2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
6/06/2017 | 3:00 PM - 3:15 PM | EFFECTS OF POST-FLOOD “STREAM CLEANING” ON BENTHIC ORGANIC MATTER STORAGE AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION IN THREE NORTHERN APPALACHIAN STREAMS | 302C
EFFECTS OF POST-FLOOD “STREAM CLEANING” ON BENTHIC ORGANIC MATTER STORAGE AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION IN THREE NORTHERN APPALACHIAN STREAMS
During fall 2011, Tropical Storm Lee produced extensive flooding throughout central Pennsylvania. Widespread property and infrastructure damage led to public outcry to revive a time-honored tradition of “cleaning” streams through channelization and removal of large woody debris. Otherwise pristine mountain streams were altered, providing a unique opportunity to study the effects of channelization on stream ecosystem function in the absence of other anthropogenic stressors. We measured ecosystem metabolism, algal biomass, nutrient uptake and fine benthic organic matter storage in channelized and reference reaches of three streams draining forested catchments. Although channelized sections had less canopy cover, gross primary productivity and algal biomass were not consistently higher in channelized reaches. However, nitrate uptake was up to five times lower in the channelized sections, which corresponded with lower ecosystem respiration and lower fine benthic organic matter. Transient storage measured at the time of the nutrient releases did not explain differences in nitrate uptake. This study suggests that “stream cleaning” reduces a stream’s capacity to retain benthic organic matter, thus reducing microbial demand for nitrate and ultimately leading to greater downstream export.
- C31 Organic Matter Processing
- C10 Biogeochemistry
- C17 Bioassessment
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Presenters/Authors
Steven Rier
(), Bloomsburg University, srier@bloomu.edu;
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Meredith Salmon
(), Bloomsburg University, msalmon@peddie.org;
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