Spotlight Posters on National Park Resources
Fact Sheet: Stream Classification
Publication Date: 2017
DOWNLOAD FILE — PDF document, 1,645 kB (1,685,263 bytes)
Species and Habitat Vulnerability Assessments of Appalachian Species and Habitats
Species and Habitat Vulnerability Assessments of Appalachian Species and Habitats - Read More…
Southern Appalachian Climate Change Vulnerability Species Assessments Excel Spreadsheet
DOWNLOAD FILE — application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, 4,071 kB (4,169,433 bytes)
Conservation Challenge
|
|
The Appalachian LCC geography covers the entire Marcellus Shale region in the Central Appalachians, including portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. Because the LCC has identified energy development as a key driver of landscape change, the Cornell research area focused on the Marcellus Shale region and watersheds that extend beyond the Appalachian LCC borders.
Hydraulic fracturing is a process of drilling and injecting large quantities of water (often obtained from nearby streams) underground to break apart shale rocks and release natural gas. This energy process has rapidly expanded in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and could likely spread into Ohio and New York.
The Marcellus Shale region is characterized by geologic, topographic, and climatic variation that has created a variety of stream habitats and aquatic communities. This variety has led to considerable aquatic biodiversity. For example, field surveys summarized in this study suggest the region is home to more than 220 different fish species, including some threatened and locally endangered species. Furthermore, nearly 135,000 streams drain into three major economically and ecologically important watersheds: the Susquehanna, Ohio, and Delaware River basins.
The abundant biodiversity along with the many societal benefits provided by streams in the region (from energy to recreational) highlight the need for achieving sustainable river and stream flows that balance human/energy needs with healthy ecosystems.
Environmental Flow Analysis for the Marcellus Shale Region PDF
Publication Date: 2015
DOWNLOAD FILE — PDF document, 26,856 kB (27,501,462 bytes)
Environmental Flows from Water Withdrawals in the Marcellus Shale Region
Environmental Flows from Water Withdrawals in the Marcellus Shale Region - Read More…
Video Update: Aquatic Ecological Flows Research
You can also watch this video on our Vimeo Channel.
Data Access
The inventory helped to determine what ecological flow models - that can predict both low and high flows - were in use or were applicable to the Marcellus Shale region and recommended suitable model(s) for instream flow predictions both dependent and independent of ecological/biological data. The deliverables for Phase 1 of this project included a report that assessed the availability of hydrologic and ecological flow models suitable for the Marcellus Shale region and a georeferenced summary of the adequacy of available ecological data to inform ecological flow model(s) for streams within the Marcellus Shale region. The georeferenced summary assessment is available as an Access database.
The database consists of five main tables. These tables include:
- tbl_datasets_marcellus: provides information on original dataset and states represented for each dataset
- tbl_originators_marcellus: provides information on data collecting agency and states represented for each originator
- tbl_fish_species_lookup_marcellus: provides unique ids (maris_fishspecies_id), common names and scientific names at family, genus and species level
- tbl_loc_info_marcellus: provides unique ids for collection sites (originator_station_id) and associated site information, including latitude and longitude, which can be used to link location information to fish collection information. Additional queries were run to create refined location tables
-
- tbl_location_marcellus_state_stream_sites: all stream fish collection sites within states or ecoregions that overlap the Marcellus boundary
- tbl_location_marcellus_all_sites: all fish collection sites within the Marcellus boundary
- tbl_fish_info_marcellus: provides unique ids for each collection event (originator_sample_id) which can be used to link collection information (date, collection methods, effort, species, abundance) with site information.
Information from the last three tables (tbl_fish_species_lookup_marcellus, tbl_location_info_marcellus, tbl_fish_info_marcellus) can be combined based on unique ids and queried based on criteria in the tables (i.e. collection method, targeted sampling verses community sampling, etc.) to develop fish datasets for different analyses in the future.
In addition, two shapefiles have been created from the database. These shapefiles display the location of the sampling points. If a user wants to view the results of a sampling station, they will need to find the station using the shapefile and then refer to the results table. This process can be completed manually by looking up the information in Access or a join can be performed in ArcGIS to connect these tables so all of the information appears in one attribute table.
