Linking land use, climate, and coastal ecosystems: a watershed perspective for a changing South Carolina coast
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Hill, Kevin Lloyd
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Abstract
South Carolina’s growing population has resulted in widespread changes in land use. Urbanized watersheds lead to increases in stormwater runoff and the transport of contaminants to downstream aquatic ecosystems. This data synthesis project explored long-term and large-scale environmental datasets to construct a history of habitat quality in South Carolina’s estuaries over the last 20 years. Previous studies in coastal South Carolina have demonstrated connections between developed watersheds and degraded, downstream aquatic habitats. Data on water quality, sediment contamination, and biological communities (macroinvertebrate infauna and nekton) were analyzed in relation to upstream watershed characteristics such as impervious surface cover along a gradient of development intensities. These relationships were further explored within the larger context of a changing climate. By linking spatially explicit temperature, precipitation, and landcover data with measures of habitat quality from 1999-2018, this project used past associations among these factors to predict impacts of projected changes in climate and development on coastal ecosystems. Understanding this climate-watershed connection will aid coastal managers in planning for future changes to coastal ecosystems and communities.