Assessing potential anthropogenic drivers of ecological health in Piedmont streams through hierarchical modeling

摘要

Urban streams consistently have poorer ecological condition than natural streams. Poor ecological condition is caused by a myriad of anthropogenic impacts that alter hydrology and increase pollutant concentrations. Urban streams are monitored frequently, but viable management options for improving stream condition are ill-defined. A more complete understanding of the factors that influence biological condition, as well the ability to identify sites that deviate from expected condition, would help managers develop more efficient stream restoration strategies. Here, we use a hierarchical (multilevel) framework to model >3000 macroinvertebrate samples from the North Carolina Piedmont region, identify important natural gradients and anthropogenic factors that relate to stream condition, and demonstrate how hierarchical modeling can help identify potential restoration sites. In addition, we explore spatial (e.g., watershed versus stream buffer) and temporal (e.g., age of construction) aspects of land c...