SYLLABUS For GSD 6333: Water, Aquatic Ecology, And Land-Water Linkages
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SYLLABUS for GSD 6333: Water, Land-Water Linkages, and Aquatic Ecology Spring, 2013
Class Meetings: Wednesdays, 08:30-11:30 AM, 517 Gund Hall
Instructors: Betsy A. Colburn and Tim Dekker GSD Office: 406 Gund Hall Office hours: Wednesdays, after class - 4:00 PM, Room 406, Gund Hall, or by appointment email: [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected] Phone: Colburn: Monday, Tuesday, and Friday: 978-756-6180, Dekker: 734-821-3178
Objectives and Outcomes
This course is intended to provide students with a theoretical, technical, and applied understanding of water, land-water interactions, and aquatic ecosystems that will
inform their professional approaches to landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, and architecture, and contribute to protecting, improving, restoring, and sustaining water resources for humanity and the rest of the biosphere.
Topics Covered
GSD 6333 looks at water across the globe in relation to (1) land-water interactions, emphasizing hydrology and water quality, (2) aquatic ecology, and (3) human activities, including design questions and methodologies. Each of these three aspects is covered in all parts of the course, although the emphasis shifts among them. The focus is on fresh waters, although there is also limited coverage of near-shore coastal waters and wetlands.
The course is organized broadly into two major parts. Topics are covered from local to continental scales and are illustrated with examples and case studies from around the world.
Week Background information and a broad overview of the subject, including the global 1 distribution of water, its importance and values, physical and chemical characteristics, human impacts through history to the present time, overview of urban water infrastructure, and design approaches to sustainable water-resources management and the maintenance of healthy aquatic ecosystems. (Colburn)
Weeks Land-Water Interactions and Design: Watersheds, including hands-on delineation of 2-6 watershed boundaries; precipitation; land use and the hydrologic cycle; groundwater- surface water interactions; water withdrawals; surface hydrology, hydraulics, and geomorphology; hydrologic calculations for estimating runoff and groundwater flow. (Colburn) Design approaches to managing infiltration and runoff, including a design exercise involving green infrastructure for an urban neighborhood in Washington, DC. (Dekker)
Weeks Aquatic Ecosystems and Design – rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, temporary 7-12 waters, inland and coastal wetlands, near-coastal waters. Basic hydrologic, water quality, and ecological considerations; plant and animal communities; cross-ecosystem connections; relationships with the terrestrial landscape and land uses, including the built environment and natural areas; and design considerations for aquatic habitat protection, restoration, creation, and management. This part of the course includes a required field trip comparing relatively undisturbed stream and vernal pool systems with artificially created urban examples of these habitats, with the goal of developing recommendations for improving the urban waters for both aquatic life and human benefits. A visit during class time to a wetlands restoration site in Cambridge is tentatively scheduled, as well. (Colburn) The final class meeting will provide a wrap-up by Drs. Colburn and Dekker covering topics including the scale of projects, regulatory constraints, and the design team.
Course Format
This is primarily a lecture course, but it meets as two back-to-back sessions on a single day each week, so that class time will also be available for class discussions of readings, demonstrations and practical hands-on exercises in hydrological analysis and site evaluation, and development of design recommendations for stormwater infrastructure and aquatic habitat mitigation. Betsy Colburn will present on the majority of class meeting dates and will lead a weekend field trip in early spring, during which students will assess habitat and aquatic community composition to compare urbanized and minimally impacted aquatic systems. Tim Dekker will lecture on urban stormwater management and direct a stormwater-infrastructure design exercise the weeks of February 27 and March 6. Drs. Dekker and Colburn will both participate in the final wrap-up class meeting. Students will present individual research projects in class throughout the semester.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on: 3 short (2-page) written exercises (45) 2 quizzes (30), an urban-stormwater-infrastructure design exercise (30) field trip and mitigation proposal for constructed urban aquatic habitats (30) an oral presentation and term paper on a research topic or design problem of interest to the student (45) In addition to content-based evaluations, attendance and participation will count up to 20 points.
Assignments or quizzes will be due, on average, every two weeks. The term paper can be completed at any time during the semester, with the oral presentation to be scheduled to complement lecture topics to the extent possible. Content and presentation, including spelling and grammar, count towards evaluation. (See pp. 18-22 for more information.)
Assignments should be posted to the course website and handed in as hard-copy documents by the beginning of class on the date due. 2 The following brief overview of the class lists lecture topics and due dates for assignments. A more comprehensive syllabus with background and optional readings for each class session follows on p. 5. Information on the course textbook and readings is on p. 17.
Summary of Class Schedule
Class meets Wednesday mornings, 8:40-10:00 and 10:10-11:30, Room 517 Gund
Background, Hydrology, and Water Quality
January 30 – Colburn Class 1: Introduction to Course, Water on Earth, Water and Life, Water and Society Class 2: Water as a Substance, Water Quality
February 6 – Colburn Exercise #1 – Journal Review – and Project Topic Due Class 3: Class discussion of journal readings Land-Water Interactions 1: Components of the Hydrologic Cycle – overview and design concerns Class 4: Land-Water Interactions 2: Watersheds; hands-on watershed delineation
February 13 – Colburn Exercise #2 -- Watershed Delineation Exercise Due Class 5: Land-Water Interactions 3: Evapotranspiration, condensation, precipitation, interception, infiltration, and soil water Class 6: Land-Water Interactions 4: Groundwater: flow, water table fluctuations, groundwater- surface water relationships; extraction and land subsidence
February 20 – Colburn Class 7: Land-Water Interactions 5: Runoff: hydrograph, factors affecting, response to urbanization and implications of changes, generalized design approaches Class 8: Land-Water Interactions 6: Hands-on hydrologic calculations: peak flows, runoff volumes, infiltration rates, groundwater flow directions and rates.
