Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin
Abstract Increased land use intensity has been shown to adversely affect aquatic ecosystems. Multiple landscape stressors interact over space and time, producing cumulative effects. Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) is the process of evaluating the impact a development project may have on the ecol...
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crwiley:10.1002/ieam.1336 2024-06-02T08:03:05+00:00 Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin Seitz, Nicole E Westbrook, Cherie J Dubé, Monique G Squires, Allison J 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1336 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fieam.1336 https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ieam.1336 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management volume 9, issue 3, page 392-404 ISSN 1551-3777 1551-3793 journal-article 2012 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1336 2024-05-03T11:53:48Z Abstract Increased land use intensity has been shown to adversely affect aquatic ecosystems. Multiple landscape stressors interact over space and time, producing cumulative effects. Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) is the process of evaluating the impact a development project may have on the ecological surroundings, but several challenges exist that make current approaches to cumulative effects assessment ineffective. The main objective of this study was to compare results of different methods used to link landscape stressors with stream responses in a highly developed watershed, where past work has shown that the river has experienced significant water quality and quantity changes to improve approaches to CEA. The study site was the lower reaches of the Athabasca River, Canada that have been subjected to a diverse range of intense anthropogenic developments since the late 1960s. Linkages between landscape change and river response were evaluated using correlation analyses, stepwise, multiple regression, and regression trees. Notable landscape changes include increased industrial development and forest cut‐blocks, made evident from satellite imagery and supporting ancillary data sets. Simple regression analyses showed water use was closely associated with total phosphorus (TP) and Na + concentrations, as well as specific conductance. The regression trees for total organic carbon (TOC), TP, and Na + showed that the landscape variables that appear as the first characteristic were the same variables that showed significant relations for their respective simple regression models. Simple, stepwise, and multiple regressions in conjunction with regression trees were useful in this study for capturing the strongest associations between landscape stressors and river response variables. The results highlight the need for improved scaling methods and monitoring strategies crucial to managing cumulative effects to river systems. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2013;9:392–404. © 2012 SETAC Article in Journal/Newspaper Athabasca River Wiley Online Library Athabasca River Canada Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 9 3 392 404 |
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English |
description |
Abstract Increased land use intensity has been shown to adversely affect aquatic ecosystems. Multiple landscape stressors interact over space and time, producing cumulative effects. Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) is the process of evaluating the impact a development project may have on the ecological surroundings, but several challenges exist that make current approaches to cumulative effects assessment ineffective. The main objective of this study was to compare results of different methods used to link landscape stressors with stream responses in a highly developed watershed, where past work has shown that the river has experienced significant water quality and quantity changes to improve approaches to CEA. The study site was the lower reaches of the Athabasca River, Canada that have been subjected to a diverse range of intense anthropogenic developments since the late 1960s. Linkages between landscape change and river response were evaluated using correlation analyses, stepwise, multiple regression, and regression trees. Notable landscape changes include increased industrial development and forest cut‐blocks, made evident from satellite imagery and supporting ancillary data sets. Simple regression analyses showed water use was closely associated with total phosphorus (TP) and Na + concentrations, as well as specific conductance. The regression trees for total organic carbon (TOC), TP, and Na + showed that the landscape variables that appear as the first characteristic were the same variables that showed significant relations for their respective simple regression models. Simple, stepwise, and multiple regressions in conjunction with regression trees were useful in this study for capturing the strongest associations between landscape stressors and river response variables. The results highlight the need for improved scaling methods and monitoring strategies crucial to managing cumulative effects to river systems. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2013;9:392–404. © 2012 SETAC |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Seitz, Nicole E Westbrook, Cherie J Dubé, Monique G Squires, Allison J |
spellingShingle |
Seitz, Nicole E Westbrook, Cherie J Dubé, Monique G Squires, Allison J Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin |
author_facet |
Seitz, Nicole E Westbrook, Cherie J Dubé, Monique G Squires, Allison J |
author_sort |
Seitz, Nicole E |
title |
Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin |
title_short |
Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin |
title_full |
Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin |
title_fullStr |
Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower Athabasca River basin |
title_sort |
assessing large spatial scale landscape change effects on water quality and quantity response in the lower athabasca river basin |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1336 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fieam.1336 https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ieam.1336 |
geographic |
Athabasca River Canada |
geographic_facet |
Athabasca River Canada |
genre |
Athabasca River |
genre_facet |
Athabasca River |
op_source |
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management volume 9, issue 3, page 392-404 ISSN 1551-3777 1551-3793 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1336 |
container_title |
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
392 |
op_container_end_page |
404 |
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1800747545332285440 |