A Validation Study of a Rapid Field-Based Rating System for Discriminating Among Flow Permanence Classes of Headwater Streams in South Carolina

• Published in: Environmental management (New York) Vol. 52; no. 5; pp. 1286 - 1298
• Main Authors: Fritz, Ken M., Wenerick, William R., Kostich, Mitch S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-11-2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Base flow; Biological and medical sciences; Classification; Classification - methods; Clean Water Act-US; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Conservation of Natural Resources - statistics & numerical data; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Construction; Creeks & streams; Drainage area; Dry season; Drying; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental protection; Federal court decisions; Forestry Management; Fresh water ecosystems; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Geography; Geomorphology; Government Regulation; Headwaters; Hydrology; Jurisdiction; Methods; Nature Conservation; Rainy season; Riparian buffers; Rivers; Seasons; South Carolina; Streams; Synecology; Thresholds; Time Factors; Validation studies; Waste Water Technology; Water; Water Management; Water Movements; Water Pollution Control; Water shortages; Wet season; United States; North America; South Carolina; America; United States > US; USA, North Carolina; USA, South Carolina; USA, North Carolina, Piedmont; Ephemeral; Headwater streams; Stream classification; Intermittent; Perennial; Flow permanence; Freshwater environment; Validation; Discrimination; Classification; Stream; Environmental management
• ISSN: 0364-152X; 1432-1009
• DOI: 10.1007/s00267-013-0158-x

Rapid field-based protocols for classifying flow permanence of headwater streams are needed to inform timely regulatory decisions. Such an existing method was developed for and has been used in North Carolina since 1998. The method uses ordinal scoring of 26 geomorphology, hydrology, and biology attributes of streams. The attribute scores are summed and compared to threshold scores to assign a flow permanence class. Our study objective was to evaluate the method’s ability to classify the flow permanence of forested stream reaches from Piedmont and Southeastern Plains ecoregions in South Carolina. Ephemeral reaches scored significantly lower than intermittent and perennial reaches, but scores from intermittent and perennial reaches did not differ. Scores collected in the dry and wet seasons were strongly correlated, indicating that the method was seasonally stable. Scores had positive nonlinear relationships with the maximum recorded wet duration and the proportion of the record that reaches were wet, but were not related to drying frequency. Scores of the presence of baseflow in the dry season were more important in flow permanence classification than those from the wet season. Other important attributes and parameters in discriminating flow classes were macrobenthos, rooted upland plants, bankfull width, drainage area, and ecoregion. Although the North Carolina method did not consistently differentiate intermittent from perennial reaches, the indicator-based approach is a strong foundation from which to build a protocol for South Carolina. Adding measures like bankfull width and drainage area, weighting by ecoregion, or shifting thresholds may be warranted modifications for South Carolina.