February 27 – Dekker Quiz 1 Due to class i-Site Class 9: Land-Water Interactions 7: Hydrologic cycle: stormwater BMPs, low impact development, green designs Class 10: Land-Water Interactions 8: Green design / green infrastructure case study: RiverSmart Project, Washington, DC
March 6 – Dekker Stormwater BMP design exercise due Class 11: Land-Water Interactions 9: Class Presentations and Discussion of RiverSmart project, green infrastructure recommendations for Washington DC Class 12: Land-Water Interactions 10: Streams in Disturbed Landscapes: urban river and creek geomorphology, effects of urbanization, urban restoration
3 Ecology, Protection, Creation, and Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems
March 13 – Colburn Exercise #3 –Aquarium visit – due Class 13: Class discussion of N.E. Aquarium visit. Aquatic Ecosystems 1: Life in water: microbes, plants, animals, communities Class 14: Aquatic Ecosystems 2: Life in water; Ecological fundamentals
March 20 – No Class, Spring Break
March 27 – Colburn Class 15: Aquatic Ecosystems 3: Aquatic Ecosystem Services Class 16: Aquatic Ecosystems 4: Wetlands ecology: Hydrology as Primary Forcing Variable; Carbon and Nutrient Cycling; Plant and Animal Distributions in Relation to Hydrologic Gradients in Space and Time; Creating and Maintaining or Improving Wetlands and their Ecosystem Functions and Services
March 29 and 30 – Two-day Weekend Field Trip: Hands-on learning about headwater streams and vernal pools. Compare natural and created streams and vernal pools through biological sampling and habitat assessment; calculate basic metrics of community condition including diversity indices; evaluate success of created sites; develop recommendations.
NOTE: This is Friday and Saturday of Easter Weekend. If students cannot make the trip on this weekend, we have the option of the following weekend, April 5-7, on Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday. Confirmation of the date is required by February 6.
April 3 – Colburn Classes 17 and 18: Aquatic Ecosystems 5: Wetlands creation/restoration –field visit planned
April 5-7 Alternative dates for field trip, Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday
April 10 – Colburn Field trip mitigation reports due Class 19: Class discussion of Mitigation Recommendations for Field Trip Sites Aquatic Ecosystems 6: Stream Ecosystems – The River Continuum, Headwaters to Sea; RiverWebs film Class 20: Aquatic Ecosystems 7: Stream Ecosystems – Large River Systems and Floodplains; Urban Streams
April 17 – Colburn Class 21: Aquatic Ecosystems 8: Lakes and ponds -- zonation, stratification, eutrophication Class 22: Aquatic Ecosystems 9: Coastal waters –Tides, currents, salinity, substrates, pollution
April 24 – Colburn, Colburn and Dekker Quiz 2 due to course i-Site Class 23: Aquatic Ecosystems 10: Case study Class 24: Aquatic Ecosystems 11: Pulling it all together: Scale Considerations, Legal and Regulatory Issues, Restoration Opportunities and the Design Team
May 10: Last Day to Turn in Term Papers 4 Detailed Course Schedule
Part 1: Introduction and Core Concepts in Aquatic Ecology and Water Resources Week 1, Classes 1-2
January 30 Colburn
Class 1 Introductions, Course Overview and Logistics Lecture: Background: The Importance and Nature of Water - global distribution of water - water and life - water and human society - water and the land - water issues, challenges, and opportunities for the design professions in the 21st century
Background Readings, Class 1 Specter, Michael. 2006. “The Last Drop.” The New Yorker October 23, 2006: 61-71. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/23/061023fa_fact1 Vorosmarty, C.J., P.B. McIntyre, M.O. Gessner, D. Dudgeon, A. Prusevich, P. Green, S. Glidden, S.E. Bunn, C.A. Sullivan, C. Reidy Liermann, and P.M. Davies. 2010. Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity. Nature 467, 555-561 (30 September 2010) http://riverthreat.net/ Gleick, Peter. 2011. The World’s Water, Volume 7. http://www.worldwater.org/data.html Martin, James. 2006. The Meaning of the 21st Century. (74-page slideshow – quick view) http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/podcast/04 martin .pdf Foundation for Deep Ecology, “Deep Ecology Platform.” http://www.deepecology.org/platform.htm
Optional Supplemental Readings (See List of Resources for GSD 6333 on course i-site): Dunne and Leopold: Chapters 1 (case studies) Gleick, Peter. 2006. The World’s Water, 2004-2005. Chapter 1. The UN Millennium Development Goals for Water: Crucial Objectives, Inadequate Commitments. http://www.worldwater.org/2004-2005.html. Gleick, Peter. 2008. The World’s Water, 2008-2009. Forward (pp. xi-xii), Introduction (pp. xv-xvii), Chapter 1 “PeakWater,” Tables and select text. http://www.worldwater.org/data.html Postel and Richter (humans and water, water crisis)
Class 2 Lecture: Water as a substance: physical and chemical characteristics - Coupled energy, mineral, and hydrologic cycles - Connectivity in space and time - Water as a medium for life • Oxygen • Temperature • Light • Nutrients • Density
