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The land-cover cascade: Relationships coupling land and water

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dc.contributorVirginia Techen
dc.contributor.authorBurcher, C. L.en
dc.contributor.authorValett, H. M.en
dc.contributor.authorBenfield, Ernest F.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.date.accessed2014-01-08en
dc.date.accessioned2014-01-10T20:07:55Zen
dc.date.available2014-01-10T20:07:55Zen
dc.date.issued2007-01en
dc.description.abstractWe introduce the land-cover cascade ( LCC) as a conceptual framework to quantify the transfer of land-cover-disturbance effects to stream biota. We hypothesize that disturbance is propagated through multivariate systems through key variables that transform a disturbance and pass a reorganized disturbance effect to the next hierarchical level where the process repeats until ultimately affecting biota. We measured 31 hydrologic, geomorphic, erosional, and substrate variables and 26 biotic responses that have been associated with land-use disturbance in third- and fourth-order streams in the Blue Ridge physiographic province in western North Carolina ( USA). Regression analyses reduced this set of variables to include only those that responded to land cover and/or affected biota. From this reduced variable set, hypotheses were generated that predicted the disturbance pathways affecting each biotic response following the land-cover-cascade design. Cascade pathways began with land cover and ended with biotic responses, passing through at least one intermediate ecosystem abiotic component. Cascade models were tested for predictive ability and goodness-of-fit using path analysis. Biota were influenced by near-stream urban, agricultural, and forest land cover as propagated by hydrologic ( e. g., discharge), geomorphic ( e. g., stream bank height), erosional ( e. g., suspended sediments), and depositional streambed ( e. g., substrate size) features occurring along LCC pathways, reflecting abiotic mechanisms mediating land-cover disturbance. Our results suggest that communities are influenced by land-cover change indirectly through a hierarchy of associated abiotic components that propagate disturbance to biota. More generally, the land-cover cascade concept and experimental framework demonstrate an organized approach to the generic study of cascades and the complex relationships between landscapes and streams.en
dc.identifier.citationC. L. Burcher, H. M. Valett, and E. F. Benfield 2007. THE LAND-COVER CASCADE: RELATIONSHIPS COUPLING LAND AND WATER. Ecology 88:228–242. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2007)88[228:TLCRCL]2.0.CO;2en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2007)88[228:tlcrcl]2.0.co;2en
dc.identifier.issn0012-9658en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/24800en
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/0012-9658%282007%2988%5B228%3ATLCRCL%5D2.0.CO%3B2en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherEcological Society of Americaen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectdisturbanceen
dc.subjectgeomorphologyen
dc.subjectGISen
dc.subjecthydrologyen
dc.subjectland-cover cascadeen
dc.subjectsedimenten
dc.subjectwatersheden
dc.subjectmultiple spatial scalesen
dc.subjectappalachian streamsen
dc.subjectcommunity structureen
dc.subjectriveren
dc.subjectcontinuumen
dc.subjectfishen
dc.subjecthabitaten
dc.subjectmacroinvertebratesen
dc.subjecturbanizationen
dc.subjectsedimenten
dc.subjectusaen
dc.subjectEnvironmental Sciences & Ecologyen
dc.titleThe land-cover cascade: Relationships coupling land and wateren
dc.title.serialEcologyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden

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