Search USGS⌕ Search
Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70048660

Modelling ecological flow regime: an example from the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins

Rodney R. Knight·W. Scott Gain·William J. Wolfe
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Predictive equations were developed for 19 ecologically relevant streamflow characteristics within five major groups of flow variables (magnitude, ratio, frequency, variability, and date) for use in the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins using stepbackward regression. Basin characteristics explain 50% or more of the variation for 12 of the 19 equations. Independent variables identified through stepbackward regression were statistically significant in 78 of 304 cases (α > 0.0001) and represent four major groups: climate, physical landscape features, regional indicators, and land use. Of these groups, the regional and climate variables were the most influential for determining hydrologic response. Daily temperature range, geologic factor, and rock depth were major factors explaining the variability in 17, 15, and 13 equations, respectively. The equations and independent datasets were used to explore the broad relation between basin properties and streamflow and the implication of streamflow to the study of ecological flow requirements. Key results include a high degree of hydrologic variability among least disturbed Blue Ridge streams, similar hydrologic behaviour for watersheds with widely varying degrees of forest cover, and distinct hydrologic profiles for streams in different geographic regions. Published in 2011. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Explore related subjects

EcohydrologyArticle
90° N90° S · 180° W ← longitude → 180° E
Source-reported bounding extent: 34.44° to 37.06° latitude; -90.31° to -80.86° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Rodney R. Knight, W. Scott Gain, William J. Wolfe. 2011-07-08. Modelling ecological flow regime: an example from the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.246

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Stream temperature variability in headwater beaver dam complexes in relation to hydrologic and environmental factors

Beaver modify hydrological regimes and have the ability to both increase water storage and alter stream temperatures. For these reasons, beaver translocation and the construction of human engineered beaver-dam analogs (BDAs) have become popular tools for climate-change adaptation. However, there is a lack of understanding about how beaver engineering affects stream temperature. The results from previous studies vary considerably and the drivers of the discrepancies remain unclear. We investigated the longitudinal and vertical variation of stream temperature in and around 24 sites consisting of one or more beaver ponds across 17 headwater streams around the Methow and Okanogan river valleys of Washington State (USA). We then explored possible hydrologic and environmental drivers of observed thermal patterns. Despite considerable variation, we found that beaver ponds were often associated with an increase in downstream temperatures. The magnitude of this effect increased with total pond hydraulic height, which was directly related to the number and size of ponds per site. We also found that pond bottoms were cooler than upstream inflow sites for a period of time in the afternoon. Thus, although beaver dam complexes in the Methow River watershed do not consistently cool streams—and in fact often increase downstream temperatures—the bottoms of beaver ponds can create relatively cool water areas during the hottest part of the day. Furthermore, if managers choose to use beaver translocation or BDAs, locations with topography that would result in deeper ponds with more canopy cover may limit negative temperature effects on coldwater aquatic biota.

Washington↗
USGS2026

Relative influence of flow regime, natural and anthropogenic environment on multidimensional stream fish diversity

The flow regime is considered a ‘master variable’ in riverine ecology because it directly influences stream geomorphology and biological communities. However, other environmental and anthropogenic factors have direct and synergistic effects with flow on fish diversity, complicating estimates of the flow regime's true importance. Moreover, most flow-ecology studies focus only on taxonomic diversity (i.e., species), without considering functional (trait-focused) or phylogenetic (evolution-focused) dimensions of diversity. In this study, we used linear regression with variation partitioning to parse out the independent and shared roles of the flow regime, physical environmental factors (e.g., soil characteristics) and the anthropogenic environment (e.g., developed land cover) for structuring multidimensional diversity of 365 stream fish communities in two biogeographic regions across South Carolina, USA. These variables explained between 8% and 18% of total variation of the local diversity. The flow regime contributed to diversity in all cases, but frequently covaried with physical and/or anthropogenic environmental variables. This covariation indicated that the independent role of flow would have been inflated if other environmental variables were not considered. The three dimensions of stream fish diversity were weakly correlated with one another and were associated with different environmental variables, indicating that each of them represents unique and complimentary facets of fish diversity. Accordingly, only considering the independent effects of instream flow on fish diversity may miss meaningful interactions between the flow regime and the other components of the environment that influence biodiversity patterns, leading to over simplified flow–ecology relationships.

South Carolina↗
USGS2025

Streamflow as a stressor: Disentangling hydrology and water quality impacts to characterize flow-ecology relationships for two stream assemblages across two southeastern landscapes

Disassociating the independent effects of flow and water quality on the ecology of flowing waters is an overarching goal in water resource science needed to improve the efficacy of watershed management. However, the interrelatedness of these gradients and their subsequent alteration due to land use change has constrained progress made on this front. The objective of this study was to use benthic macroinvertebrate and fish assemblage data to characterize flow-ecology relationships that were unchanged by water quality impacts across two southeastern landscapes in the USA to help detect ecological change driven by flow alteration. General linear latent models were used to identify taxa that were responsive to high or low flow metrics and water quality gradients. Bayesian hierarchical generalized additive models were then developed using these indicator taxa and three biological metrics to identify flow-specific relationships that were unaffected by water quality impacts. Three low flow-specific relationships were identified, illustrating how potential agricultural or urban impacts to hydrology reduced stream biological health. Importantly, flow-ecology relationships developed using indicator taxa in this study effectively captured hydrology-specific impacts while biological metrics typical of state monitoring and assessment programs did not. Therefore, developing flow-specific biological metrics is a critical step when developing management strategies targeting flow alteration. Implementing standardized frameworks such as the one characterized here can limit contradictory findings and improve streamflow enhancement and restoration project efficacy. These low flow-specific relationships will enhance managers' capacity to develop environmental flow standards, monitor their success, and better understand urban and agricultural impacts on stream assemblages.

Alabama↗