5 - The work of water – erosion, transport, deposition - Water quality issues in urban design – sewage, industrial discharges, and stormwater Background Readings, Class 2 Dunne and Leopold: Chapters 15, 17, 19 (sediment, erosion, transport); Chapter 20 (chemical characteristics of water) OR Warren, Chapter 5 (on Reserve at Loeb library) Go to the Center for Watershed Protection website and look at some of the materials they have available on stormwater, water quality and its control, and BMPs: http://www.cwp.org/Resource_Library/Controlling_Runoff_and_Discharges/sm.htm
Optional Supplemental Readings Warren: Chapter 5 (physical and chemical environment of water) OR Allan: Chapter 2, pp. 23-36 (water chemistry) Cole: Chapter 7, pp 155-172 (stream ecology), Chapters 8-14 (physical and chemical limnology) Wischmeier, W. H., and Smith, D. D. 1978. Predicting Rainfall Erosion Losses: A Guide to Conservation Planning. http://topsoil.nserl.purdue.edu/usle/AH_537.pdf
Part 2: Land-Water Interactions Weeks 2-6, Classes 3 - 12
February 6 Colburn Exercise #1 and Project Topics due (see pp. 18 & 22 )
Class 3 Class discussion of journal readings Lecture: Land-Water Interactions 1: The Hydrologic Cycle – overview and design issues - Revisiting the global water cycle - Site-specific components - Hydrologic cycle and water budget/water balance equation - Changes associated with urbanization/land changes/increases in impervious surface - Generalized design principles associated with hydrologic cycle
Background Readings, Class 3 Leopold 1994 or 1997, or Leopold and Langbein 1960 “A Primer on Water” http://eps.berkeley.edu/people/lunaleopold/(064)%20A%20Primer%20on%20Water.pdf Dunne and Leopold: Chapters 2 ( precipitation) and 8 (water balance) MA DEP Stormwater manual Chapter 2, water cycle. http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/laws/hydrol.pdf Optional Supplemental Reading: Allan: Chapter 1, pp. 1-12 (hydrologic cycle) Dingman (1994 or 2008 edition): Chapter 3, global water cycle
Class 4 Lecture and hands-on practice: Land-Water Interactions 2: Watersheds and their delineation
Background Readings, Class 4: 6 Dunne and Leopold: Chapter 14 (drainage basins)
February 13 Colburn Watershed delineation exercise due (see p. 20 )
Class 5 Lecture: Land-Water Interactions 3: The Hydrologic Cycle –Condensation, evapotranspiration, precipitation, interception, infiltration, soil water precipitation: • storm frequency and intensity • the “design storm” - interception - soils and soil water - evaporation and transpiration - the role of plants - plant-soil-water relationships
Background Readings, Class 5: Dunne and Leopold: Chapters 2 (precipitation), 3 (interception), 6 (soil water), and 8 (water balance)
Optional Supplemental Reading: Allan: Chapter 1, pp. 1-12 (hydrologic cycle) Dingman (1994 or 2008 edition): Chapter 3, global water cycle Pielou: Chapter 4 (soil water)
Class 6 Lecture: Land-Water Interactions 4: Hydrologic Cycle – Groundwater - Infiltration and its importance in site design and mitigation - Groundwater recharge, flow, and discharge; Darcy’s law; effects of land use and geology; piezometers; importance in site design and mitigation - Groundwater fluctuations and links to surface waters - Aquifers, monitoring wells, groundwater withdrawals, subsidence, saltwater intrusion Class discussion: Design and ecological implications of articles by Deacon et al. and Roach et al. on urban water supplies in desert areas
Background Readings, Class 6: Dunne and Leopold: Chapter 7 (groundwater) James L. Deacon et al., 2007. Fueling population growth in Las Vegas: How large-scale groundwater withdrawal could burn regional biodiversity. Bioscience 57(8): http://faculty.unlv.edu/wjsmith/smithtest/Deacon.pdf W. John Roach et al. 2008. Unintended consequences of urbanization for aquatic systems: a case study from the Arizona desert. Bioscience 58(8): 715-727.
Optional Supplemental Readings: Dingman (1994 or 2008 edition): Chapter 8, groundwater-surface water relations Pielou: Chapters 1-3 (water cycle, groundwater) MADEP Hydrology Manual: Chapter 8 (recharge) http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/laws/hydrol.pdf Freeze and Cherry: Chapters 1 and 6 (groundwater introduction and hydrology) Leopold 1994 or 1997, or Leopold and Langbein 1960 (water cycle and groundwater) 7 Mitsch and Gosselink: Chapter 4 (wetlands hydrology)
February 20 Colburn
Class 7 Lecture: Land-Water Interactions 5: Hydrologic Cycle – Runoff - surface runoff - stream hydrographs and runoff hydrographs base flow peak flow flow volume - factors influencing runoff - runoff in urban and disturbed vs. unaltered areas - design interventions for surface flows
Background Readings, Class 7: Dunne and Leopold: Chapter 9 and Chapter 10, pp. 279-305 (runoff hydrology) Hirschman and Kosco. 2008: Chapter 4. (stormwater approach and criteria -- stormwater manual) http://www.cwp.org/Resource_Library/Controlling_Runoff_and_Discharges/sm.htm MA DEP: Chapter 4 (and 5-7) (runoff) (hydrology manual) http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/laws/hydrol.pdf
