Linking land to ocean: feedbacks in the management of socio-ecological systems in the Great Barrier Reef catchments

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) off Australia’s northeast coast is one of the natural wonders of the world. As a consequence it has high value, not only for biodiversity, but also for tourists who come to see the GBR and the biodiversity associated with it, bringing in over A$3.5B per annum to the Australian economy. However, there are a number of natural and anthropogenic factors that are threatening the health of the reef ecosystems. One of the major anthropogenic factors is the impact of sediments and nutrients that run off the land, via the rivers, into the lagoon of the reef. Extensive beef production is one of the major land uses of the GBR catchment, and brings in over $1B to the national economy annually and employs nearly 9,000 people, many of them in rural communities. Over 70% of terrestrial sediments and nutrients deposited in the GBR lagoon affecting the health of vulnerable reef ecosystems originate from the extensive grazing lands of Queensland’s interior. Recent research indicates that the quantity of sediments and nutrients lost from these grazing lands is strongly dependent upon grazing management practices; grazing leads to degradation of soil and vegetation resources, reduced infiltration and vegetation production. This has led to a growing concern amongst the Australian public about the environmental performance of the beef industry and increasing pressures on graziers to change their management practices to decrease the off-farm impacts. Given the constraints within the system improvements in water quality draining into the GBR lagoon can best be achieved by demonstrating the productivity and economic benefits of science-based improved grazing management practices for graziers, leading to “AllWin” outcomes for all concerned. In the longer term, only when the range of stakeholders involved approach catchments as linked biophysical, social and economic systems, will truly integrated adaptive catchment management be applied to the GBR.     

Pollution in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan, and its biological consequences

This review summarizes information published in the 1980s–1990s about anthropogenic pollution in Peter the Great Bay, the largest of the bays in the northwestern part of the Sea of Japan. The coastal zone of the bay occupies about 12% of the area of Primorskii Province and is the most heavily populated. The bulk of the human settlements, the seaports of Vladivostok and Nakhodka, railways, industrial enterprises, and developed agriculture are located in the coastal zone. Sewage waters containing multicomponent mixtures of polluting agents of both mineral and organic origin are discharged into the coastal waters of the bay. This paper presents information about the concentration of major classes of polluting agents (oil hydrocarbons, polychlorinated hydrocarbons, surfactants, heavy metals, and radionuclids) in the water and bottom sediments of the bay. The results of physico-chemical and biogeochemical investigations performed in the 1970s–1990s justify considering Zolotoi Rog Bay, Bosfor Vostochnyi Strait, Nakhodka Bay (especially its innermost portion, around the harbor of Nakhodka), and Amurskii Bay to be the most polluted areas in Peter the Great Bay. The information about the biological consequences of pollution in these water areas is briefly reviewed.     

Opportunities and challenges for managing nitrogen in urban stormwater: A review and synthesis

Although nitrogen (N) is prevalent in urban stormwater, regulation of this pollutant has occurred only more recently. This paper reviews the concerns over N in urban stormwater, mechanisms and design enhancements for N uptake and denitrification through various stormwater control measures (SCMs), and presents opportunities to integrate this current knowledge into the regulatory framework. A survey of personnel directly involved in various aspects of US state and territory NPDES programs revealed that the top three pollutants of concern were total suspended solids (TSS), pathogens and bacteria, and total phosphorus (TP). Surprisingly, nitrate (NO₃^?) was of little concern among the survey respondents, with 3.9% giving it the highest level of concern, 2.0% ranking it second, and 6.0% ranking it third. When asked which strategies were currently used in their geographic area for stormwater management, the most common results were wet ponds and dry ponds. At the same time, wet ponds and dry ponds were recognized as less effective practices to manage stormwater.A review of current literature reveals that several alternative SCMs, such as bioretention, filters, and wetlands, show greater promise in their ability to remove N from stormwater than more conventional practices such as dry ponds and wet ponds. Enhanced N removal via denitrification and plant uptake is often observed under the combination of aerobic followed by sustained anoxic conditions, the presence of a carbon source (organic material), and the presence of mature, dense vegetation.Given the lack of concern or awareness of local officials related to N loading from urban stormwater, and variation in the efficacy of various SCMs, it is not surprising that regulators remain focused on conventional dry pond and wet pond control measures. More needs to be done to quantify the impact of urban sources of N on water quality and aquatic ecosystems. In addition, greater focus needs to be placed on the development of design criteria for SCMs, such as bioretention, filters, and constructed wetlands, which show more promise for N removal.     

