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Optimizing wetland restoration to improve water quality at a regional scale
Singh, Nitin K. Gourevitch, Jesse D. Wemple, Beverley C. Watson, Keri B. Rizzo, Donna M. Polasky, Stephen Ricketts, Taylor H.
Singh, Nitin K.
Gourevitch, Jesse D.
Wemple, Beverley C.
Watson, Keri B.
Rizzo, Donna M.
Polasky, Stephen
Ricketts, Taylor H.
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© 2019 The Author(s).
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10.1088/1748-9326/ab1827
Abstract
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.
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2019-05-29
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Ricketts2019e.pdf
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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.