Optional Supplemental Reading: Dunne and Leopold: Chapter 17 (sediment production and transport) Dingman: Chapter 9 (stream hydrographs)
Class 8 Hands-on practice: Land-Water Interactions 6: Hydrologic calculations. Determining infiltration rates, horizontal and vertical direction and rate of groundwater flows, runoff peak flows and volumes
Background Readings, Class 8: Dunne and Leopold: pp. 234-235, 251-254, 366-391 (hydrologic calculation exercises) MA DEP Appendix B (Rational method), Appendix C (TR-55 method) http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/laws/hydrol.pdf Handouts (You may also want to refer directly to pertinent sections of USDA NRCS 1986. Urban Hydrology for Small Watersheds – TR-55, hydrology manual, http://www.wsi.nrcs.usda.gov/products/w2q/H&H/Tools_Models/other/TR55.html )
Optional Supplemental Readings: MA DEP Appendix D (TR-20 method) http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/laws/hydrol.pdf
8 February 27 Dekker Quiz #1 Due
Class 9 Lecture: Land-Water Interactions 7: Hydrologic Cycle – Stormwater BMPs, low impact development, green designs - Stormwater BMPs, agricultural land management - Low Impact Development / Smart Growth - Green Infrastructure - Design of stormwater control and treatment systems
Background Readings, Class 9: Fujita, S. 1997. Measures to promote stormwater infiltration. Water, Science, and Technology 36(8-9): 289-293 MA DEP Hydrology manual http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/laws/hydrol.pdf US EPA. 2005. Using Smart Growth Techniques as Stormwater Best Management Practices. (manual available online) Wischmeier, W. H., and Smith, D. D. 1978. “Predicting Rainfall Erosion Losses: A Guide to Conservation Planning”. USDA Agriculture Handbook 537. U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service: Washington D. C. USEPA Green Infrastructure Implementation Manuals: http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/gi_design.cfm USEPA Water Quality Scorecard Methodology: USEPA Pub 231B09001: Water Quality Scorecard: Incorporating Green Infrastructure Practices at the Municipal, Neighborhood, and Site Scales. http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/2009_1208_wq_scorecard.pdf
Optional Supplemental Materials: Readings as desired in France 2002
Class 10 Lecture: Land-water Interactions 8: Green Design / Introduction to the Green Infrastructure Case Study - Design of stormwater control and treatment systems, cont’d - Background will be provided on the MacFarland Middle School neighborhood in Washington, DC, and opportunities for implementation of distributed stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) - Basic hydrologic calculations describing predevelopment hydrologic functions - Design calculations for BMPs that replicate predevelopment hydrology - Assign stormwater infrastructure design project
Background Readings, Class 10: Center for Watershed Protection and Chesapeake Stormwater Network: Runoff Reduction Method Technical Memo: http://www.cwp.org/documents/cat_view/76-stormwater-management-publications/95- runoff-reduction-method-technical-memo.html
9 Optional Supplemental Reading: EPA Stormwater Management BMP Manuals: http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/WATER.NSF/0/17090627a929f2a488256bdc007d8dee? OpenDocument
March 6 Dekker
Class 11 Land-Water Interactions 9: Class Presentations and Discussion of RiverSmart Project, green infrastructure recommendations for Washington D.C.
Class 12 Lecture: Land-Water Interactions 10: Streams in Disturbed Landscapes - urban hydrology - urban geomorphology - sediment load - flood risk and management - case studies
Background Readings, Class 12: Allan: Chapter 14 (altered stream systems) Dunne and Leopold: Chapters 9, 10 and 16. Thorne, Colin R., et al. Applied Fluvial Geomorphology for River Engineering and Management. New York: Wiley. Chapter 1. Hauer, F. Richard and Gary A. Lamberti, Methods in Stream Ecology, Second Edition. (Section A: Physical Processes) Margaret A. Palmer and 22 others. Standards for ecologically successful river restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology 42: 208-217. Michael J. Paul and Judy L. Meyer. 2001. Streams in the urban landscape. Annual Reviews in Ecology and Systematics 32: 333-365. Wagner et al.: Chapters 1, 2, 4 (urban streams and restoration) Walsh, CJ et al. 2005. Stream restoration in urban catchments through redesigning stormwater systems: looking to the catchment to save the stream. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc. 24(3): 690–705 Special issue on urban streams, J. of N. Amer. Benthological Society, December, 2009
Optional Supplemental Readings: Bedient and Huber, Hydrology and Floodplain Analysis (Chapter 6) Kondolf, G.M. 1997. Hungry water: effects of dams and river mining on river channels. Environmental Management 21, 533-551. Julien, P. 1998. Erosion and Sedimentation. Cambridge University Press: New York. Reisner, Marc. 1993. Cadillac Desert. New York: Penguin Books. Emily Bernhardt and 24 others. 2005. Synthesizing U.S. River Restoration Efforts. Science 308: 636-637.
