Direct and indirect effects of human population density and land use on physical features and invertebrates of Iowa (U.S.A.) streams

To improve understanding of human impacts on headwater stream condition, we quantified relationships between human, terrestrial landscape, and stream system variables in 29 central Iowa watersheds. Across study watersheds, between 0 and 100 % of total land area was characterized as “urban” (developed and barren land), whereas cultivated land constituted between 0 and 71 % of watershed area. Several variables were measured for each stream and associated watershed. Strengths of correlative relationships were used to select variables for path analysis, which we used to gain insight into factors affecting stream condition by evaluating direct and indirect effects of human system variables, terrestrial landscape variables, and physical stream variables on stream invertebrates. Results indicated that in predominantly urban watersheds, contaminant inputs to streams (measured by streamwater conductivity) negatively affected invertebrates, including EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera), and streamwater contaminant concentrations increased with impervious surface and human population density in the watershed. In rural watersheds, high streamwater nitrogen concentrations associated with cultivated land were related to declines in invertebrate taxon richness. Independent of land use, invertebrate abundance and taxonomic diversity were positively related to coarse substrate abundance on the streambed. Additionally, stream flow (discharge) increased with watershed area, which in turn increased invertebrate taxonomic diversity. Apparently, mechanisms responsible for human impacts on stream condition in central Iowa depend on dominant land use in the watershed. Additionally, stream ecosystems with high quality benthic habitat, and those located in large watersheds with greater flow, appear to be more resilient to land use effects.     

Linking urban form, land cover pattern, and hydrologic flow regime in the Puget Sound Lowland

The mismatch between political and watershed boundaries, jurisdictional differences in urban form, and data availability can limit the utility of past research findings that relate measures of urban development to urban stream function. This research complements existing research by building a quantitative link between urban form, land cover pattern, and the resulting hydrologic flow regime. Five land cover pattern measurements responded to urban form and were found to be resistant to the influence of watershed size and shape. Lot coverage had the strongest association with hydrological metrics measuring flashiness. The land cover metrics associated with hydrologic impacts were the interspersion and juxtaposition index for grass, aggregation index of high urban, and percent forest cover.     

Restoration of urban salt marshes: Lessons from southern California

Extensive restoration efforts in southern California coastal wetlands highlight several challenges for urban salt marsh restoration, including: habitat isolation and fragmentation, impacts from exotic species, the loss of transitional upland habitats, and other alterations to hydrologic and sediment dynamics. Habitat isolation impairs colonization by dispersal-limited plants, so planting becomes essential to achieve diverse salt marshes. Low species richness slows the development of salt marsh functions (e.g., biomass and nitrogen accumulation) in southern California. A variety of exotic species have invaded the upper reaches of salt marshes in southern California, most commonly in marshes with hydrological modifications. The replacement of gradual slopes between wetlands and uplands by sharp transitions abutting urban development limits our ability to restore rare plant and animal populations. Where hydrologic connections are impaired by roads and other structures, the natural migration of channels is constrained, and sediment dynamics often lead to lagoon mouth closure.A case study from Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve (hereafter, Tijuana Estuary) further illustrates a specific lesson for urban salt marsh restoration concerning watershed issues and sediment dynamics. In the south arm of Tijuana Estuary, watershed urbanization, along with local climate, topography, and soils, has resulted in extreme rates of sediment accumulation. Sedimentation rates in a salt marsh in the south arm of the estuary ranged from 10 to 30 cm over a single winter (1994–95), substantially greater than historic sedimentation rates in the estuary or rates from other coastal wetlands with storm sedimentation. Sediment buried salt marsh vegetation in place and is converting intertidal salt marsh to uplands. These impacts illustrate the need to consider watershed issues and sediment control in managing and restoring urban salt marshes.     

