Using Knowledge of Aquatic Ecosystem Services to Advance River Conservation

Paul L. Angermeier U.S. Geological Survey Virginia Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit and Amy Villamagna Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Today’s Objectives 1. Describe general definition, conservation relevance of riverine ecosystem services

2. Describe purpose, initial progress of new ES project in Albemarle-Pamlico basin

3. Illustrate methods used to map ES, some applications

Human

Sustainability goals: Conserve capital (triple bottom line)

Manufactured

Natural

Conservation Status of North American Freshwater Fishes (Jelks et al. 2008; Fisheries)

700 imperiled, extant taxa 280 endangered 190 threatened 61 extinct or extirpated 92% increase in number of imperiled taxa since 1989 6% of taxa improved status since 1989

LOSS of FRESHWATER SERVICES

Global 18% of humans lack safe drinking water 46% of humans lack basic sanitation services (5-10 million deaths / year) U.S. 40% of water bodies not fishable/swimmable 33% of lake acres (excl. Gr. Lakes) 15% of river miles

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fish/shellfish consumption advisories

A new eco-sociological lens… FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM GOODS & SERVICES

Provisioning Services Drinking water Bathing water (swimmable) Aquatic foods (fishable)

Regulating Services Water purification Flood modulation Disease regulation

Cultural Services Recreation Beauty Spirituality

Value of Ecosystem Services Provided by National Wildlife Refuges (Ingraham & Foster 2008)

Total value of (some) NWR ecosystem services = ~$27B / year climate and atmosphere regulation disturbance prevention freshwater regulation and supply waste assimilation nutrient regulation habitat provision

33X recreational value

Ecosystem Services

Human Well Being

Provisioning

Personal health Basic materials Social relations Freedom of choice Economic security

Regulating Cultural

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Biodiversity Conservation

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Spatial Analysis of Relations among Conservation Practices, Aquatic Ecosystem Services, and Human Well-being in the Albemarle-Pamlico Basin

General research questions: When / where do actions and practices to conserve biodiversity enhance or diminish delivery of valued AES?

When / where do different conservation actions reinforce or undermine each other’s societal benefits via AES?

To what extent does biodiversity conservation contribute to HWB?

Focal Aquatic Ecosystem Services

Provisioning Services Providing water supply Regulating Services Water purification Nitrogen regulation Cultural Services Wildlife-based recreation (bird-watching, fishing)

Approach and Key Terms

• ES not measured empirically but inferred from biophysical features of the landscape

• ES Capacity is a biophysical measure of how much of a given service can be supplied

• ES Flow is the amount of a given service actually used by people (flow need not equal capacity)

Providing Water Supply Definition: Total potential surface water and groundwater available for withdrawal (Sun et al. 2008)

Surface Water Supply (Capacity) = Precipitation + Wastewater discharge – Percolation – Evapotranspiration

Ground Water Supply (Capacity) = Aquifer volume + Percolation

Mappable Metrics to Estimate Water Supply Capacity in the APB Factor

Measurement

Coverage/resolution

Format

Data source

Precipitation

Annual precipitation

National/Spatial resolution 4 meters

SHP

USDA Geospatial Gateway

Land cover

Land use cover (2001)

National /Spatial resolution 30 meters

Raster

National Land Cover Database & C-CAP

Wetlands cover & type

National /Spatial resolution ~3 meters

SHP

USFWS National Wetlands Inventory

Water body size

Streams & waterbodies (2003)

National /1:2,000,000scale

SHP

National Atlas

Geology and Soil

Soil survey

National /1:250,000scale

SHP

NRCS STATSGO

Ground water

Ground water levels

National /Sites within drainage areas

EXCEL

USGS NWIS

Catchment size

12-digit hydrologic units

National /1:24,000

SHP

USDA Geospatial Gateway

Land use

Water supply watersheds (NC only)

State/Supply watersheds

SHP

NC OneMap

Surface water intakes

North Carolina points

SHP

NC OneMap

Mapping Capacity to Provide Surface Water in APB Step 1: Calculate NRCS curve number using STATSGO soil hydrologic groups, and NASS land and cropland cover.

Step 2: Overlay annual precip with curve number maps and calculate runoff volume following NRCS method for each polygon.

Step 3: Calculate total runoff volume for each 12-digit hydrologic unit or county using an area-weighted sum of all runoff polygons.

Ranked Surface Water Capacity in APB

2005 Ranked Water Use in APB

Potential tool for mapping sustainable use of surface water?

Water Purification Definition: Collective processes that constrain the biological availability of contaminants

Water Purification Capacity depends on structural elements (physical, biological, and chemical) of the landscape that mediate the exclusion, removal, or conversion of contaminants. WPC is a function of geology, soil type, land cover, and land use

LAND meets WATER Most sediment, nutrients, and other contaminants are removed from surface water flowing through a vegetated riparian filter for 50 yards

Estimating Components of Water Purification Capacity Measure via Universal Soil Loss Equation

Measure Vertical Retention Capacity using a Water-Soluble Contaminant Leaching Index* *Czymmek et al. 2003. New York Leaching Index

Estimated Vertical Retention (leaching prevention) of Water-soluble Contaminants

Wildlife-Based Recreation (WBR) Definition: Recreation activities or social benefits based on presence or expected presence of wildlife – Recreational Fishing – Bird watching

WBR Capacity: Physical carrying capacity (presence of wildlife) and Social carrying capacity (maximum use allowed without incurring unacceptable conflict or loss of quality in visitor experience)

Social Carrying Capacity

Measuring WBR Capacity • Inside pre-defined Conservation-Recreation Areas (CRAs) (federal, state, NGO lands) WBR INDEX

Physical capacity: 1) % target-species suitable habitat cover 2) index of site management Social capacity: 3) weighted average of potential users within 1-mile*, 1-50-mile radius of CRA * USFWS (2006) that found 95% of wildlife watchers did so within 1 mile of home.

Summary Ecosystems provide many products, processes valuable to society (provisioning, regulating, cultural services)

ES function as currency for understanding social tradeoffs among management options

Many data are already available to build watershed-based, approximate maps of ES

Measuring Flow of Regulating Services • Flow = Contaminant* Input - Ambient Quality – Calculate annual contaminant input for 10-digit HUs – Calculate annual [contaminant] at water quality monitoring stations near pour-point of the HU

* Focal

contaminants are sediment, fecal coliform, mercury, and atrazine

Biophysical template

Anthropogenic factors Conservation actions

Ecosystem management policies

Ecosystem condition Biodiversity

Cap’y to provide services

Restrictions on land/water use

Flow of benefits to people

Socio-cultural context stakeholder 1 stakeholder 2 stakeholder 3 etc.

Human well-being