Effects of Riparian Zone Management on Water Quality and Invertebrate Community Structure in the Tifton Upland Region of the Georgia Coastal Plain
Author(s)
Gregory, Brian
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Hatcher, Kathryn J.
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Abstract
This research investigates the link between
riparian zone management and water quality in the Tifton
uplands region of the Georgia coastal plain. This area was
once part of a vast coastal plain pine forest which was logged
extensively between 1900 and 1920, and transformed into an
area dominated by agriculture. Today, this area is one of
Georgia's most productive agricultural regions, and is
composed of a mosaic of cropland, pasture and silvicultural
areas.
The areas of native vegetation that have become
reestablished along the intermittent streams that drain this
region appear to play an important role in maintaining
regional water quality, and their protection has recently been
included in a list of best management practices distributed by
the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. However, these
guidelines are only voluntary, and economic incentives still
exist for certain destructive farming practices such as
installing drain tile, converting riparian buffers to wet pasture,
and clear cutting riparian buffers to allow center pivot
irrigation systems to pass unimpeded.
As part of a plan to better understand the role of riparian
buffers in an agricultural region, 12 second order tributaries
under three different management regimes were sampled biweekly
for turbidity and nutrients, and monthly for
invertebrates.
Results from this research indicate that maintaining a
riparian buffer between streams and upland agriculture can
significantly lower NO,-N, PO4-P, and turbidity levels within
these streams. The aquatic invertebrate community also
differs markedly in areas with and without riparian
vegetation. A relatively diverse assemblage of aquatic
invertebrates dominated by shredding insects and crustaceans
were found in streams with an intact riparian zone, while less
diverse assemblages of filtering taxa dominated streams with
no riparian buffer.
Sponsor
Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology
Date
1995-04
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Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Proceedings