The logistics and mechanics of conducting tracer injection experiments in urban streams

Field-based environmental tracer studies are commonly used to investigate hydrological and ecological processes in flowing waters. These studies involve injecting a conservative tracer into a stream or into a near-stream well and monitoring the surface and subsurface waters at downgradient locations. Results have been used to quantify stream velocity, inflow, outflow, dispersion, and transient storage exchange processes. However, no single source provides a detailed methodology for conducting these tests in streams within urbanized watersheds. Working in urban watersheds brings with it unique problems such as private property access, vandalism, encounters with police and the lay public as well as long-term, intermittent and ephemeral hydrologic modifications. We present such a methodology based on results of 20 tests conducted in streams with urban watersheds ranging in size from 0.39 km² to 60 km² in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The tracer injection period ranged from instantaneous to 24 h with monitoring lasting from 8 h to 5 days. The methodology is demonstrated with a 5-day tracer test in which sodium bromide was injected into Dead Run, Baltimore, Maryland for 24 h.     

Learning about restoration of urban ecosystems: a case study integrating public participation,stormwater management,and ecological research

Restoration of ecosystem functions in urban environments is made challenging by 1) a public that often lacks understanding of ecological principles, 2) inadequate evidence of the effectiveness of restoration practices, and 3) difficulty integrating social and biophysical factors in studies of urban ecosystems. This paper describes a case study in which potential solutions to these challenges were explored. We facilitated collaborative learning through public participation in the design and implementation of an urban riparian buffer along a headwater stream in a neighborhood park, a process that was informed by ecological research. Learning outcomes were evaluated using surveys and qualitative assessment of discussion. Results indicated that participants’ knowledge about water quality problems associated with urbanization, stormwater, and nonpoint-source pollution increased, familiarity with stormwater management practices increased, and perceptions about the importance of stream ecosystem functions changed. In-stream monitoring of sediment delivery, as well as direct measurements of buffer infiltration capacity, provided early evidence of buffer effectiveness in prevention of sediment inputs to the stream and absorption of runoff from surrounding surfaces. This study provides a useful model for integration of collaborative learning through participation, ecological restoration, and ecological research in an urban setting. Elements deemed essential to success of this model included an opportunity for dialog focused on a specific natural feature, sustained interaction between participants and researchers, opportunities for hands-on participation by urban residents, and flexibility in restoration practice installation.     

Developing a framework for stormwater management: leveraging ancillary benefits from urban greenspace

Managing stormwater and wastewater has been a priority for cities for millennia, but has become increasingly complicated as urban areas grow and develop. Since the mid-1800s, cites often relied on an integrated system of underground pipes, pumps, and other built infrastructure (termed gray infrastructure) to convey stormwater away from developed areas. Unfortunately, this gray infrastructure is aging and often exceeds its designed capacity. In an effort to alleviate issues related to excess stormwater, many urban areas across the United States are interested in using green infrastructure as a stopgap or supplement to inadequate gray infrastructure. Green infrastructure and other greenspace promote interception and/or infiltration of stormwater by using the natural hydrologic properties of soil and vegetation. Furthermore, there are numerous ancillary benefits, in addition to stormwater benefits, that make the use of greenspace desirable. Collectively, these ecosystem services can benefit multiple aspects of a community by providing benefits in a targeted manner. In this paper, we present a framework for balancing stormwater management against ancillary benefits of urban greenspace. The framework is structured around the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ecosystem service categories: provisioning, cultural, regulatory, and supporting services. The purpose is to help communities better manage their systems by 1) allowing stakeholders to prioritize and address their needs and concerns within a community, and 2) maximize the ecosystem service benefits received from urban greenspace.

     

A comparison of soil organic carbon stocks between residential turf grass and native soil

A central principle in urban ecological theory implies that in urbanized landscapes anthropogenic drivers will dominate natural drivers in the control of soil organic carbon storage (SOC). To assess the effect of urban land-use change on the storage of SOC, we compared SOC stocks of turf grass and native cover types of two metropolitan areas (Baltimore, MD, and Denver, CO) representing climatologically distinct regions in the United States. We hypothesized that introducing turf grass and management will lead to higher SOC densities in the arid Denver area and lower densities in the mesic Baltimore area relative to native cover types. Moreover, differences between turf grass soils will be less than differences between the native soils of each metropolitan region. Within Baltimore, turf grass had almost a 2-fold higher SOC density at 0- to 1-m and 0- to 20-cm depths than in rural forest soils, whereas there were no differences with soils of urban forest remnants. Moreover, urban forest remnants had more than 70% higher SOC densities than rural forest soils. Within Denver, turf grass (>25 years of age) had more than 2-fold higher SOC densities than in shortgrass steppe soils, while having similar densities to Baltimore turf grass soils. By contrast, the native soils of Baltimore were almost 2-fold higher than the native steppe grass soils of Denver using SOC densities of remnant forests as representative of native soils in the Baltimore region. These results supported our hypothesis that turf grass systems will be similar in SOC densities across regional variations in climate, parent material, and topography. These similarities are apparently due to greater management efforts in the Denver region to offset the constraint of climate, i.e., anthropogenic factors (management supplements) overwhelmed native environmental factors that control SOC storage.     

