Effects of land use on the water
quality and biota of three streams in the Piedmont Province of North
Carolina
Water-Resources Investigations Report
89-4007
By J.K. Crawford and D.R. Lenat
Abstract
Three small streams in North Carolina 's northern Piedmont were
studied to compare the effects of land use in their watersheds
on water quality characteristics and aquatic biota. Devil 's
Cradle Creek (agricultural watershed) had more than two times
the sediment yield of Smith Creek (forested watershed) (0.34
tons/acre compared to 0.13 tons/acre), and Marsh Creek (urban
watershed) had more than four times the yield of Smith Creek
(0.59 tons/acre). Concentrations of nutrients were consistently
highest in Devil 's Craddle Creek. Concentrations of total
copper, iron, and lead in samples from each of the three streams
at times exceeded State water quality standards as did
concentrations of total zinc in samples from both Smith and
Marsh Creeks. Successively lower aquatic invertebrate taxa
richness was found in the forested, the agricultural, and the
urban watershed streams. Invertebrate biota in Smith Creek was
dominated by insects, such as Ephemeroptera, that are intolerant
to stress from pollution, whereas Devil 's Cradle Creek was
dominated by the more tolerant Diptera, and Marsh Creek was
dominated by the most pollution-tolerant group, the Oligochaeta.
Fish communities in the forested and agricultural watershed
streams were characterized by more species and more individuals
of each species, relative to a limited community in urban Marsh
Creek. Three independent variables closely linked to land
use--suspended-sediment yield, suspended-sediment load, and
total lead concentrations in stream water--are inversely
associated with the biological communities of the streams.
Citation:
Crawford, J.K., and Lenat, D.R., 1989, Effects of land use on the water quality and biota of three streams in the Piedmont Province of North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 89-4007, 67 p.
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