elfgen: A New Instream Flow Framework for Rapid Generation and Optimization of Flow-Ecology Relations

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorKleiner, Josephen
dc.contributor.authorPassero, Elainaen
dc.contributor.authorBurgholzer, Roberten
dc.contributor.authorRapp, Jenniferen
dc.contributor.authorScott, Durelle T.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Systems Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-10T14:36:38Zen
dc.date.available2020-12-10T14:36:38Zen
dc.date.issued2020-09-06en
dc.description.abstractEffective water resource management requires practical, data-driven determination of instream flow needs. Newly developed, high-resolution flow models and aquatic species databases provide enormous opportunity, but the volume of data can prove challenging to manage without automated tools. The objective of this study was to develop a framework of analytical methods and best practices to reduce costs of entry into flow-ecology analysis by integrating widely available hydrologic and ecological datasets. Ecological limit functions (ELFs) describing the relation between maximum species richness and stream size characteristics (streamflow or drainage area) were developed. Species richness is expected to increase with streamflow through a watershed up to a point where it either plateaus or transitions to a decreasing trend in larger streams. Our results show that identifying the location of this "breakpoint" is critical for producing optimal ELF model fit. We found that richness breakpoints can be estimated using automated low-supervision methods, with high-supervision providing negligible improvement in detection accuracy. Model fit (and predictive capability) was found to be superior in smaller hydrologic units. The ELF model ("elfgen" R package available on GitHub: ) can be used to generate ELFs using built-in datasets for the conterminous United States, or applied anywhere else streamflow and biodiversity data inputs are available.en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12876en
dc.identifier.eissn1752-1688en
dc.identifier.issn1093-474Xen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/101061en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectflow-ecologyen
dc.subjectinstream flowen
dc.subjectecological limit function (ELF)en
dc.subjectriver continuum concept (RCC)en
dc.subjectwater supply managementen
dc.subjectecological limits of hydrologic alteration (ELOHA)en
dc.subjectspecies-discharge relationship (SDR)en
dc.subjectpercent of flow (POF)en
dc.titleelfgen: A New Instream Flow Framework for Rapid Generation and Optimization of Flow-Ecology Relationsen
dc.title.serialJournal of The American Water Resources Associationen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
1752-1688.12876.pdf
Size:
3.51 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download

Collections

Scholarly Works, Biological Systems Engineering