Environmental and social predictors of phosphorus in urban streams on the Island of Montréal,Québec

Researchers have identified the importance of social characteristics for understanding ecological patterns in cities but the use of these characteristics in urban stream research has yet to be fully explored. Urban development is currently the second-largest cause of stream impairment in North America due in part to nutrient loading. However, research into factors that influence nutrient concentrations in urban streams is lacking. We sampled seven streams on the island of Montréal daily to measure phosphorus (P) concentration and P flux in each stream. We then compared stream P concentration and flux to several watershed characteristics commonly used to predict stream nutrients (e.g., watershed imperviousness, land use, existence of a riparian buffer) as well as several socio-economic characteristics of the watersheds (e.g., average home value, median household income). Overall, impervious surface cover and measures of land use were most effective at explaining the variation in P concentration and P flux in streams on the island of Montréal, while the riparian buffer and socio-economic variables were less effective. However, dollars spent on fertilizer per hectare of residential land and percent residential land use became important predictors of stream P concentration when impervious surface cover was removed from the regression model. This suggests that after accounting for the impact of physical watershed characteristics, social factors may be important predictors of urban stream P concentration. The results of our study suggest that more research is needed to determine the role that socio-economic variables play with respect to urban stream P.     

Urbanization impacts on the structure and function of forested wetlands

The exponential increase in population has fueled a significant demographic shift: 60% of the Earth's population will live in urban areas by 2030. While this population growth is significant in its magnitude, the ecological footprint of natural resource consumption and use required to sustain urban populations is even greater. The land use and cover changes accompanying urbanization (increasing human habitation coupled with resource consumption and extensive landscape modification) impacts natural ecosystems at multiple spatial scales. Because they generally occupy lower landscape positions and are linked to other ecosystems through hydrologic connections, the cascading effects of habitat alteration on watershed hydrology and nutrient cycling are particularly detrimental to wetland ecosystems. I reviewed literature relevant to these effects of urbanization on the structure and function of forested wetlands. Hydrologic changes caused by habitat fragmentation generally reduce species richness and abundance of plants, macroinvertebrates, amphibians, and birds with greater numbers of invasives and exotics. Reduction in soil saturation and lowered water tables result in greater nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in urban wetlands with higher probability of NO^– ₃ export from the watershed. Depressional forested wetlands in urban areas can function as important sinks for sediments, nutrients, and metals. As urban ecosystems become the predominant human condition, there is a critical need for data specific to urban forested wetlands in order to better understand the role of these ecosystems on the landscape.     

Temporal and spatial dynamics of a “Rust-Belt” urban stream: Metabolic and water quality responses to hardened land

Highly resolved (30-min period) measurements of dissolved oxygen, temperature, conductivity, and turbidity in streams over 2–6 days during dry and wet periods within and outside the heavily urbanized city of Syracuse, NY are used to calculate gross primary production (GPP), total ecosystem respiration (ER) and total and net ecosystem production (NEP). Based on results, it is proposed that a city’s stream metabolism and water quality may be regarded in a “Jekyll–Hyde” analogy, i.e., under dry conditions, this stream behaved much like a headwater system (Jekyll), but had far greater discharge as well as rapid swings in conductivity, turbidity, temperature, and oxygen concentrations during storm events (Hyde). Such dynamics could be damped by increasing soft, absorbent surfaces (green infrastructure) within the city.     

