• Land use tools hold promise for predicting
  ecological condition throughout watersheds