10 Judith L. Meyer, Michael J. Paul, and W.K. Taulbee. 2003a. Small streams in large cities: neglected links in urban river networks. Judith L. Meyer, M.J. Paul and W.K. Taulbee. 2003b. Stream ecosystem function in urbanizing landscapes. J. of the North American Benthological Society 24:602-612. Pielou: Chapter 9 (dams, diversions, and reservoirs) David Dudgeon. 2000. The ecology of tropical Asian rivers and streams in relation to biodiversity conservation. Annual Reviews in Ecology and Systematics 31: 239-263 Marcus Sheaves, Nguyen Juu Duc, and Nguyen Xuan Khoa. 2008. Ecological attributes of a tropical river basin vulnerable to the impacts of clustered hydropower developments. Marine and Freshwater Research 59: 971-986 Singler and Grabler 2005 (road crossing manual, available online) Jiongxin Xu. 1993. A study of long term environmental effects of river regulation on the Yellow River of China in historical perspective. Geografiska Annaler 75A: 61-72
March 13 Colburn Short Exercise #3 Aquarium Visit due (see p. 21)
Class 13 Class discussion of Aquarium visit Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 1: Life in water - Microbes, plants, animals, communities - Producers and consumers - Food webs - Cycles
Background Readings, Class 13: Dunne and Leopold: Chapter 21 (stream biota and ecosystem health) Wagner et al: Chapter 2 (urban aquatic habitats introduction) (on reserve) Allan: Chapter 2, pp 36-43 (chemistry and biota); Chapter 3 (physical factors and biota) OR Cole: Chapters 3 and 4 (freshwater communities, ecosystems and energy flow)
Optional Supplemental Readings (see Supplemental Sources): Allan: Chapter 11 (ecological concepts) Caduto: Chapters 1 and 2 (character and behavior of water, freshwater ecology) Merritt and Cummins: Chapters 4-7 (aquatic insects: respiration, life history, ecology, use in biomonitoring) Voshell, pp. 17-76 (aquatic invertebrates, aquatic ecology) Warren: Chapters 4 (pollution biology), 6 (kinds of pollution), 7-9 (morphology and physiology of biota in relation to habitat variables)
Class 14 Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 2: Ecological fundamentals - Basic Habitat Requirements for Aquatic Life - Ecological Niche and Carrying Capacity - Landscape Context and Ecological Design for Aquatic Habitat Creation/Restoration
Background Readings, Class 14: Zedler, J. B. 2005. Ecological restoration: guidance from theory. San Francisco Estuary 11 and Watershed Science 3(2). http://escholarship.org/us/item/707064n0
* * * * * * * March 20 – No Classes, Spring Break * * * * * * *
March 27 Colburn
Class 15 Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 3: Ecosystem Services (1) Mangrove Wetlands (2) A Case Study from Puerto Rico - Ecosystem Services: municipal water supply, commercial and recreational fisheries, swimming, aesthetics, tourism, biodiversity, coastal fishery - Issues: dams, sedimentation, degraded water quality, barriers to migration of fish and shrimp, roads, landslides, headwater streams, leaf decomposition, altered carbon exports to coastal waters, rainfall patterns, urban heat island effect - Mitigation options and design opportunities
Background Readings, Class 15: Jewitt, Graham. 2002. Can integrated water resources management sustain the provision of ecosystem goods and services? Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 27: 887–895 Robin Kundis Craig. 2008. Justice Kennedy and ecosystem services: a functional approach to Clean Water Act jurisdiction after Rapanos. Environmental Law 38(3): 635-666 http://works.bepress.com/robin_craig/3 Robert Constanza et al., 1997. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387: 253-260. http://www.uvm.edu/giee/publications/Nature_Paper.pdf Ecological Society of America. 2000. Ecosystem Services. 2-page information sheet. http://www.esa.org/education_diversity/pdfDocs/ ecosystemservices .pdf
Optional Supplemental Reading: James G. March et al. 2003. Damming tropical streams: problems, solutions, and alternatives. Bioscience 53(11): 1069-1078.
Class 16 Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 4: Inland Wetlands - hydrology - soils and vegetation - ecosystem function and ecosystem services - inland wetland classification – Cowardin method, hydrogeomorphic (HGM) method, RAMSAR convention - forested wetlands and shrub swamps - peatlands - meadows and marshes - nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in wetland soils - wetlands management – wildlife habitat - ecological considerations in wetlands creation and restoration 12 Background Readings, Class 16: Caduto: Chapter 6 (wetlands) Cowardin et al. 1978. Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC. (skim) http:// www.charttiff.com/pub/ Wetland Maps/ Cowardin .pdf or http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/wetlands/classwet/index.htm Mitsch and Gosselink: Wetlands. Part I (wetlands science, definitions, types, and distributions)
Optional Supplemental Readings: Ehrenfeld, Joan G. 2000. Evaluating wetlands within an urban context. Urban Ecosystems 4: 69-85 Mitch and Gosselink: Parts II, IV Pielou: Chapter 10 (wetlands)
March 29 and 30 – Two-day Weekend Field Trip
Compare natural and created streams and vernal pools through biological sampling and habitat assessment; evaluate success of created sites; develop recommendations. Stay overnight at Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA
April 3 Colburn
Class 17 and 18 Aquatic Ecosystems 5. Wetland restoration. Field trip to wetland restoration site near Alewife (to be confirmed)
April 10 Colburn Mitigation recommendations from Field Trip Due
Class 19 Class discussion of Mitigation Recommendations for Field Trip Sites Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 6: Stream Ecosystems - drainage networks - stream profiles - instream habitats - overview of stream biota and their adaptation to current, substrate, seasonal cycles - characteristics and ecology of headwater streams - land-water interdependence; stream crossings - The River Continuum, Headwaters to the Sea - RiverWebs film
Background Readings, Class 19:
13 Judith Meyer et al. 2003. Where Rivers are Born: The Scientific Imperative for Defending Small Streams and Wetlands. American Rivers and Sierra Club. Massachusetts Stream Crossings Handbook. http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/reg/Riverways Program Stream Crossings Handbook.pdf Interagency Working Group: Stream Restoration Manual (in course iCommons website) (broadly scan major topics) Caduto: Chapter 5 (streams) (on reserve, Loeb library) Meyer, Judith and J. Bruce Wallace. 2001. Lost linkages and lotic ecology: rediscovering small streams. pp. 295-317 In: Malcolm C. Press, Nancy J. Huntly, and Simon Levin (Eds.) Ecology: Achievement and Challenge, Blackwell Science Publishers. (copy posted in course icommons site)
Optional Supplemental Readings: Cole: Chapter 7 (streams) Dunne and Leopold: Chapter 16 (stream channels) Allan: broad reading in chapters 4-13 (stream ecology) Pielou: Chapter 5 (streams)
Class 20 Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 7: Large River Systems and Floodplains; Urban Streams - headwaters to the sea – the lower reaches - annual cycles - river-floodplain interactions - dams - Danube River floodplain restoration case study - effects of urbanization on streams; case studies; some considerations for design and monitoring
Background Readings, Class 20: Peter B. Bayley. 1995. Understanding large river-floodplain systems. Bioscience 45(3): 153- 158. Michael E. McLain and Robert J. Naiman. 2008. Andean influences on the biogeochemistry and ecology of the Amazon River. Bioscience 58(4): 325-338. Eugene Turner and Nancy N. Rabelais. 2003. Linking landscape and water quality in the Mississippi River Basin for 200 years. Bioscience 53(6): 563-572.
