Invertebrate and Microbial Response to Hyporheic Restoration of an Urban Stream
1
Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2725 Montlake Boulevard E, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
2
Lynker Technologies, Under Contract to Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
3
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, 1122 NE Boat St., Seattle, WA 98195, USA
4
Seattle Public Utilities, 700 5th Ave, Suite 4900, Seattle, WA 98124, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Current affiliation: Watershed Resources Unit, Washington State Department of Ecology, 300 Desmond Drive SE, Lacey, WA 98503, USA.
Academic Editors: John McCray and Skuyler Herzog
Water 2021, 13(4), 481; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040481
Received: 1 January 2021
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Revised: 5 February 2021
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Accepted: 7 February 2021
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Published: 12 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cross-Sector Green Infrastructure for Improving Urban Storm Water Quality)
All cities face complex challenges managing urban stormwater while also protecting urban water bodies. Green stormwater infrastructure and process-based restoration offer alternative strategies that prioritize watershed connectivity. We report on a new urban floodplain restoration technique being tested in the City of Seattle, USA: an engineered hyporheic zone. The hyporheic zone has long been an overlooked component in floodplain restoration. Yet this subsurface area offers enormous potential for stormwater amelioration and is a critical component of healthy streams. From 2014 to 2017, we measured hyporheic temperature, nutrients, and microbial and invertebrate communities at three paired stream reaches with and without hyporheic restoration. At two of the three pairs, water temperature was significantly lower at the restored reach, while dissolved organic carbon and microbial metabolism were higher. Hyporheic invertebrate density and taxa richness were significantly higher across all three restored reaches. These are some of the first quantified responses of hyporheic biological communities to restoration. Our results complement earlier reports of enhanced hydrologic and chemical functioning of the engineered hyporheic zone. Together, this research demonstrates that incorporation of hyporheic design elements in floodplain restoration can enhance temperature moderation, habitat diversity, contaminant filtration, and the biological health of urban streams.
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Keywords:
hyporheic zone; stream restoration; urban ecology; biological monitoring; green stormwater infrastructure; microbe; aquatic invertebrate; Pacific salmon
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MDPI and ACS Style
Morley, S.A.; Rhodes, L.D.; Baxter, A.E.; Goetz, G.W.; Wells, A.H.; Lynch, K.D. Invertebrate and Microbial Response to Hyporheic Restoration of an Urban Stream. Water 2021, 13, 481. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040481
AMA Style
Morley SA, Rhodes LD, Baxter AE, Goetz GW, Wells AH, Lynch KD. Invertebrate and Microbial Response to Hyporheic Restoration of an Urban Stream. Water. 2021; 13(4):481. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040481
Chicago/Turabian StyleMorley, Sarah A., Linda D. Rhodes, Anne E. Baxter, Giles W. Goetz, Abigail H. Wells, and Katherine D. Lynch. 2021. "Invertebrate and Microbial Response to Hyporheic Restoration of an Urban Stream" Water 13, no. 4: 481. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040481
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