Land Use ( & 7 )

Abstract As the human population grows to unprecedented levels reducing our impact on water resources is of utmost importance. The significance of our effect on freshwater becomes much greater as more people are relying more on safe, sustainable water therefore; we must try to understand every component of our ecosystems. With increases in human population nutrient loading has increased in our waterways through fertilizer runoff of agricultural lands and through waste water treatment facility stream enrichment. Nutrient enrichment has been studied more with excessive loading from agriculture and also untreated waste water, but the effects of nutrient loading from modern waste treatment facilities is lack luster. Our designed experiment tested the effect of external nutrient input into a stream on rate of leaf litter decomposition in two water systems. The study consisted of a single species of leaf, Populus balsamifera, we determined leaf breakdown rates using percent leaf mass remaining over the eight week study. Also measured was the biomass of macroinvertebrates relative to the mass of the cottonwood leaves at three weeks. Our results showed a 2x greater leaf litter decomposition rate on Bozeman creek than the East Gallatin below the water reclamation facility and 4x greater rate than the East Gallatin above the water reclamation facility. Macroinvertebrate shredder numbers were the highest at the

At the coast, scientists observed a massive expansion of the river mouth delta during the second year of dam removal. At that time, wave-breaking zone of the river mouth was moved over 200 m toward the offshore direction. During the second year of dam removal, detailed coastal surveys said that this expansion deposited about 2.2 million cubic meter (about 3.3 million tons) of sediment. Although most of the sediment was gravel and sand, a broad patch of mud was covered the seafloor from 0–2 km west of the river mouth. Researchers observed a secondary region of sand deposition in the place in 0–5 m water depths from about 1.5 km east of the river mouth. The sediment was 1–2 m thick, and it came from eastward transport of sediment which was deposited initially offshore of the river mouth (Warrick, 2015).

22. I have pondered what it would be like to live on my own, and without my parents or a sense of direction, after reading this novel I am more aware of the cost one must pay to isolate themselves from not only society, but their family as well. Being able to live off the land was satisfying to Chris and can be considered a great achievement, yet being alone for too long you can run yourself into trouble with no way out. This made me better understand Chris’s story and made me more receptive to the books overall impact.

The debate of climate driven or tectonic driven valley incision has many factors. Both suggestions provide relevant evidence to support the ideas. Climate driven valley incision indicates that the glacial-interglacial model dominates as the river progresses through cold and warm phases the erosion rates increase and decrease as it changes from each phases. Also changes to the sea level mean as it rises, the discharge of a river will change. Sea level rise as suggested by the IPCC 2014 report (Wong et al., 2014), has occurred from climatic changes and global warming which has caused glaciers to melt and 80% of global sea level rise has happened because of this. Erosional rates of incision can be controlled by factors such as temperature and precipitation which are controls of climate and

ReferencesAngelier, E. 2003. Ecology of streams and rivers. pp. 27-99. Science Publishers, EnfeildGiller, P.S., Malmqvist,B. 1998. The biology of streams and rivers. pp. 30-98. Oxford University Press, New York

Therefore, there is a trend in the number of species found in each stream type based on the riparian habitat. As the amount of organic pollution increased, there should have been a decrease in the species richness of the streams. Species richness also has an effect on the processing of leaf material. Less species richness due to organic pollution forces the litter breakdown to be dependent on microbial activity rather than shredders (Masese et al. 2014). In addition, microbial breakdown of leaf litter is accelerated by the presence of nutrients, which is high in agricultural streams (Masese et al. 2014). Therefore, the species richness of the agricultural stream should have been low and leaf processing would be controlled by bacteria. Although the agricultural stream had the highest species richness, the relative frequency of shredders was very low compared to the other functional feeding groups shown in Figure 3. Likewise, due to the organic pollution present in urban streams, it would be expected to have a low species richness and thus any leaf material would be processed by microbes as well. Furthermore, the forest stream should have had the highest species richness, which would in turn impact leaf processing by having the shredders drive leaf litter breakdown rather than microbes.

The patterns of biological diversity in rivers and streams among taxa vary on a spatial and temporal scale (Ligeiro et al. 2010; McGarvey and Terra 2015). Variations in stream ecology can be contributed to water quality, habitat, and history of disturbance (Lingeiro et al. 2010). Creeks and streams feed into rivers and other larger bodies of water, which provide food, water, and other commercial and recreational services as well as a home to an array of plants and animals which rely on clean water. The health of these smaller bodies of water can act as indicators for the health of the larger watershed.

Many countries and corporations are buying inexpensive land in foreign countries for the purpose of obtaining freshwater resources that have not been accessed before. This study was to determine land grabbing and freshwater rates. It found that the per capita volume often exceeded the requirements for balanced diet that provides food security and reduces malnourishment in grabbed countries. It also found rainwater and irrigation water are appropriated globally for crops and livestock in 90% of the grabbed land.