Feeding,growth, and trophic position of redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus) in watersheds of differing land cover in the lower Piedmont,USA

One pervasive outcome in the urbanization of an ecosystem is the proliferation and numerical dominance of select tolerant organisms that are often native to the system yet with reduced relative abundances in less-disturbed conditions. As a result of high variation in environmental conditions between urbanized and non-urbanized systems, it is possible that the functional role of a ubiquitous organism is context dependent. Such is the case for redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus) in small streams in many parts of the Piedmont of the southeastern USA. To investigate this hypothesis, we evaluated the feeding, growth, and trophic position of redbreast sunfish in 3 streams of increasing levels of watershed urbanization (forested, suburban, urban) in the Lower Piedmont of western Georgia, USA. Through gut contents analysis, we found that sunfish consumed primarily Chironomidae (Diptera) larvae across all streams. However, fish in the suburban stream consumed more terrestrial prey than fish in the forest and urban streams, which corresponded to lower aquatic prey abundances in the suburban stream. Although there was no difference in mean fish age among streams, otolith analysis revealed that fish in the urban stream were larger at age than those in the forest stream. Last, stable isotope analysis revealed that fish in the urban stream occupied a lower trophic position than the other 2 streams. These results suggest that despite the fact that the primary prey resource was similar for sunfish in each stream, their potential functional role, as evidenced by size at age and trophic position, is context dependent.

     

Effects of urbanization on macroinvertebrates in tributaries of the St. Johns River, Florida, USA

The effects of urbanization on hydrology, water quality and macroinvertebrates were examined in 7 headwater tributaries of the St. Johns River in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of northeast Florida. All streams had sandy substrata and drained small catchments (24?C231?ha) that ranged from 0 to 51% total impervious area (TIA). Streams unaffected by urbanization had intermittent stream flow and completely dry channels for several weeks in autumn and spring. Urbanized streams always possessed channel water, but 2 streams ceased flowing and became stagnant in autumn and spring. Principle components analysis of chemical and physical measures (i.e. conductivity, nutrients, pH, metals, and stream flow) produced one axis (PCA1) that explained 54% of the total variation among the streams. The variables that loaded negatively on this axis were associated with low flows, while the variables that loaded positively were associated with urban land-use. PCA1 was also positively associated with %TIA. Macroinvertebrate richness ranged from 27 to 45 taxa and was positively associated with %TIA. Macroinvertebrate biomass ranged from 3 to 45?g AFDM/m² and showed a significant, exponential relationship with PCA1 (r ²?=?0.93) with greatest biomass occurring at intermediate %TIA. Invertebrate community structure in the urbanized streams appeared to be mainly influenced by hydrologic factors (perennial vs. intermittent flow regimes). The effects of urbanization on both hydrological and biological variables among the study streams were apparent, but also influenced by site-specific conditions.     

Functions of riparian forest in urban catchments: a case study from sub-tropical Brisbane,Australia

Riparian forests are vital for maintaining healthy stream ecosystems; acting as buffers against nutrient and contaminant inputs, contributing energy subsidies and providing favorable instream habitat conditions. In urban catchments riparian forests are often degraded or cleared, removing the ecosystem functions the forest provides. Intact riparian forest along urban waterways, may mitigate some aspects of degradation associated with an urbanized catchment. In Bulimba Creek, an urbanized catchment in southeast Queensland, Australia, we investigated some ecosystem functions provided by riparian forest. We found that during baseflow periods a forested riparian corridor provided energy subsidies to the stream through litterfall and had a controlling influence on instream production through shading. Denitrification potential of benthic sediments increased with increasing levels of woody debris and organic matter, deposited from riparian vegetation. Denitrification was nitrate limited, indicating some potential to reduce nitrate loads in the stream. Riparian soils also showed moderate denitrification potential; which, through management strategies, could be utilized to reduce excess nitrate loads. These results suggest that riparian forests provide important functions for urban streams; highlighting the importance of conserving forest remnants in urban landscapes and the usefulness of replanting degraded riparian forest to enhance stream health and habitat condition.     