Key Findings & Management Recommendations
Based on the assessed relationships and factors such as season, stream size, and projected expansion of natural gas development in the region, scientists developed models showing how water withdrawals impact sustainability of aquatic ecosystems. Cornell researchers also applied a model to vary water withdrawal scenarios – for example from current standards to a more seasonally variable scenario – that provided critical information on how flow regimes can be modified to achieve a balance in meeting both human/energy water needs and those required to maintain healthy ecosystems and diversity.
Key findings and recommendations from the research include:
- Flow-ecology relationships indicate fish are sensitive not only to changes in low flows, but also to changes in a variety of flow components (season, median, and high flows). This has important implications for setting sustainable flow standards and designing monitoring campaigns.
- A considerable number of streams are at high risk of flow alteration due to withdrawals during the summer and fall seasons – especially smaller streams in the southwestern (western portions of Ohio River Basin) and northern (headwaters of the Upper Susquehanna and Hudson River Basins) sections of the region.
- Though these high-risk streams are individually small, combined they drain the majority of the study region.
- Fixed minimum aquatic flow standards that do not consider seasonal changes in flows and throughout the year may not be adequate to sustain fish populations and aquatic biodiversity.
- But a balance can be realized if flow standards due to water withdrawal regulations vary with stream size and season and thus provide the necessary balance between human needs and flows needed to sustain fish and aquatic ecosystems.
Final Report: Environmental Flow Analysis for the Marcellus Shale Region
Bat Summary for Appalachian LCC Cave/Karst Study
Publication Date: 2016
DOWNLOAD FILE — application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document, 139 kB (142,974 bytes)
Guidelines for Using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index
Publication Date: 2016
DOWNLOAD FILE — PDF document, 1,937 kB (1,983,987 bytes)
County Distribution of Assessed Species
Previous Climate Assessments on 700 Species
The subregions include:
There are four worksheets within each excel file:
- Assessment worksheets – Includes species information (common name, scientific name, taxonomic information, and habitat categories) and climate change vulnerability scores as well as link to NatureServe Explorer for more information. (Due to file size, the Cumberland - Southern Appalachian subregion worksheet was divided into three separate worksheets. One worksheet contains the links to NatureServe Explorer for each species.)
- Map worksheets – Overview map of all subregions as well as maps specific to the subregion of interest.
- Instruction worksheets – Contains background information and explains data found in the Assessment worksheets.
- Reference worksheets – Includes citations for references used as well as links to selected publications.
The vulnerability ranks for each state as well as the subregion as a whole are recorded in the spreadsheet. The vulnerability ranks are as follows; extremely vulnerable (EV), highly vulnerable (HV), moderately vulnerable (MV), presumed stable (PS), and increase likely (IL). Each assessment is annotated with the source of the vulnerability assessment using numerical superscripts. More information about the vulnerability scores and sources is available on the Information tab on the excel spreadsheet available for each subregion.
Final Report: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments in the Appalachian LCC
Publication Date: 2016
DOWNLOAD FILE — PDF document, 6,666 kB (6,826,008 bytes)
Stream Classification Story Map
This study developed a mapped classification system for stream and river systems in the Appalachian LCC region to inform conservation planning for aquatic biodiversity. Stream habitats were classified using six primary attributes: size, gradient, temperature, hydrology, buffering capacity, and confinement. Information on each variable was based on extensive data compiled or modeled. Variable classes were then combined to yield a regional taxonomy.
Access this Story Map that illustrates the mapped classification system for streams and rivers.
Literature Review of Freshwater Classification Frameworks
Publication Date: 2014
DOWNLOAD FILE — PDF document, 944 kB (966,755 bytes)
Data Access
Included in the download, is a shapefile of all of the stream flow lines within the study area. Information about each of the features is available in the attribute table of the shapefile. An Excel file is included which describes each of the fields in the attribute table. In addition, several layer files are also included: alkalinity classes; confinement classes; gradient classes; hydrologic classes; size classes; temperature classes; and a combination of temperature, gradient, confinement, and size classes. The layer files refer to data within the shapefile, but preserve a pre-defined symbology for users to more easily visualize the data based on certain characteristics.
Data Download Link: http://applcc.s3.amazonaws.com/Aquatic_Classification/FlowlinesData.zip
Background Materials: Stream Impacts from Water Withdrawals in the Marcellus Shale Region
Previous Habitat Assessments within the Appalachian LCC
DOWNLOAD FILE — application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, 17 kB (17,709 bytes)
