Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-29-2019
Abstract
Published by IOP Publishing Ltd. Excessive phosphorus (P) export to aquatic ecosystems can lead to impaired water quality. There is a growing interest among watershed managers in using restored wetlands to retain P from agricultural landscapes and improve water quality. We develop a novel framework for prioritizing wetland restoration at a regional scale. The framework uses an ecosystem service model and an optimization algorithm that maximizes P reduction for given levels of restoration cost. Applying our framework in the Lake Champlain Basin, we find that wetland restoration can reduce P export by 2.6% for a budget of $50 M and 5.1% for a budget of $200 M. Sensitivity analysis shows that using finer spatial resolution data for P sources results in twice the P reduction benefits at a similar cost by capturing hot-spots on the landscape. We identify 890 wetlands that occur in more than 75% of all optimal scenarios and represent priorities for restoration. Most of these wetlands are smaller than 7 ha with contributing area less than 100 ha and are located within 200 m of streams. Our approach provides a simple yet robust tool for targeting restoration efforts at regional scales and is readily adaptable to other restoration strategies.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights Information
© 2019 The Author(s).
Recommended Citation
Singh NK, Gourevitch JD, Wemple BC, Watson KB, Rizzo DM, Polasky S, Ricketts TH. Optimizing wetland restoration to improve water quality at a regional scale. Environmental Research Letters. 2019 May 29;14(6):064006.
DOI
10.1088/1748-9326/ab1827
Link to Article at Publisher Website
Included in
Climate Commons, Community Health Commons, Human Ecology Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Sustainability Commons