Potential sources of bacteriological pollution for two bays with marinas in Trinidad

Welcome Bay and Chaguaramas Bay in the northwest peninsula of Trinidad contain large marinas and smaller sections of bathing beaches. Bacteriological surveys were conducted at both bays to assess water quality and to determine potential sources of pollution. These surveys were conducted during the wet season of 1996 and the dry season of 1997. Eleven sample stations were established at Welcome Bay and 12 at Chaguaramas Bay. Freshwater samples were collected from rivers and drains within the survey area. Marine water samples were collected from marinas, bathing beaches and inshore and outer areas at both bays. Five water samples were collected from each sampling station during the wet season of 1996 and six during the dry season of 1997. The membrane filter technique was used to determine faecal coliform and Escherichia coli levels in all samples. There was a seasonal effect on water quality, with significantly higher faecal coliform levels in the wet season, when water quality was not in compliance with international standards. This represents a potential health risk in bathing areas. Water quality was better at the outer area of both bays. Water quality at the inner bay areas was most likely adversely affected by land-based sources of pollution identified in this study. These sources include three drains and two rivers, which discharged into the bays. Yachts were apparently not a source of sewage pollution: there was no significant relationship between yacht number and faecal coliform levels.     

流域水质管理系统构建的理论、方法和实践

随着工农业的发展及乡村都市化 ,淡水资源的短缺成为全球性的问题。淡水资源的短缺 ,一方面是对淡水需求量增加 ,供不应求。另一方面是水体水质恶化 ,水资源退化。保护淡水资源是一项持久性的艰巨任务 ,其中水资源管理工具评价预测各种管理措施对水资源的影响 ,是必不可缺少的。工业和生活废水对水体的点源污染问题 ,早在2 0世纪 2 0年代就被意识到 ,并开展了一些水资源的保护和管理研究工作。自 192 5第一个水质数学模型Ｓｔｒｅｅｔｅｒ Ｐｈｅｌｐｓ[1] 用于模拟水环境中ＢＯＤ和ＤＯ的动态变化研究以来 ,出现了许多水质模型并用于河流、…     

How Much Is Enough? Minimal Responses of Water Quality and Stream Biota to Partial Retrofit Stormwater Management in a Suburban Neighborhood

Decentralized stormwater management approaches (e.g., biofiltration swales, pervious pavement, green roofs, rain gardens) that capture, detain, infiltrate, and filter runoff are now commonly used to minimize the impacts of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces on aquatic ecosystems. However, there is little research on the effectiveness of retrofit, parcel-scale stormwater management practices for improving downstream aquatic ecosystem health. A reverse auction was used to encourage homeowners to mitigate stormwater on their property within the suburban, 1.8 km² Shepherd Creek catchment in Cincinnati, Ohio (USA). In 2007–2008, 165 rain barrels and 81 rain gardens were installed on 30% of the properties in four experimental (treatment) subcatchments, and two additional subcatchments were maintained as controls. At the base of the subcatchments, we sampled monthly baseflow water quality, and seasonal (5×/year) physical habitat, periphyton assemblages, and macroinvertebrate assemblages in the streams for the three years before and after treatment implementation. Given the minor reductions in directly connected impervious area from the rain barrel installations (11.6% to 10.4% in the most impaired subcatchment) and high total impervious levels (13.1% to 19.9% in experimental subcatchments), we expected minor or no responses of water quality and biota to stormwater management. There were trends of increased conductivity, iron, and sulfate for control sites, but no such contemporaneous trends for experimental sites. The minor effects of treatment on streamflow volume and water quality did not translate into changes in biotic health, and the few periphyton and macroinvertebrate responses could be explained by factors not associated with the treatment (e.g., vegetation clearing, drought conditions). Improvement of overall stream health is unlikely without additional treatment of major impervious surfaces (including roads, apartment buildings, and parking lots). Further research is needed to define the minimum effect threshold and restoration trajectories for retrofitting catchments to improve the health of stream ecosystems.     