Application of the experimental watershed approach to advance urban watershed precipitation/discharge understanding

Reliable methods are required to provide the detailed hydrologic information necessary to improve management of water resources and aquatic ecosystems in developing/urbanizing watersheds. A case study was implemented in a representative 230 km² mixed-use, urbanizing watershed to advance precipitation/discharge understanding. Precipitation and streamflow were monitored in five sub-watersheds (nested-scale experimental watershed study design), partitioned by dominant land use type. Data were collected at 30-min intervals through the 2009 to 2015 water years. Individual sub-watershed area-normalized flow and runoff coefficients differed by as much as 400%. Two high density, urban sub-watersheds displayed large runoff coefficients indicating disproportionately high flow response to precipitation inputs. Regression analyses of sub-watershed land use characteristics and flow metrics showed strong (i.e. R² > 0.9) statistically significant (p < 0.05) linear relationships for percentage developed, forest, and agriculture land cover. Observed relationships between land use and flow metrics illustrate the complexity of contrasting and intermingled land use types in urbanizing, mixed-land-use watersheds. Results highlight the variable hydrologic impacts of land use and suggest the potential for vegetation management as a tool for streamflow mediation in urban settings. The work is one of the first to utilize the experimental watershed method to isolate and quantify land use impacts in the context of a contemporary mixed-land-use watershed. Collectively, results emphasize the utility of the method for land and water resource managers seeking science-based information to guide management decisions and more effectively target remediation efforts in contemporary multiple-land-use watersheds.     

Comparison of decapod communities across an urban-forest land use gradient in Puerto Rican streams

Urbanization influences a range of factors related to stream health, including the hydrologic regime, water quality, and riparian conditions that lead to negative effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. However, impacts on freshwater decapods from urbanization of tropical streams have not been reported. We hypothesized that changes in decapod communities in watersheds with different levels of urbanization are related to changes in physical stream habitats caused by different land uses and their effects on water discharge. The impacts of land use on the physico-chemical characteristics of streams and freshwater decapod communities were evaluated in three watersheds characterized by low, moderate and high-intensities of urbanization in Puerto Rico. For the low and moderately developed urban watersheds, decapod species richness ranged from 10 to 11 species; the highly urbanized watershed only had 4 species. Macrobrachium faustinum and Xiphocaris elongata were the most ubiquitously species and were found in all watersheds. Multivariable analysis of physical characteristics and densities of the decapod families resulted in one axis that explained 80 % of the total variation among the watersheds and was correlated with stream discharge. The effect of discharge is likely a result of frequent high flows that sustain habitats with high concentrations of dissolved oxygen and low concentrations of pollutants. An increase in physico-chemical parameters were observed from the LUW to the HUW. These results indicate that the decapod communities were most likely influenced by land use and environmental conditions that affected erosional aspects related to water discharge and water quality in the highly impacted watersheds.     

两型社会建设中的长株潭低碳城市群发展对策研究

加快长株潭城市群的两型社会建设,关键在于建设低碳城市群,促进节能减排,保持能源消耗和碳排放处于较低水平,构建低碳化的城市群落生态体系。长株潭低碳城市群建设机遇与挑战并存,区位、资源、人才、科技等优势和基础条件为其发展提供了良好机遇,而重化工产业结构、资源消耗、环境污染等问题提出了挑战。基于两型社会建设要求,长株潭低碳城市群建设需要加强低碳技术创新、低碳产业布局、低碳能源开发与利用、低碳消费与营销等。     

Effects of urbanization and land use on fish communities in Valley Creek watershed, Chester County, Pennsylvania

Valley Creek watershed, located in southeastern Pennsylvania, is a small, fourth-order stream that empties into the Schuylkill River at Valley Forge National Historic Park, thirty-five kilometers northwest of Philadelphia. The 64 km² watershed has been under extreme urbanization pressure over the past 30 years, resulting in rapidly increasing impervious surface cover and decreasing open space. The purpose of this study was to document some of the effects of urbanization on fish assemblages by quantifying the fish communities at fifteen sites throughout the watershed. Long-term effects of continued urbanization were identified, as data from the present study were compared to similar work completed nearly ten years earlier. There has been a shift in species composition from intolerant, coldwater species to more tolerant, eurythermal species. Currently, Valley Creek is supporting a naturally reproducing population of brown trout, but there has been a marked decline in relative abundance and range since 1993. Increased stream temperature from urban run-off is one of the primary issues in Valley Creek. Species composition was unique at each of the 15 stations owing to the effect of local land use in each station’;s drainage area. Fish assemblages revealed a patchy, non-continuous pattern of fish distribution.     

