working towards a canada-wide assessment of …f-a working towards a canada-wide assessment of...
TRANSCRIPT
© P
au
l N
ickle
n/N
atio
na
l G
eo
gra
ph
ic S
tock /
WW
F-C
an
ad
a
Working towards a Canada-wide Assessment of Freshwater Ecosystems:
The Challenge (and Opportunity) of Developing a Robust Fish Indicator
1
James Snider, Conservation Science Specialist
WWF-Canada
SOSMART Network Meeting
November 25, 2014
Table of Contents
• Introduction to WWF-Canada’s Freshwater Health
Assessments (FHAs)
– Metrics
– Results to date
• Potential methodological improvements
• Next Steps:
– Freshwater Threats Assessment
– Loblaw Water Fund
2
What is our impact?
What is it all adding up to?
Freshwater Health Assessment (FHA):
What is it?
• A set of four key metrics integrated through an expert reviewed
analytical framework
• Provide a high level score for freshwater ecosystem health within a
watershed context.
• Establish a consistent approach across the country
• Pooling available data to build a basis for evidence-based water
policy evaluation and advocacy.
5
6
All major freshwater systems assessed by
by 2017
A major milestone….
8
Hydrology Metric
Composite metric comprised of 5 indicators:
1.Trends in median monthly flow, long-term (onset of monitoring –
present)
2.Trends in median monthly flow, short-term (last available monitoring
– present)
3.Long-term trends in annual flows
4.Pre- vs. Post-Dam / Historical vs. Recent analysis:
a) Variance in monthly flow
b) Percentage Change in Median Monthly Flow
9Concentration (mg/L)
Nu
mb
er
of
Ob
serv
atio
ns
Provincial Guideline (e.g. Nitrate = 2.93 mg/L)
75th Percentile 90th Percentile
Water QualityIndicator: Proportion of water quality measurements
that exceed three chosen thresholds:
Various data sources, including Environment Canada’s
EnviroDat, and provincial agencies (e.g. Ontario’s
Provincial Water Quality Monitoring Network)
(1) Provincial or Federal water quality guidelines;
(2) 90th percentile of historical distribution; and (3) 75th percentile of historical distribution
10
Example Results of Water Quality Metric:
HBI = Σ(xi*ti)/(n), where
xi = number of individuals within a family
ti = tolerance value of a family
n = total number of organisms in the sample
Dragonfly Nymph CaddisflySnailsSideswimmer
Benthics Metric: Family-Level
Hilsenhoff Biotic IndexA measure of benthic invertebrate community composition, based on relative sensitivity of taxa (i.e. species, genus or family) to disturbance (e.g. Organic pollutants).
Linear Regression*
* All statistics used in FHA are non-parametric. We use the analogous non-parametric test
Year
Me
dia
n N
um
be
r o
f N
ativ
e F
ish
Sp
eci
es
10
6
2
1995 2000 2005 2010
Fish Metric Indicator: Presence/Absence of a decline in native
fish species richness over time (i.e. Loss of native
fish diversity)
Data Sources: Provincial databases, including BC Historical
Fish Observances, Alberta’s Fish & Wildlife Information
System, Ontario’s Flowing Waters Information System
Analysis of both median and total annual fish species richness
Health of your water body overall is:
GOOD Very Poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Very Good
WWF Framework: Metrics to Scores
Hydrology
Fish
Invertebrates
Water Quality
Very Poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Very
Good
=
=
=
=
=
*Data sufficiency
Very Poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Very
Good
Very Poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Very
Good
Very Poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Very
Good
Understanding scale
14
Results of our analysis are reported
based on the Water Survey of Canada
watershed framework:
Functional units of analysis are the WSC
“Sub-drainage areas”.
“Sub-sub-drainage areas” are used to
determine the spatial component of the
data sufficiency analysis.
