Vulnerable Waters are Essential to Watershed Resilience

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dc.contributor.authorLane, Charles R.en
dc.contributor.authorCreed, Irena F.en
dc.contributor.authorGolden, Heather E.en
dc.contributor.authorLeibowitz, Scott G.en
dc.contributor.authorMushet, David M.en
dc.contributor.authorRains, Mark C.en
dc.contributor.authorWu, Qiushengen
dc.contributor.authorD'Amico, Ellenen
dc.contributor.authorAlexander, Laurie C.en
dc.contributor.authorAli, Genevieve A.en
dc.contributor.authorBasu, Nandita B.en
dc.contributor.authorBennett, Micah G.en
dc.contributor.authorChristensen, Jay R.en
dc.contributor.authorCohen, Matthew J.en
dc.contributor.authorCovino, Tim P.en
dc.contributor.authorDeVries, Benen
dc.contributor.authorHill, Ryan A.en
dc.contributor.authorJencso, Kelseyen
dc.contributor.authorLang, Megan W.en
dc.contributor.authorMcLaughlin, Daniel L.en
dc.contributor.authorRosenberry, Donald O.en
dc.contributor.authorRover, Jenniferen
dc.contributor.authorVanderhoof, Melanie K.en
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-03T12:32:48Zen
dc.date.available2022-05-03T12:32:48Zen
dc.date.issued2022-02-07en
dc.description.abstractWatershed resilience is the ability of a watershed to maintain its characteristic system state while concurrently resisting, adapting to, and reorganizing after hydrological (for example, drought, flooding) or biogeochemical (for example, excessive nutrient) disturbances. Vulnerable waters include non-floodplain wetlands and headwater streams, abundant watershed components representing the most distal extent of the freshwater aquatic network. Vulnerable waters are hydrologically dynamic and biogeochemically reactive aquatic systems, storing, processing, and releasing water and entrained (that is, dissolved and particulate) materials along expanding and contracting aquatic networks. The hydrological and biogeochemical functions emerging from these processes affect the magnitude, frequency, timing, duration, storage, and rate of change of material and energy fluxes among watershed components and to downstream waters, thereby maintaining watershed states and imparting watershed resilience. We present here a conceptual framework for understanding how vulnerable waters confer watershed resilience. We demonstrate how individual and cumulative vulnerable-water modifications (for example, reduced extent, altered connectivity) affect watershed-scale hydrological and biogeochemical disturbance response and recovery, which decreases watershed resilience and can trigger transitions across thresholds to alternative watershed states (for example, states conducive to increased flood frequency or nutrient concentrations). We subsequently describe how resilient watersheds require spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability in hydrological and biogeochemical interactions between terrestrial systems and down-gradient waters, which necessitates attention to the conservation and restoration of vulnerable waters and their downstream connectivity gradients. To conclude, we provide actionable principles for resilient watersheds and articulate research needs to further watershed resilience science and vulnerable-water management.en
dc.description.notesThis work was conducted as a part of the North American Analysis and Synthesis on the Connectivity of Geographically Isolated Wetlands to Downstream Waters Working Group supported by the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, funded by the US Geological Survey. We appreciate and acknowledge the effort, commitment, and contributions of Kate Schofield and Mark Bowen to the Working Group. We thank David Aldred for rendering Figures 1 and 2 and crafting Figure 8. The latter was made using MATLAB code appreciatively provided by ``Infamous Heel-Filcher'' (http://infamousheelfilcher.blogspot.com/2013/02/changing-viewing-angle-of-matplo tlib.html; accessed 11/2020). Peg Pelletier, John Johnston, and three anonymous reviewers provided critical feedback on earlier drafts, and their efforts improved the manuscript.en
dc.description.sponsorshipJohn Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis - US Geological Surveyen
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-021-00737-2en
dc.identifier.eissn1435-0629en
dc.identifier.issn1432-9840en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/109789en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSpringeren
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectephemeral streamen
dc.subjectgeographically isolated wetlandsen
dc.subjectheadwater streamen
dc.subjectintermittent river and ephemeral streamen
dc.subjectintermittent streamen
dc.subjectnon-floodplain wetlanden
dc.subjectperennial streamen
dc.subjectstate transitionsen
dc.subjectsteady stateen
dc.subjectthresholdsen
dc.subjectwater qualityen
dc.subjectwatershed managementen
dc.titleVulnerable Waters are Essential to Watershed Resilienceen
dc.title.serialEcosystemsen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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Scholarly Works, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
Destination Area: Global Systems Science (GSS)