Optional Supplemental Reading: Pielou: Chapter 6 (rivers at work)
April 17 Colburn
Class 21 Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 8: Lakes and Ponds - Lakes: definitions - origins and evolution - lake basins - ecosystem processes 14 - biota - light, temperature, oxygen - seasonal cycles - zones and biotic communities - ecosystem processes - land-water subsidies - watershed issues: water levels and erosion, pollution, eutrophication, aquatic “weeds” - watershed protection case study - ecosystem services - Ponds: farm ponds and aquaculture - pond creation and management
Background Readings, Class 21: Caduto: Chapter 3 (ponds); Chapter 4 (lakes) OR Cole: Çhapters 2 and 3 (lake habitats and biota); Pielou: Chapter 7 (lakes) Schueler, Tom and Jon Simpson. 2001. Why urban lakes are different. Urban Lake Management 3(4): 747-750
Optional Supplemental Reading: Additional articles on urban lake management from 2001 Urban Lake Symposium at http://www.cwp.org/Resource_Library/Special_Resource_Management/other.htm - 1 Readings as desired in Wetzel NZ Ministry for the Environment 2002: Lake Manager’s Handbook, Land-Water Interactions (skim for general sense of issues and topics) (manual available online) NRCS 2006. Farm Pond Ecosystems.
Class 22: Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 9: Coastal wetlands and near-shore marine waters - coastal landforms, waves, tides, and currents - salinity and freshwater-saltwater interfaces - salt marshes and their restoration - mangroves - beaches and mud flats - salt ponds, estuaries, and nearshore waters - coastal hypoxia - constructed wetlands for water quality protection
Background Readings, Class 22: Mitch and Gosselink: Part III Boesch, Donald F. Boesch et al. 2001. Chesapeake Bay Eutrophication: Scientific Understanding, Ecosystem Restoration, and Challenges for Agriculture. Journal of Environmental Quality 30: 303-320
Optional Supplemental Readings: Stout, J. P. 1984. The ecology of irregularly flooded salt marshes of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico: a community profile. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biol. Report 85(7.1)
15 Teal, J. M. 1986. The ecology of regularly flooded salt marshes of New England: a community profile. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 85(7.4). 61 pp. Zedler, J. B. 2005. Ecological restoration: guidance from theory. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science 3(2). http://escholarship.org/us/item/707064n0 Zedler, J. B. and J. C. Callaway. 1999. Tracking wetland restoration: Do mitigation sites follow desired trajectories. Restoration Ecology 7: 69-73. Zedler, J. B. and J. C. Callaway. 2000. Evaluating the progress of engineered tidal wetlands. Ecological Engineering 15: 211-225.
April 24 Colburn, Colburn and Dekker QUIZ #2 due
Class 23 Lecture: Aquatic Ecosystems 10: Additional Case Studies
Background readings, Class 3: To be determined
Class 24 Lecture: Pulling it all together: - Scale Considerations - Legal and Regulatory Issues - Restoration Opportunities - The Design Team - Revisiting major concepts - Course evaluations
May 10: Last Day to Turn in Term Papers
16 Textbook
The primary text resource for this course is Dunne and Leopold, Water in Environmental Planning. Published in 1978, this book remains the best available overall text presenting an overview of hydrology and water concepts as related to planning and design. It can be found new for just over $100, but used copies in good condition are available for $30-50. Readings in this book serve as background to many of the lectures in this course. The tables and technical examples included throughout the book will serve as valuable resources for any practicing design professional.
Readings
For each lecture topic, required background readings are listed below, along with optional supplemental readings that will provide additional background information. Those listed as Background Readings are intended to provide basic background to the lectures. Required readings are in Dunne and Leopold, a variety of texts that are on reserve in the Loeb Library, and in articles and other materials that are available online on the iCommons website or by clicking on the listed internet address.
In many cases, the background materials duplicate one another. The syllabus indicates when you can select which source (s) to read. You should familiarize yourself with the major texts and determine which ones are best for you in terms of the way they are written, their approach, and their level of detail.
Some of the reference sources are highly technical, while others are more general in scope. It is up to you to determine the level of detail that will be useful to you. Many of the assigned background readings will contain some materials that you will probably want to skim, to obtain a general understanding rather than develop a detailed technical expertise. We do not expect you to obtain an engineer’s or scientist’s knowledge of the details of climatological analyses, hydrogeological measurements, engineering formulas and calculations, taxonomy of aquatic biota, bioassessment methodologies, and other topics we will cover. You should become sufficiently familiar with basic concepts associated with all of these topics to be able (1) to explain them clearly and succinctly, and (2) to incorporate them into your thinking about specific land-use problems and design questions.
Some classes will include a discussion of a research paper, review, or case study pertinent to the current topic. Please read Discussion Readings before the class and be prepared with thoughts, questions, and insights to share with the rest of us. Discussions will generally be planned to take up about ½ hour of class time. Attendance and class participation will count for 10 percent of the course grade.
Optional Supplemental Readings will provide additional information that you may find of interest if you would like to learn more about a particular topic. These sources are also on reserve in the library or available online.
A bibliography listing all recommended and optional reference texts and papers, additional references, as well as technical manuals and websites of potential interest, is provided separately in a document titled “List of Resources for GSD 6333,” posted on the course icommons website.
17 Many of these materials are available online, and website addresses are listed for these. Listed journal articles are generally available online through the Harvard library system. The List of Resources also includes background information on journals, manuals, and websites that can serve as valuable resources for current and future work you may undertake involving water resources.
