Monday, June 4, 2007 - 3:15 PM
62

Consequences of changing land use in coastal South Carolina: effects on water quality in Lowcountry tidal creeks

Guy T. DiDonato1, Anne C. Blair1, A. Frederick Holland1, George Riekerk2, Brian Robinson3, Angela Rourk2, Denise M. Sanger4, Jill Stewart3, Brian Thompson3, and Robert Van Dolah2. (1) National Ocean Service, Hollings Marine Laboratory, 331 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC 29412, (2) South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, 217 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC 29412, (3) National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, 219 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC 29412, (4) South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, 287 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401

The human population of South Carolina’s coastal counties has increased over 30% since 1990, and this influx of people is predicted to continue well into the future. The population boom has been marked by the conversion of forested and agricultural watersheds to suburban and urban ones. The impact of these landscape changes on the water quality of tidal creeks in South Carolina was evaluated in winter and summer, 2005. Creeks from urban, suburban, and forested watersheds were sampled from the upper intertidal reaches down to the subtidal zone (i.e., along a longitudinal gradient) for hydrography, water chemistry, and pathogen indicators. Many parameters were significantly influenced by season and land use within the watershed. For example, mean dissolved oxygen was lowest in suburban watersheds in summer, whereas there was no effect of land use on mean DO during the winter. Tidal creek NOx levels increased with urbanization during both seasons; PO4 also showed a land use signal and was highest in suburban watersheds during summer. Pathogen indicators (e.g., fecal coliforms, Enterococcus, male-specific coliphages) were highest in urbanized watersheds regardless of season. These results demonstrate that changing land use alters the water quality of tidal creek ecosystems.

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