Improving ecosystem health in highly altered river basins: a generalized framework and its application to the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin.
Eileen L McLellan, Kelly M Suttles, Kristen L Bouska, Jamelle H Ellis, Joseph E Flotemersch, Madison Goff, Heather E Golden, Ryan A Hill, Tara R Hohman, Shamitha Keerthi, Richard F Keim, Barbara A Kleiss, Tyler J Lark, Bryan P Piazza, Alisha A Renfro, Dale M Robertson, Keith E Schilling, Travis S Schmidt, Ian R Waite
Author Information
Eileen L McLellan: Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC, United States.
Kelly M Suttles: Environmental Defense Fund, Raleigh, NC, United States.
Kristen L Bouska: U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, WI, United States.
Jamelle H Ellis: Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Washington, DC, United States.
Joseph E Flotemersch: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
Madison Goff: School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Heather E Golden: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
Ryan A Hill: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Corvallis, OR, United States.
Tara R Hohman: Audubon Upper Mississippi River, Audubon Center at Riverlands, West Alton, MO, United States.
Shamitha Keerthi: The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, United States.
Richard F Keim: School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.
Barbara A Kleiss: Department of River Coastal Science and Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States.
Tyler J Lark: Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States.
Bryan P Piazza: The Nature Conservancy, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.
Alisha A Renfro: National Wildlife Federation, New Orleans, LA, United States.
Dale M Robertson: U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Madison, WI, United States.
Keith E Schilling: IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States.
Travis S Schmidt: U.S. Geological Survey, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, Helena, MT, United States.
Ian R Waite: U.S. Geological Survey, Oregon Water Science Center, Portland, OR, United States.
Continued large-scale public investment in declining ecosystems depends on demonstrations of "success". While the public conception of "success" often focuses on restoration to a pre-disturbance condition, the scientific community is more likely to measure success in terms of improved ecosystem health. Using a combination of literature review, workshops and expert solicitation we propose a generalized framework to improve ecosystem health in highly altered river basins by reducing ecosystem stressors, enhancing ecosystem processes and increasing ecosystem resilience. We illustrate the use of this framework in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) of the central United States (U.S.), by (i) identifying key stressors related to human activities, and (ii) creating a conceptual ecosystem model relating those stressors to effects on ecosystem structure and processes. As a result of our analysis, we identify a set of landscape-level indicators of ecosystem health, emphasizing leading indicators of stressor removal (e.g., reduced anthropogenic nutrient inputs), increased ecosystem function (e.g., increased water storage in the landscape) and increased resilience (e.g., changes in the percentage of perennial vegetative cover). We suggest that by including these indicators, along with lagging indicators such as direct measurements of water quality, stakeholders will be better able to assess the effectiveness of management actions. For example, if both leading and lagging indicators show improvement over time, then management actions are on track to attain desired ecosystem condition. If, however, leading indicators are not improving or even declining, then fundamental challenges to ecosystem health remain to be addressed and failure to address these will ultimately lead to declines in lagging indicators such as water quality. Although our model and indicators are specific to the MARB, we believe that the generalized framework and the process of model and indicator development will be valuable in an array of altered river basins.