There are also many other books in the Harvard library system, as well as extensive resources available on-line, providing different perspectives and much more detailed information on the topics we are surveying as well as on other aspects of aquatic ecology, water resources management, hydrological analysis, and water-focused design issues.
Hands-on Exercises
There are no formal “labs” associated with this course, but we will spend one lecture period in delineating watershed boundaries and another carrying out some basic hydrologic analyses. Materials for these exercises will be provided as handouts in advance of class. There will also be a practical class design exercise developing stormwater BMPs for a neighborhood in Washington, DC, and the field trip will involve a hands-on mitigation project that will assess habitat and biota of forested temporary ponds and headwater streams, compare these with created urban waters, and develop mitigation recommendations for the urban sites (see p. 21).
Attendance and Class Discussions
Attendance and participation in class will account for 20 bonus points toward the final grade. Structured class discussions will include an overview of students’ findings for written exercise #1, on February 6 (see below), the urban stormwater design exercise, on March 6, the Aquarium visit, on March 13, and findings from the field trip, on April 10.
Short Assignments
You will be expected to submit three short (two-page) written exercises for this course. One involves summarizing major topics of scientific research in aquatic ecology in relation to landscape architecture/design; the second involves broadly delineating a watershed and identifying both the source areas and the ultimate receiving waters; and the third involves discussing a biological or ecological system of interest from the New England Aquarium.
The short exercises will be graded on content and presentation. Treat each of them as if it were a response to a client’s request for information. Grammar and spelling count. Collectively the exercises count toward 25 percent of the non-attendance portion of course evaluation.
Short Exercise #1. Overview of key research topics in aquatic ecology. (Due February 6) For this exercise, you will select two scientific journals that focus on water related research and briefly examine all of the articles in one-to-three recent issues (within the past five years) of each.
Journals: All students should read the December, 2009 issue of the journal Freshwater Science, (known at that time as Journal of the North American Benthological Society), a major international journal focusing on stream ecosystems. This issue includes a special section on urban streams, an article on global phosphorus export, and a variety of other articles.
18 In addition to December 2009, please choose one or two other issues of this journal, as well as one-to-three issues of one of the following journals:
Wetlands, Wetlands Ecology and Management, Marine and Freshwater Research, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. If you prefer, you may choose Biological Conservation, Restoration Ecology, or Ecological Management and Restoration as one of your journals, but note that these cover terrestrial as well as aquatic subjects, and you will therefore need to cover more issues to obtain a complement of at least six or seven articles that focus on water and aquatic systems.
(NOTE: I recommend that you steer clear of special issues focusing on a single major topic.)
Accessing journals: All listed journals are available through Harvard University Libraries. To access, go to http://lib.harvard.edu/, click on Search & Find and select e-journals at lower left of the drop-down menu. This will take you to Find e-journals, where you can type in keywords or journal titles. At some point you will be asked to type in your Harvard ID and password to obtain electronic access to the journals.
To access JNABS, on the HU Libraries “Find e-journals” page, select “Contains” and type in “Benthological; ” Journal of the North American Benthological Society [0887-3593] will appear. Select the BioOne option to access all issues from 2004 to present. Similarly use this page to access the other journal issues you wish to examine.
Assignment: Examine each article in the selected journals. You should read enough of each article to have a sense of the background justifying the research, the questions being asked, the results, and their broader implications – i.e., you will probably need to look at more than the title alone. Skimming the abstract may be sufficient, although you may find it useful – in some cases – and interesting to look at the introduction, and possibly the discussion, as well. The idea is to get a general sense of major research topics in aquatic ecology, rather than to conduct a detailed evaluation of each individual research study.
Prepare a written summary reviewing the articles you examined. In the written summary: identify the two journals, and the issues of each that you reviewed, and provide a succinct overview of the contents, as follows.
Your summary should not exceed two (2) pages. 1. Classify the papers into groups, each based on an overarching common theme or topic that you think is useful for the classification. Make a list of these major topics, and identify the number of papers in each group from Journal 1 and Journal 2. How would you characterize each journal in terms of its content? Are the papers in both journals similar in terms of the major questions and concepts, or do they differ? 2. For each thematic group of papers, discuss the major concepts and questions driving the research. How do these concepts and questions contribute to your understanding of aquatic ecology and land-water interactions? What application do they have to design and planning? Are certain topics more pertinent than others? 3. Do the research findings of any of the papers give you ideas or suggest things that should be considered by landscape architects, architects, and planners?
19 4. Do you have any thoughts of how to improve communication between aquatic ecologists and architecture/design professionals?
There will be a class discussion of your findings from the journal review on February 6.
Short Exercise #2. Watershed delineation (by hand) (Due February 13)
Choose your place of birth, a childhood home, a favorite vacation spot, or the Harvard Forest’s Fisher Museum in Petersham, MA, and determine the following things about the watershed. You will need a topographic map of the local area, or another map that shows the surrounding area with topographic details including land elevations and surface-water bodies. You will probably also need a larger map showing major rivers that flow to the ocean.
1. Identify the location, and show it on the map. 2. When water flows off the roof in rainstorms, what is the first water body to receive the surface flow? What path (approximately) does the roof water follow to get there? If the building is in an area with a subsurface stormwater conveyance network, can you tell where the storm drains take the water? Where would the water flow if there were no storm drains? On the map, show the receiving water body and the path the water takes from the house to the water body. 3. On the topographic map, outline the watershed of the water body identified in step 2, up to the point where the water from the roof enters (i.e., where did the water in the water body originate?) This will involve identifying high points on either side of the water body, and connecting them to delineate the watershed boundaries up to the head of the watershed. In the process of identifying high points and drawing connecting lines, you will probably need to draw arrows perpendicular to the topographic contours to figure out the direction(s) of water flow. NOTE: If the initial receiving water is a large, mainstem river, it will probably not be practicable for you to delineate the entire watershed. In this case, follow the river upstream until you reach the upper end of one headwater tributary, delineating the boundaries of the tributary stream. NOTE: In some cases a map showing the watershed of a large or moderately sized river is available online or thorugh NGOS or other sources. The purpose of this exercise is for you to figure out for yourself, without aid of a computer, the directions of water flow and the approximate boundaries of the drainage basin. 4. What is the final destination of the runoff leaving the roof? In other words, wWhere does water leaving the property ultimately discharge into the ocean (or a closed inland basin)? On the map (or a larger map, if necessary), show the path that the roof runoff takes from the building to the final receiving water.