Institutional arrangements which may promote ecosystems water management

Ecosystems water management is opening a new dimension of the goals and functions of water management. It also requires new kinds of policy, new types of instruments and consequently new kinds of provisions on the organizational level.This contribution deals with the analysis of some aspects of the choices which can be made in river basin management. It deals with the influence on ecosystems water management which may be exercised by organizational arrangements such as privatization, widening the scope of the managing authorities, involving the water users and public participation. The contribution of zoning is also included. The main concern is to discern what arrangements may promote ecosystems water management.Contributed paper to Topic II of the Seminar on Ecosystems Approach to Water Management 27–31 May 1991, Oslo (Norway)     

An assessment of the annual mass balance of carbon,nitrogen, and phosphorus in Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay is a relatively well-mixed, high salinity coastal embayment and estuary complex in southern New England (USA). Much of the shoreline is urban and the watershed is densely developed. We have combined our data on C, N, and P inputs to this system, on C, N, and P accumulation in the sediments, and on denitrification with extensive work by others to develop approximate annual mass balances for these elements. The results show that primary production within the bay is the major source of organic carbon (4 times greater than other sources), that land drainage and upstream sewage and fertilizer are the major sources of N, and that landward flowing bottom water from offshore may be a major source of dissolved inorganic phosphorus. Most of the nutrients entering the bay arrive in dissolved inorganic form, though DON is a significant component of the N carried by the rivers. About 40% of the DIN in the rivers is in the form of ammonia. Sedimentation rates are low in most of Narragansett Bay, and it appears that less than 20% of the total annual input of each of these elements is retained within the system. A very small amount of C, N, and P is removed in fisheries landings, denitrification in the sediments removes perhaps 10–25% of the N input, and most of the carbon fixed in the system is respired within it. Stoichiometric calculations suggest that some 10–20% of the organic matter formed in the bay is exported to offshore and that Narragansett Bay is an autotrophic system. Most of the N and P that enters the bay is, however, exported to offshore waters in dissolved inorganic form. This assessment of the overall biogeochemical behavior of C, N, and P in the bay is consistent with more rigorously constrained mass balances obtained using large living models or mesocosms of the bay at the Marine Ecosystem Research Laboratory (MERL).     

城市雨洪管理实践需要生态实践智慧的引导

生态实践智慧是人类(个人、人群乃至社会)在对人与自然互利共生关系深刻感悟的基础上、成功从事生态实践的能力,是一种选择"正确的"生态知识成功进行"为善的"生态实践的能力。生态知识只有通过成功的生态实践,才可能转化为生态实践智慧。生态实践智慧通过巧妙连接各类生态知识与整体实践行动,不仅自古以来就引导着人类应对雨洪管理实践,还成就了众多造福万代的雨洪管理工程。在当下我国城市雨洪管理的实践中,它应该而且能够继续成为有效的引导者。     

沉积物记录揭示的深圳湾红树林生态系统稳态转变

稳态转换作为滨海生态系统的一种灾变现象,其过程伴随着生态系统质量下降和功能退化。深圳湾位于粤港澳大湾区的核心区域,深入理解其生态系统演化过程是进行适应性管理的重要前提。2014年于深圳湾福田红树林湿地获得4根岩芯沉积柱,通过分析沉积和生物地球化学指标（包括金属元素、营养盐、粒度和有机质指标）,重建半个世纪以来深圳湾环境的历史变迁,揭示其生态系统发生的稳态转变过程。结果表明：稳态转换发生前（1954-1980）,福田红树林沉积物中重金属、无机营养和有机物含量稳定增加,但处于较低水平;稳态转换发生后（1990-2014）,深圳湾中污染输入增加,沉积物中重金属和营养盐含量发生明显变化,深圳湾生态系统质量持续下降。通过揭示深圳湾生态系统演变过程及其稳态转变的发生规律,为粤港澳大湾区生态系统修复和管理提供重要的理论依据和参考。     