Detection of biotic responses to urbanization using fish assemblages from small streams of western Georgia,USA

We examined relationships between stream fish assemblages and land use alteration associated with urbanization in 15 lower Piedmont watersheds along an urbanization gradient north of Columbus, western Georgia. Based on land cover data from 2002 Landsat 7 TM imagery aerial photos, streams drained watersheds that were largely urban, developing (suburban), agricultural (pasture), managed pine forest, and unmanaged mixed-forest. We quantified fish seasonally from 3 run-pool segments in each stream, and used a variety of metrics as response variables in analyses of relationships between fish assemblage structure and land use and natural basin variation. In general, Georgia-Index of Biotic Integrity (GA-IBI) values, Bray-Curtis faunal similarity of streams to mean conditions within reference streams, proportions of fish as lithophilic spawners, and fish lacking eroded fins, lesions, tumors decreased with increasing urbanization. Multiple regression indicated that assemblages were explained by a combination of land use and natural basin variables (basin size, average discharge, nearest distance to a larger downstream tributary [colonization source]), with land use variables being important predictors of summer assemblages and natural basin variables being more important in winter and spring assemblages. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordinations revealed strong separation between assemblages in urban watersheds and forested watersheds, whereas assemblages in agricultural and developing watersheds were intermediate between those in urban and forested watersheds. Our data suggest that fish are reliable indicators of anthropogenic disturbance at the landscape scale, at least seasonally, and may be used to forecast the magnitude of landscape-level changes in stream structure and function associated with the conversion of forests to urban/suburban land in the Southeast.     

Social-ecological science in the humane metropolis

The Humane metropolis is a rubric to summarize and promote environmental and social quality in contemporary urban mosaics. Because cities, suburbs, and exurbs, as spatially extensive and connected socio-ecological systems, exhibit many negative features, the humane metropolis identifies a strategy to combat the ills and instill more positive and sustainable features and processes in urban systems. Because the humane metropolis as a program has arisen primarily from social motivations, there is the opportunity to articulate more explicitly the role that science can play in addressing the humane metropolis program and evaluating its success. A humane metropolis can be summarized as one that 1) protects and restores ecological services in cities and suburbs, 2) promotes physical and mental health and safety of residents, 3) enhances efficiency by conserving energy, matter, water, and time, 4) facilitates equity by being inclusive, as well as socially and environmentally just, and 5) maintains a sense of community and a sense of place. We clarify the nature of science as a contributor to the social program, pointing out the social values motivating science, and the role that scientific knowledge and metaphor play in linking science with the social program of the humane metropolis. We further identify roles that socio-ecological research can play in meeting the goals of the humane metropolis. We use examples of environmental history, watershed function and restoration, and environmental justice research and action from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, Long-Term Ecological Research program. The humane metropolis as a social program benefits from scientific contributions that 1) expose hidden ecological processes in urban systems, 2) generate knowledge connecting people and institutions to the biophysical environment, 3) contribute to the civic dialog, and 4) bring scientific values to the prioritization and balancing of the goals of the humane metropolis.     

A generalized watershed disturbance-invertebrate relation applicable in a range of environmental settings across the continental United States

It is widely recognized that urbanization can affect ecological conditions in aquatic systems; numerous studies have identified impervious surface cover as an indicator of urban intensity and as an index of development at the watershed, regional, and national scale. Watershed percent imperviousness, a commonly understood urban metric was used as the basis for a generalized watershed disturbance metric that, when applied in conjunction with weighted percent agriculture and percent grassland, predicted stream biotic conditions based on Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) richness across a wide range of environmental settings. Data were collected in streams that encompassed a wide range of watershed area (4.4–1,714 km²), precipitation (38–204 cm/yr), and elevation (31–2,024 m) conditions. Nevertheless the simple 3-landcover disturbance metric accounted for 58% of the variability in EPT richness based on the 261 nationwide sites. On the metropolitan area scale, relationship r ² ranged from 0.04 to 0.74. At disturbance values <15 the EPT rate of decrease was ∼10 times greater than at disturbance values >15. Future work may incorporate watershed management practices within the disturbance metric, further increasing the management applicability of the relation. Such relations developed on a regional or metropolitan area scale are likely to be stronger than geographically generalized models; as found in these EPT richness relations. However, broad spatial models are able to provide much needed understanding in unmonitored areas and provide initial guidance for stream potential.