Being a Social Caddisfly: Making the Case for Incorporating Societal Objectives to Help Achieve Ecological Improvements for Urban Streams
Start Date
12-11-2016 1:30 PM
End Date
12-11-2016 4:00 PM
Description
In 2014 at the 3rd symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology, an international working group of stream ecologists from academia, government, and private industry sought to develop an alternative framework for restoring streams in urban landscapes. Urban streams are often altered by human actions in ways that limit the potential outcomes of restoration projects. We proposed the Urban Stream Renovation (USR) framework as a novel alternative to current approaches for improving ecosystem structure and function of urban streams. The USR framework differs from other approaches by 1) using a flexible approach focused on developing ecosystem structure and function within the context of a highly modified urban landscape and 2) integrating societal and ecological outcomes. Aspects of the socio-cultural linkages of streams with urban communities and the hypothesized effects of these linkages on stewardship will be discussed, and case studies will be presented to provide real world examples of some of these linkages. The BSR framework will be discussed to solicit input, feedback, and criticisms about the potential for this approach to achieve ecological improvements in urban streams at broad spatial and temporal scales.
Keywords
urban streams, restoration, societal outcomes, stewardship
Type
Presentation
Session
Ecology and Water Quality
Language
eng
Being a Social Caddisfly: Making the Case for Incorporating Societal Objectives to Help Achieve Ecological Improvements for Urban Streams
Elaine Langone Center, Forum
In 2014 at the 3rd symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology, an international working group of stream ecologists from academia, government, and private industry sought to develop an alternative framework for restoring streams in urban landscapes. Urban streams are often altered by human actions in ways that limit the potential outcomes of restoration projects. We proposed the Urban Stream Renovation (USR) framework as a novel alternative to current approaches for improving ecosystem structure and function of urban streams. The USR framework differs from other approaches by 1) using a flexible approach focused on developing ecosystem structure and function within the context of a highly modified urban landscape and 2) integrating societal and ecological outcomes. Aspects of the socio-cultural linkages of streams with urban communities and the hypothesized effects of these linkages on stewardship will be discussed, and case studies will be presented to provide real world examples of some of these linkages. The BSR framework will be discussed to solicit input, feedback, and criticisms about the potential for this approach to achieve ecological improvements in urban streams at broad spatial and temporal scales.