洪灾后的反思：湿地管理和洪水灾害的生态关系浅析

湿地是水陆相互作用形成的独特生态系统类型,广泛分布于世界各地,是自然界最富生物多样性的生态景观和人类最重要的生存环境之一。在世界自然保护联盟（ＩＵＣＮ）、联合国环境规划署（ＵＮＥＰ）、世界自然基金会（ＷＷＦ）编制的世界自然保护大纲中,湿地与森林、海洋...     

粤港澳大湾区水生态修复及展望

水是生态系统物质循环和能量流动的重要纽带,水生态系统修复在区域生态系统修复中起到关键作用。粤港澳大湾区剧烈人类活动对江河湖库生态系统造成破坏和干扰,江河湖库污染严重,水生物减少,导致流域水生态服务功能退化甚至丧失;从生态修复科学内涵出发,判断湾区水生态系统健康状况已处于非生物控制跃迁阈值之下;针对该形势,从工程建设、水环境治理、空间规划和管理机制四个方面,梳理湾区近期开展的与水生态修复相关的水生态文明建设、水污染防治行动计划、水生态空间划定和推进河长制等工作,并对其中用到的技术、指标和制度进行条理;然后以茅洲河流域综合治理和广东万里碧道作为水生态修复的点、面代表,从水生态修复的整体目标、采用的技术措施、效果评价的指标体系和管理制度方法等方面分析当前的工作现状;总结湾区现状水生态修复工作,认为湾区水生态系统的非生物修复阶段基本结束;基于生态系统修复理论结合湾区江河湖库生态系统特点,提出适合湾区的水生态修复框架,讨论水生态系统修复面临的问题和未来工作的展望,为大湾区水生态修复提供直接依据。     

粤港澳大湾区生态系统服务识别、分类及制图

海岸带生态系统服务识别、分类与制图是合理利用海岸带自然资源,协调海岸带开发与保护矛盾的重要基础。现有生态系统服务分类方法在海岸带应用存在一定的局限性。在前人研究的基础上,以我国城市化和工业化水平较高的粤港澳大湾区为研究区,对该区域海岸带生态系统服务进行识别、分类,并在此基础上使用地图大数据与遥感解译的土地利用数据对海岸带生态系统服务进行了制图。共识别出35种海岸带生态系统服务,并对其中的31种服务进行制图。结果表明,建立的这套方法能较为系统地展示粤港澳大湾区生态系统服务的类型及空间分布特征。具体而言,该区域供给服务和文化服务在城市中心区较为集中,而调节服务多分布于城市周边。对识别的生态系统服务进行综合叠加分析,可将研究区分为文化服务主体区、供给服务主体区、调节服务主体区。建立的海岸带生态系统服务识别、分类体系和制图方法可操作性强,能为我国海岸带生态系统的保育、修复和重建提供科学基础。     

汤溪水库富营养化特征与水质管理对策

通过2003年对广东省汤溪水库水生态学进行调查,分析了该水库的富营养化特征,并从流域管理和水动力学两个方面对水库水质管理对策进行了探讨。汤溪水库为中度富营养化水体,具有明显时空分布差异,丰水期富营养程度高于枯水期,溪头河流区高于新桥河流区。蓝藻是水库浮游植物的主要优势类群,其中引发水华的铜绿微囊藻(Microcystis aeruginosa)为优势种。水库上游集水流域分布近30万居民,大量的生活排污和农业污染形成了主要的外源污染源,这些外源污染的输入是水库水体营养盐的主要来源;合理处理上游居民生活垃圾、减少生活污染中磷含量、增加流域和库区周围植被覆盖、合理使用农业化肥是降低水库表层水体中营养盐浓度的主要途径。由于该水库的蓝藻和富营养化水平直接与水体的稳定性有关,利用对水库排水的可控制性调节水库水体的稳定性,可作为控制蓝藻水华发生的有效途径。     

粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统保护和修复策略

粤港澳大湾区是我国海岸带高强度开发区域,面临着生态环境质量不高、生态系统受损严重的压力,开展海岸带生态系统保护修复是绿色湾区发展的必然需求。在分析大湾区海岸带基底、生态环境现状及问题的基础上,提出大湾区海岸带生态系统保护修复规划的策略,从以下5个方面构筑粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统保护修复规划的体系:一是从陆海污染统筹治理来恢复海域生物生存环境;二是从自然岸线保护、自然保护地体系重构与规范化建设、珍稀濒危物种栖息地保护来加强海岸带生态的保护;三是通过岸线生态修复、典型滨海湿地生态系统(红树林、珊瑚礁、海草床)修复、受损海岛生态修复来构筑生态安全屏障;四是从海堤生态化改造与建设、沿海防护林体系建设和海岸带综合防护工程建设来促进生态减灾协同增效;五是打造智慧海岸带管理服务平台来保障海洋命运共同体健康发展。本研究提出大湾区海岸带生态保护修复策略,期望为大湾区生态建设和环境保护提供参考。     

Macroinvertebrate conservation in river ecosystems: Challenges,restoration strategies,and integrated management approaches

River ecosystems face growing threats from human-induced stressors, resulting in habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. Crucial to these ecosystems, macroinvertebrates maintain river health and functioning. In this review, we examine the challenges confronting macroinvertebrates, explore restoration strategies and management approaches, and shed light on knowledge gaps and future research directions. Habitat degradation, water pollution, climate change, and invasive species are discussed as key challenges. Various restoration strategies, such as in-stream habitat restoration, flow regime restoration, riparian zone restoration, and connectivity restoration, are evaluated for macroinvertebrate conservation. Integrated catchment management, adaptive management, community-based management, monitoring, and policy integration are highlighted as essential management approaches, and knowledge gaps in long-term monitoring, innovative restoration techniques, climate change resilience, and policy incorporation are identified as areas calling for further research. Ultimately, a proactive, adaptable, and cooperative approach to river management will ensure macroinvertebrate conservation and sustainable river ecosystems.     

密云水库上游流域土地利用与地表径流营养物的关系

定量刻画土地利用与水体营养物浓度的关系,有助于指导流域土地利用管理,以控制水体富营养化.以往研究较多关注土地利用的数量结构,对其强度、空间分布等刻画相对不足.本研究以密云水库上游流域为例,基于覆盖全流域52个子流域的水质采样,通过遥感解译和空间计算,提取土地利用强度、所处坡度、与河道及监测断面距离以及位置邻接关系等信息,构建土地利用与总氮、总磷和化学需氧量浓度的多元线性回归方程.结果表明: 土地利用与总氮、总磷和化学需氧量浓度回归方程的决定系数由未纳入任何信息的0.294、0.471和0.223分别增加到0.532、0.685和0.489,显著提高了模型的解释能力.在厘定每一空间位置土地利用对监测断面营养物浓度贡献率的基础上,比较与河道不同迁移路径距离下土地利用对营养物浓度的平均累积贡献率及面积累计百分比,确定了距离河道1 km范围内的河岸带为水体富营养化的关键控制范围.最后提出了优化农田施肥管理、加强牲畜粪便处理、建设林地过滤带和河岸缓冲带等水质污染控制和调控的措施建议.     

