Study

Rapid ecosystem response to restoration in an urban stream

  • Published source details Arango C.P., James P.W. & Hatch K.B. (2015) Rapid ecosystem response to restoration in an urban stream. Hydrobiologia, 749, 197-211.

Summary

Action: Restore/create river channel (multiple interventions)

A before-and-after, site comparison study in 2009 of an urban stream in Washington, USA (Arango et al. 2015) reported that from 2–3 weeks after diverting the stream into a new channel, the biomass of algae on rocks exceeded that present in the previous degraded channel. Results summarized for this study are not based on assessments of statistical significance. Algal biomass was 3–5 µg chl a/cm2 in the two weeks before diversion, 0–1 µg chl a/cm2 in the first two weeks after diversion, then 3–5 µg chl a/cm2 between three and five weeks after diversion. Algal biomass in an upstream reference reach was 3–5 µg chl a/cm2 throughout the study. Methods: In August 2009, a 118-m-long reach of Wilson Creek was diverted from it old straightened channel into a new, meandering channel. Large woody debris and boulders were added to the channel, and the riparian zone was planted. Algae were surveyed for two weeks before and 35 days after diversion; chlorophyll a was extracted from the surface of five rocks/reach/survey.

Output references
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