Overall Scores, Sub-Basin Scale
2
16
7
3
0
21
Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor DataDeficient
Number of sub-basins in each scoring category:
0
8
24
12
1
4
Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor DataDeficient
Hydrology Scores, Sub-basin scale
382 short-term monitoring sites86 long-term monitoring sites
Number of sub-basins in each scoring category:
7
24
2
0 0
16
Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor DataDeficient
Water Quality Scores, Sub-basin Scale
985 Water Quality Sites
Number of sub-basins in each scoring category:
11
34
21
28
Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor DataDeficient
Benthic Scores, Sub-basin Scale
Number of sub-basins in each scoring category:
809 Benthic Sites
28
0 0
21
Good Fair Poor Data Deficient
Fish Scores, Sub-basin scaleNumber of sub-basins in each scoring category:
5,382 Fish Sites
20
Working to improve the fish metric
1. Apply abundance-based regional Indices of Biological Integrity
Benthic invertivores
Invertivorous cyprinids
Lithophils
Omnivores
Carnivores
For Example: Battle River, Alberta
Stevens, Council and Sullivan. 2010. WQRJC
*Typically requires data and models of expected distribution and abundance, or at minimum life-history, behavioral and tolerance information.
21
2. Where long-term abundance data is available (but not a regional IBI model), apply WWF’s Living Planet Index approach.
22
2)
3)
4)
23
Data Source: Living Planet Index Data Portal
Data Source: Living Planet Index Data Portal
26
3. Indicator Species
Identify species across the country that could be applied even with presence-absence data
Requires expert advice to generate list of candidate species for each major watershed
Top-level piscivores?
Brook trout in southern Ontario?
Is a simple binary present/absent a sufficient indicator?
27
Other: Integrate a measure of sampling effort into analysis, either via
species rarefaction models, or catch-per-unit-effort approaches.
Building on the FHAs:
Freshwater Threats Assessment
- The Freshwater Threats Assessment (FTAs) will build upon
the work of the FHA’s to provide a full picture of the health of our
freshwater nationally
- FHA provides the answer to “what” the health status is, FTA
provides the answer to “why” it is in the current state
– We can then determine “how” to fix it through the appropriate
course of action – policy, legislation, restoration, etc.
28
29
Key Threats to Freshwater Ecosystems
Threat Description
Habitat loss Loss of freshwater habitat (wetlands, bogs, fens, etc) due to land conversion to agriculture, urban areas, and industry.
Habitat Fragmentation Loss of connectedness between freshwater habitats due to intersection of roads, rail, and dams.
Over allocation Total amount of water removed from freshwater systems for urban, agricultural, and industrial uses.
Pollution The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects. Includes pollution from industry (factories, mines, oil & gas), wastewater treatment, pulp and paper mills, agricultural production, etc.
Invasive Species Species introduced intentionally or accidentally outside of their natural range, often resulting in loss of native species
Climate Change Change in amounts and temperature of water due to changing climate, affecting water availability and the natural history of the species living within the system.
30
Ec
olo
gic
al C
on
dit
ion
(“H
ea
lth
”)
EcosystemHealth
Cumulative Stress (“Threat”)
Action
Very Good Low Protection
Good Low Conservation
Fair Moderate PrecautionaryManagement
Poor High Restoration
Very Poor Very High Restoration
Data Deficient Data Deficient Monitoring
Scientific Basis for an Evidence-Based Decision-Making Framework
For Example
* Completed at the watershed scale
** Can be completed for individual health
metrics & specific stressors
Designed to inform action, including
watershed management, governance
& policy (e.g. fed, prov.)
• Objective: Support local on the ground conservation and restoration efforts across the country to help achieve WWF’s goal of all waters in good condition by 2025.
• 2015 Eligible Activities: Restoration and monitoring. Preference given to projects that engage local communities in project work
• 2015 Eligible Recipients: Registered Charities and Not-for-profits
• Size of fund: $250,000 (max $25K/project)
• Please visit www.wwf.ca/waterfund for more info
Proposal Deadline: December 15, 2014
The Loblaw Water Fund
