While it’s well understood that converting land from natural to urban or agricultural use degrades stream ecosystems and results in loss of biodiversity, graduate student Ryan Utz and his mentor Dr. Bob Hilderbrand from the UMCES Appalachian Laboratory have established thresholds for determining when specific types of development will likely have detrimental impacts.
By examining data collected throughout the State of Maryland, the researchers found both location and type of development play a role in degrading ecosystem health. As land is converted to urban use, about half the aquatic species are negatively impacted.
The team also found that negative impacts occurred at lower levels of urban development in upland areas, such as Maryland’s Piedmont region, compared to the Coastal Plains of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland. This suggests that Piedmont aquatic biodiversity may be more vulnerable to urbanization.
The researchers expect that this new approach can be used to examine a variety of aquatic species and ecosystems for detecting stream stress and forecasting the loss of species as land cover changes.
The scientists' work was published in the journal Ecological Indicators.