Gravel bed rivers are comprised of sediment particle sizes between 2-64mm, but may also include a degree of sand as high as 50% (Bunte and Abt 2001). This wide array of particle sizes can affect the rates of erosion, deposition, and overall morphology of a river. Understanding the rate and likelihood of these processes is crucial in comprehending contemporary river environments, their behaviour and surrounding ecology. Detailed characteristics and processes of gravel bed rivers is not well understood as there are considerable variabilities at the bar, reach and river scales (Rice and Church 2009). In an attempt to advance understanding of the processes and mechanisms involved, analysis of the sediment is required. To quantify the size and distribution of sediment in a river, a large sample set is needed in order to be fully representative of the area surveyed, but this is more complex in gravel bedded rivers than sand as distribution can be either heterogeneous or homogenous (Bunte and Abt 2001). Considering this, sampling methods must be chosen appropriately and in accordance of objectives of the study in order to gain data specific and useful enough to address them. This report aims to address the characterisation of grain size distribution of both the bar-scale and reach-scale of the River Ashop, in the Peak District. To do this, two methods have been utilised: Wolman sampling (1954), and advanced digital granulometry (Graham et al. 2005). Patterns and distribution

As already seen from the previous chapter, the private sector is involved heavily in the urban land market in Ghana albeit in real estate development and management. However, in recent years their operations have now spread to the provision of land titles. All the nine (9) companies interviewed, in addition to some

The term natural flow regime refers to the observation and measurement of a rivers flow over recent historical time, which describes the characteristic pattern of a rivers flow quantity, timing and variability (Richter et al., 1996; Poff et al., 1997). Flow regimes vary geographically through climate and catchment controls such as topography, geology, vegetation cover and network position (Poff et al., 1997; Poff & Zimmerman, 2010). There are five critical components of a flow regime including the magnitude, frequency, duration, timing and predictability, which regulate ecological process and are often used to characterise the full range of flows (Poff et al., 1997; Lytle & Poff, 2004). The channel formation, biotic responses and sediment transfers are determined by a rivers flow regime, due to the movement of water and sediment within the channel and through to its connecting floodplain wetlands (Poff et al., 1997; Kingsford, 2000).

Abstract: Ganga is the largest river of India, the most sacred river to the Hindus, more than 2500 kms in length is the third largest river by discharge. The condition of ganga river is deteriorating day by day. In Varanasi alone, around 2000 million litres of sewage is dumped into river ganga everyday. This paper displays the condition of River Ganga, the major factors that are responsible for its pollution, the various plans and actions that have been taken by the government to control this and their consequences and limitations. It also describes some of our own solutions in this regard like changing of crop pattern, better irrigation techniques, diversification and purification and pollution tax, which on implementation can play a vital role in cleaning the river.

India’s count of the Protected Area Network (PAN) has increased especially post the ‘Programme of Work on PAs by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’ in 2004, by a 15 percent. Almost all state owned forests and other important ecosystems which are outside the PAN were also under some kind of broad-based conservation planning. Fourteen more potential sites were considered to get designated as Biosphere Reserves. Apart from the Wetlands, Coral reefs and Mangrove Conservation areas, research and development activities are also being supported for their management. So far out of the 115 wetlands in India, 25 have been recognised as Ramsar sites and 6 more are being pushed forward in consideration for the same. Initiatives for Lake Conservation - the MoEF has been implementing the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) since 2001 for conservation of polluted and degraded urban/semi-urban lakes, leading 10 lake rejuvenation in terms of improvement in water quality and biodiversity. Forty two lakes in 12 states have been covered under the plan so far and also under River Conservation - a National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), launched by the MoEF in 1993 has been under implementation in 160 towns along the polluted stretches of 34 rivers spread over 20 states. Since Community Conserved Areas (CCA’s) and the Sacred Groves have been traditionally an important part of a community

Several activities in the river above are still performed until today such as bathing, MCK, swimming and soaking, washing livestock, and fishing. However, during the dry season the water in the river becomes very low tide. Even being a pool of stagnant water in the river located near the flood gate in the middle of the village. The river water flow near the flood gate is a stream that has been deflected to the left as on the right side the flows

At the closing of the 15th Congress, the National Land Use Act (NLUA) bill or SB 3091 reached second reading in the Senate before being stalled by a contention on the Maintenance and Operating Expenses and a request to study the bill anew. The current form of the bill is sponsored by Senators Escudero, Marcos Jr., Drilon, Honasan II, Cayetano, Estrada, and Legarda (Senate of the Philippines 2013, 94). It was not included in the agenda of the Senate during the last session day in spite of the President's certification of the urgency of the passing the Land Use Bill (Calica, 2013). The bill advocates for a comprehensive land planning authority and this has been lobbied since 1995 by farmer advocacy groups primarily to counter the aggressive expansion of industries into farmlands. But after two decades and twelve versions of the bill, a National Land Use Act has not been approved as a law (Senate Economic Planning Office, 2013). I believe that this is not just an issue of farmers versus the housing industry, as some have depicted the debate (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2013). Though they have been the most vocal, farmers are not the only ones affected. It concerns all of us, consumers of space, and specifically, ordinary home-owners. I am writing to defend the national land use bill from the point of view of the housing sector. They have been the most vocal against it or its present form, but I think that by exposing the