Urban Stormwater Runoff: A New Class of Environmental Flow Problem

Environmental flow assessment frameworks have begun to consider changes to flow regimes resulting from land-use change. Urban stormwater runoff, which degrades streams through altered volume, pattern and quality of flow, presents a problem that challenges dominant approaches to stormwater and water resource management, and to environmental flow assessment. We used evidence of ecological response to different stormwater drainage systems to develop methods for input to environmental flow assessment. We identified the nature of hydrologic change resulting from conventional urban stormwater runoff, and the mechanisms by which such hydrologic change is prevented in streams where ecological condition has been protected. We also quantified the increase in total volume resulting from urban stormwater runoff, by comparing annual streamflow volumes from undeveloped catchments with the volumes that would run off impervious surfaces under the same rainfall regimes. In catchments with as little as 5–10% total imperviousness, conventional stormwater drainage, associated with poor in-stream ecological condition, reduces contributions to baseflows and increases the frequency and magnitude of storm flows, but in similarly impervious catchments in which streams retain good ecological condition, informal drainage to forested hillslopes, without a direct piped discharge to the stream, results in little such hydrologic change. In urbanized catchments, dispersed urban stormwater retention measures can potentially protect urban stream ecosystems by mimicking the hydrologic effects of informal drainage, if sufficient water is harvested and kept out of the stream, and if discharged water is treated to a suitable quality. Urban stormwater is a new class of environmental flow problem: one that requires reduction of a large excess volume of water to maintain riverine ecological integrity. It is the best type of problem, because solving it provides an opportunity to solve other problems such as the provision of water for human use.     

Effects of the Sand Bar Breaching on Typha domingensis (PERS.) in a Tropical Coastal Lagoon

Coastal lagoons are usually subjected to several kinds of human impacts, especially eutrophication. The breaching of the sand bar, which separates the lagoon from the ocean, by human action, is a common process used to decrease the negative effects of eutrophication. The aims of this research were to evaluate the effects of the artificial sand bar breaching on the populations of the aquatic macrophyte Typha domingensis and the subsequent effects on nutrients concentration in a tropical coastal lagoon. Samplings were carried out monthly from February/01 to January/02 in a monospecific stand of T. domingensis at Imboassica lagoon (Rio de Janeiro/Brazil). Two sampling sites, in the middle and in the border of the stand, were marked in three different transects. Water depth was measured and the aerial biomass sampled with a 0.25 m² quadrat. The macrophyte samples were separated into live and dead material and the shoot length, shoot density and number of leaves were analyzed. All plant material was oven dried till constant weight and net primary production, dead stand crop production and the nutrients release through decomposition were estimated at each site. The decrease in water level due to sand bar opening affected negatively T. domingensis populations, but the most intense effects were observed in the middle of the stand. The shoot mortality was highly enhanced after the sand bar breaching and the nutrients were released through decomposition to the water column. It reflected on an input of 11.5 kg C m⁻², 0.22 kg N m⁻² and 0.13 kg P m⁻² into the lagoon, which represent from 22.5 to 44.8 ton P and 35.9 to 71.8 ton N to the lagoon. The decrease of nutrients concentration after the sand bar breaching was not successfully accomplished. The decay of T. domingensis stands due to the sand bar breaching neutralized the exportation of nutrients to the ocean, and contributed to the phosphorous increase in the water column. Thus, to a better management of aquatic ecosystems subjected to human eutrophication, the role of aquatic macrophytes decomposition on internal fertilization of aquatic ecosystems should be accounted.     

Restoring streams in an urbanizing world

1. The world's population is increasingly urban, and streams and rivers, as the low lying points of the landscape, are especially sensitive to and profoundly impacted by the changes associated with urbanization and suburbanization of catchments. 2. River restoration is an increasingly popular management strategy for improving the physical and ecological conditions of degraded urban streams. In urban catchments, management activities as diverse as stormwater management, bank stabilisation, channel reconfiguration and riparian replanting may be described as river restoration projects. 3. Restoration in urban streams is both more expensive and more difficult than restoration in less densely populated catchments. High property values and finely subdivided land and dense human infrastructure (e.g. roads, sewer lines) limit the spatial extent of urban river restoration options, while stormwaters and the associated sediment and pollutant loads may limit the potential for restoration projects to reverse degradation. 4. To be effective, urban stream restoration efforts must be integrated within broader catchment management strategies. A key scientific and management challenge is to establish criteria for determining when the design options for urban river restoration are so constrained that a return towards reference or pre‐urbanization conditions is not realistic or feasible and when river restoration presents a viable and effective strategy for improving the ecological condition of these degraded ecosystems.