Land Use And Surrounding Streams: Comparing Forested, Pastoral, And Agricultural Land Covers To Determine Possible Human Impact In The Savannah, Salude, And Enoree River Basins

Lindsey Richardson

School Name

South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Environmental Science

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: Dennis Haney and Greg Lewis, Department of Biology, Furman University

Oral Presentation Award

2nd Place

Abstract

Stream ecosystems are influenced by the land cover around their watersheds. However, relatively few studies have examined the impact of rural land covers, such as pasture or agriculture (row crops), on streams in the Southeastern Piedmont. In this study, land cover, channel geomorphology, and fish abundance and diversity were compared across rural streams in the Savannah, Saluda, and Enoree River Basin Watersheds. It was expected that streams in watersheds with greater pasture and/or agricultural cover would have increased channel incision, lower fish diversity, greater homogenization of fish species, and lower diversity of size classes. Preliminary results demonstrate that the sites draining agriculturally were significantly more incised, had a greater width-depth ratio, and had lower diversity of size classes than the other sites. However, no other significant differences existed in biological parameters between sites with and without surrounding agriculture. From the results, it can be seen that agricultural land covers negatively affect stream quality, which shows that human influence leads to a degradation of South Carolina’s watersheds.

Start Date

4-11-2015 8:45 AM

End Date

4-11-2015 9:00 AM

COinS
 
Apr 11th, 8:45 AM Apr 11th, 9:00 AM

Land Use And Surrounding Streams: Comparing Forested, Pastoral, And Agricultural Land Covers To Determine Possible Human Impact In The Savannah, Salude, And Enoree River Basins

Stream ecosystems are influenced by the land cover around their watersheds. However, relatively few studies have examined the impact of rural land covers, such as pasture or agriculture (row crops), on streams in the Southeastern Piedmont. In this study, land cover, channel geomorphology, and fish abundance and diversity were compared across rural streams in the Savannah, Saluda, and Enoree River Basin Watersheds. It was expected that streams in watersheds with greater pasture and/or agricultural cover would have increased channel incision, lower fish diversity, greater homogenization of fish species, and lower diversity of size classes. Preliminary results demonstrate that the sites draining agriculturally were significantly more incised, had a greater width-depth ratio, and had lower diversity of size classes than the other sites. However, no other significant differences existed in biological parameters between sites with and without surrounding agriculture. From the results, it can be seen that agricultural land covers negatively affect stream quality, which shows that human influence leads to a degradation of South Carolina’s watersheds.