Short Exercise #3. Visit to the NE Aquarium (Due March 13). Before March 13, visit the New England Aquarium and explore the exhibits. Spend some time looking at exhibits on freshwater habitats and their life, and exhibits on coastal wetlands and nearshore waters. For the written exercise, choose an organism or group of organisms, or a habitat or aquatic ecosystem of particular interest and describe ecological aspects, conservation issues associated with human activities, and any thoughts you have about potential design opportunities in relation to the study organism or ecosystem.
20 Quizzes
There will be two short take-home quizzes, designed to show you and us how well you understand major concepts, terms, and relationships discussed in the lectures and readings in the preceding weeks. The quizzes will be posted on the course website and will be due 4-10 days later, on February 21 and April 17. Each quiz will have 5-10 short-answer questions. The quizzes will be take-home, to allow those with difficulty writing in English adequate time to compose answers to the questions. You will be asked to sign a statement that you have not consulted the internet or other sources while completing the exam. The quizzes account for 1/6 of non-attendance course evaluation.
Stormwater BMP Design Exercise
Tim Dekker will go over the RiverSmart project in Washington, DC, in class, and will provide details on the stormwater BMP exercise at that time. The exercises accounts for 1/6 of non- attendance course evaluation.
Field Trip -and Mitigation Design Recommendations (March 29 and 30)
A field trip to Central Massachusetts is scheduled for Friday, March 29, and Saturday, March 30. If these dates do not work for members of the class, the field trip can be held on the following weekend, Friday-Saturday April 5-6, or Saturday-Sunday April 6-7. The main theme is comparison of relatively undisturbed aquatic habitats with created, urban habitats designed to replace natural waters lost to development of a new high school. The comparisons will be carried out through is hands-on ecological assessment of habitat quality and aquatic community integrity in vernal pools and headwater streams in an urban park in Worcester, MA, and in intact woodlands in Leominster and Petersham, MA. Our goal is to develop design recommendations for improving the ecological condition in the urban water bodies.
In the course of the trip, we will visit and sample aquatic life and habitat characteristics in relatively undisturbed vernal pools in a forested wildlife sanctuary in the city of Leominster, in a forest stream at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, and in some created vernal pools and a recently daylighted stream in a public park in the city of Worcester. The Worcester pools were actively created to replace vernal pool habitat lost due to construction of a new school in a forested city conservation area. The stream was daylighted to improve its ability to provide habitat for aquatic life. Field evaluation activities will include habitat assessment, biological sampling of aquatic organisms, calculation of ecological monitoring metrics, and graphing of results. Our comparative assessments will determine how well the created pools are meeting the stated goal of providing vernal pool habitat, and how well the daylighted stream compares to a (relatively) undisturbed stream. Based on the findings, the class will develop mitigation recommendations.
In addition to these comparisons, we will visit two forested wetlands and will examine soil cores in and adjacent to the wetlands to determine the boundary of the wetland (i.e., where soils are reduced vs. oxidized). We will stay overnight at the Harvard Forest in Petersham. The field trip and mitigation exercise count for 1/6 of the course grade.
21 Research Project/Paper
Each student will carry out a detailed investigation of a topic in land-water interactions/aquatic ecology that they find of interest. Each project should include aspects of aquatic ecology, land- water interactions, and design. A one-paragraph summary of the proposed topic is due February 6. The results of the investigation will be presented to the class in a 10-minute talk during the course of the semester. A final paper will be due not later than May 10 . An abstract summarizing the project content should be provided with your talk and final paper. The paper and talk account for 1/3 of the course grade.
Students are encouraged to turn in the paper earlier than the final deadline if possible, to allow me time to read the paper carefully and provide useful comments and feedback, as well as a thorough assessment for evaluation purposes.
Topics may fall into any of the following broad areas:
1. Aquatic Ecology – explore a concept (such as bioassessment of water quality, river continuum concept, land-water subsidies, others); a specific habitat or habitat type (e.g., large-river floodplains, mangrove wetlands, Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake, others); or an aquatic organism or group of organisms.
2. Design – redo a design problem you have worked on in the past, with new attention to implications for aquatic ecosystems and aquatic life, and to ways to reduce impacts. Current Studio projects are not eligible. Consider the watershed, aquatic resources, hydrology, water quality, habitat issues, design and BMPs, including problems with the initial design and specific solutions. NOTE: For students re-designing studio projects, the final paper should be accompanied by a copy of the original studio report, which will provide the background information. Your paper for this course should not duplicate the earlier work, and it should not present the background material that is found in the original studio presentation. Instead, it should present a brief overview of the problems that need to be addressed by the project, problems you have identified with your original design, your basis for making revisions, and the new solution(s).
3. Water and Planning – choose one of the case studies in Dunne and Leopold Chapter 1, bring the data up to date (i.e., what has happened between 1978 and the present time?), and add the ecological context. Alternatively, choose a specific problem that relates to water resources planning, research the problem, and discuss.
4. Other – research a problem in aquatic ecology, hydrology, society, and water-sensitive design that you find of interest.
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