Daniel Wibisana (16R57007)

Aquatic Environmental Science

August 1, 2016

Final Exam

A1. Making a Movie

Video Title: Watershed Hydrology
Partner Name: Aaron William (16R57001)

A2. Ecological Niche

1. Author: Alejandro H. Buschmann

Title: Salmon aquaculture and coastal ecosystem health in Chile: Analysis of regulations,
environmental impacts and bioremediation systems.
Journal, volume, year, pages: Ocean & Coastal Management, 52, 2009, 243249.
2. Investigated species: Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar
3. Quantitative description:
This paper describes the production trends of the aquaculture industry and
environment in the salmon aquaculture industry operating in Chile. There are potential
impacts of open cage aquaculture on marine ecosystems and potential ecological
engineering approaches have been evaluated to mitigate these impacts.
 Figure 1. Environmental impacts on the benthic and pelagic systems of Chilean salmon
aquaculture. Percent values of nitrogen and phosphorus flows were calculated from an annual
mass balance obtained from a marine land-based farm in Chile.

This figure summarizes research on the environmental impacts of salmon net pen
(cages) aquaculture in the inland seas of southern Chile. It is evident that organic waste
from salmon farms changes the physio-chemical properties and changes microflora
biodiversity of benthic sediments. Inorganic dissolved waste also enhances the growth of
algae leading to algal blooms that can produce declining effects on the food chain
position. These studies are consistent with those from the northern hemisphere suggesting
that inputs of waste material disrupt benthic ecosystems beneath salmon culture salmon
farms.

A3. Biodiversity

1. Author: Mauro Gobbi

Title: Biodiversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in different habitats of the
Italian Po lowland.
Journal, volume, year, pages: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 127, 2008, 273
276.
2. Investigated region: Po Plain, Northern Italy
3. Target biological community: ground beetles
4. Description of diversity:
The aim was to find out whether species community in habitats of the Po plain
under various human disturbances had different species richness, taxonomic diversity,
and ecological traits of each species, in order to obtain reliable proxies to describe
diversity for environmental assessments. The paper analyzes the relationship between
species richness (total number of species) and species traits (adaptations) of ground
beetles in 4 different habitat categories, which were ranked by human activity
disturbance. The habitats are crops lands, wood-lands, poplar stands and meadows. The
ground beetle species are divided into 3 categories according to their biological features;
brachypterous which have wings, large, and predator species (flying ability, body length,
and diet).. The phi correlation coefficients for all three biological feature comparisons
were calculated to check for sign and strength of potential association between the
biological features. A chi-square test for the significance of the association was provided,
and p-values were calculated as well. Different methods of analysis were applied
including principal component analysis (PCA), trend surface analysis (TSA), and Linear
Model (LM) tests.

At the species community level, biological traits were associated with each other.
The proportion of brachypterous and large species were highly significantly correlated
(Pearsons r = 0.899, corrected d.f. = 24.067, p < 0.0001); the proportion of
brachypterous and predatory species (Pearsons r = 0.462, corrected d.f. = 36.362, p =
0.003) and the proportion of large and predatory species (Pearsons r = 0.518, corrected
d.f. = 26.627, p = 0.004) were correlated as well.

Habitat type significantly influenced the analyzed variables shown in Table 1 and
Figure 2. Species richness of ground beetle species community was significantly lower in
woodlands than in crops. But for biological/species traits, proportions of predatory, large
and brachypterous species are lower in crops than in woodlands. Meadows and poplar
stands show significant difference, with poplar stands more similar to woodlands, and
meadows more similar to crops. No significant effect of habitat type was detected on
taxonomic diversity.
Figure 2. Box-plot of the distribution of (A) species richness, (B) taxonomic diversity, (C)
proportion of predators, and (D) proportion of brachypterous and large species.
A4. Impact of Three Gorge Dam

Building the dam for flood control and hydroelectric power can alter the downstream
hydrologic system by affecting the total runoff quantity, water quality, and duration of runoff.
The rivers connected to the dam control ecological aspects including sediment transport and
nutrient exchange, which in turn control many habitat factors, such as flow depth, velocity, and
habitat volume. Hydrologic system may also affect the distribution and availability of river
habitat conditions, with potentially adverse consequences on the structure and persistence of
aquatic communities.

Studies must be done before constructing the Three Gorges dam to investigate the future
impacts on the ecological systems around it. By using hydrologic data available for a specific
ecosystem or model-generated data, indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA) can be developed
to assess the degree of which human disturbance affects hydrologic systems. Range of variability
approach (RVA) can also be used in addition to set stream flow-based river management targets
that incorporate the concepts of hydrologic variability and aquatic ecosystem integrity. It is a
practical and effective means of assessing hydrologic alterations and has been applied to many
river basins around the world that represent a variety of watershed and hydrologic regime types.

Hydrological stations all around the Yangtze River must be establish to calculate the river
discharge changes during different conditions. The data collected will then be used to quantify
and characterize the alteration of natural flow regimes in the Yangtze River after the Three Gorge
Dam construction. The data will help to examine the spatial differences in the degree of
hydrologic alteration along the mainstream, as well as to investigate the possible reasons behind
flow regime changes and discuss the possible ecological implications due to these changes.
These will provide technical support and decision guidance for improving the operation of the
Three Gorges reservoirs and sustaining the Yangtze River ecosystem health.