ABSTRACT:
The impacts of agricultural Land uses on surface water quality continue to command attention nationwide. In contrast, less consideration has been given to understanding aquatic communities in agricultural ecosystems or what measures might be used to indicate how these communities are responding to changing conditions in the surrounding landscape. This review discusses (1) the role of natural processes in agricultural watershed: (2) the use of biological indicators in aquatic systems: (3) assessments of the effects of agriculturally-derived pollutants both in-stream and at the landscape scale; (4) achievable ecological outcomes: and (5) recommendations for developing ecological indicators and identifying appropriate restoration goals for agricultural systems. If ecological indicators are to be used effectively, it is necessary to identify those taxa and responses that are most closely associated with agricultural stressors. Once such tools are developed, an overall framework for designing holistic management plans will help identify realistic and achieuable restoration goals that maximize the environmental benefits in a watershed.
Footnotes
Mary C. Watzin and Alan W. Mclntosh are with the School of Natural Resaurces at the University of Vermont, Burlington. Their work was funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service Watershed Science Institute. They thank Carolyn Adams, Richard Croft, and Betty McQuaid for critical comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.
- Copyright 1999 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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