1. Effects of
Obstruction
Taking a look at Stream Water Quality at Parker Mill
Course: NRE 509, Ecology: Concepts and Applications
Instructor: Dr. Sheila K. Scheuller Date: 05/12/2016
Lab: 002
GSI: Sarah Turner
By: Nalin Bhatia, Prathmesh Gupta, Mirko Noack
School of Natural Resources and Environment,
University of Michigan

2.  Construction near or passing over a stream can act as a source of
pollution as impurities and solids can runoff into the stream, thereby
negatively affecting the water quality and harming the aquatic
species
 Obstructions in streams that reduce the natural flow rate can cause
the accumulation of suspended solids and pollutants while also
limiting the movement of aquatic species
Introduction

3.  Construction resulted in impacts on turbidity, total suspended solids,
total iron levels, sulfate, and chloride levels
 After construction impacts included increased acidity and nitrates
 Found statistically significant impact on macroinvertebrate index
scores
 But no change in overall good biological condition
Effects of Highway Construction (Chen et al.)

4.  Comprehensive study measuring water quality and river flow data for
20 years prior to dam being built and then for 7 years after
 After the dam was built found that
 The above-dam reservoir had a decreased water quality due to
the accumulation of pollutants
 Immediately below the dam had an increase in water quality
 Downstream of the dam showed no significant difference in water
quality score
Impact of Dam Construction (Guoliang et al.)

5. ❖Research Question:
 How does an obstruction affect stream water
quality?
 Specifically, how does the bridge at Fleming
Creek affect the water quality?
❖Hypothesis:
 If human structures cause obstructions of
natural stream flow and processes that
regulate stream health, then the human
structures could affect water quality.
Research Question and Hypothesis
Water quality
Man-made
Obstruction

7. Site: Fleming Creek Stream near Parker Mill, Ann Arbor
Methods
Parker Mill
County
Park
Bridge
passing
over
stream
Date of expt.: October 24, 2016

8.  Relevance: Bridge obstructing flow
 Independent Variable: Site, Upstream or
Downstream
 Dependent Variable: Stream Water Quality
 Indicator Species: Macro-invertebrates
Methods

9. Methods
Downstream
Data
Collection
• 5 samples
• Upstream/Downstream; Pools/Riffles
• 0.5 m increments measure by transect tape
Identification
• Identification and counting of different
species for each sample
Analysis
• Assessment of water quality from the samples
collected
5 samples 5 samples

10. Results - Upstream
Sample
Distance from bridge(measured by
transact line)
Identified Species
No. of
individuals
Pool #1 10m Stonefly larvae 1
Water mite 1
Pool #2 10.5m Caddisfly larvae 6
Midge larvae 3
Water mite 7
Rifle #3 11m Midge larvae 4
Water mite 9
Caddisfly larvae 4
Pool #4 11.5m Midge larvae 3
Water mite 2
Caddisfly larvae 1
Rifle #5 12m Water mite 9
Midge larvae 3
Caddisfly larvae 4
Dobsonfly larvae 2
Identified Species No. of individuals
Stonefly larvae 1
Water mite 28
Caddisfly larvae 15
Midge larvae 13
Dobsonfly larvae 2

11. Results - Upstream
Group 1
Group 3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Stonefly larvae Caddisfly larvae Dobsonfly
larvae
Water mite Midge larvae
No.ofIndividuals
Morphospecies
Abundance of different morphospecies
upstream of bridge

12. Results - Downstream
Sample
Distance from bridge(measured
by transact line)
Identified Species
No. of
individuals
Rifle #1 6.5 m Caddisfly larvae 4
Water mite 3
Rifle #2 7 m Cranefly larvae 1
Caddisfly larvae 4
Water mite 5
Rifle #3 7.5 m Dobsonfly larvae 7
Caddisfly larvae 1
Cranefly larvae 1
Midge pupa or larvae 1
Rifle #4 8 m Cranefly larvae 3
Midge pupa or larvae 1
Dobsonfly larvae 1
Caddisfly larvae 3
Midge larvae 2
Rifle #5 8.5 m Gill snail 1
Identified Species No. of individuals
Caddisfly larvae 9
Water mite 8
Cranefly larvae 5
Dobsonfly larvae 8
Midge pupa or larvae 3
Gill Snail 1

13. Results - Downstream
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Caddisfly
larvae
Dobsonfly
larvae
Gill Snail Cranefly
larvae
Midge
Pupa/Larva
Water Mite
No.ofIndividuals
Morphospecies
Abundance of different morphospecies
downstream of bridge

14. Analysis
Upstream Downstream
Stream Water Quality Score 20.2 (Fair) 22.3 (Fair)
Shannon Diversity Index 0.52 0.71
Evenness Index 0.75 0.91
% Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera 27 30

15. Conclusion – From Results
 No observable effect on stream water quality
 Hypothesis not supported
 Differences in diversity

16. Conclusion – Assumptions and Limitations
 Low replication & Sample size
 Seasonality
 Sites
 Other measures: Testing for contaminants, and other water
quality measures

17. Conclusion – Further Investigations
 Landscape – Riva-Murray et al. (2010)
 Effects of different landscapes
 Effects of winter salts – Betts et al. (2014)
 Salt Vulnerability Assessment
 Methodology
 Separating causes – Suter et al (2002)
 Methodology for separating causes
 Whether it is landuse, salt, contaminants, etc.

18. Literature Cited
❖ Chen, Y., Viadero, R. C., Wei, X., Fortney, R., Hedrick, L. B., Welsh, S. A., and others (2009). Effects of Highway
Construction on Stream Water Quality and Macroinvertebrate Condition in a Mid-Atlantic Highlands
Watershed, USA.Journal of Environment Quality, 38(4), 1672. doi:10.2134/jeq2008.0423
❖ Wei, G., Yang, Z., Cui, B., Li, B., Chen, H., Bai, J., & Dong, S. (2009). Impact of dam construction on water
quality and water self-purification capacity of the Lancang river, china. Water Resources Management,
23(9), 1763-1780. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-008-9351-8
❖ Riva-Murray, K., Riemann, R., Murdoch, P., Fischer, J. M., & Brightbill, R. (2010). Landscape characteristics
affecting streams in urbanizing regions of the Delaware River Basin (New Jersey, New York, and
Pennsylvania, U.S.). Landscape Ecology, 25(10), 1489–1503. article. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-010-9513-y
❖ Betts, A. R., Gharabaghi, B., & McBean, E. A. (2014). Salt vulnerability assessment methodology for urban
streams. Journal of Hydrology, 517, 877–888. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.06.005
❖ Suter, G. W., Norton, S. B., & Cormier, S. M. (2002). A methodology for inferring the causes of observed
impairments in aquatic ecosystems. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 21(6), 1101–1111.
http://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5620210602

19. Questions ?