Riparian Buffer Research Articles

Small stream predators rely heavily on terrestrial matter energy input in the fall, regardless of riparian buffer size

Stream ecosystems are reliant on the reciprocal exchange of terrestrial and aquatic energy subsides to maintain a productive and stable food web. Land use around streams can have strong effects on the size and availability of resource subsidies for stream and riparian predators such as fish and spiders. A common forestry technique around streams is the establishment of forested buffers to protect aquatic and riparian ecosystems from upland disturbances. Buffer size may determine prey abundance, richness, and spatial extent of prey reach into both the aquatic and terrestrial systems. To test the effects of forested buffers subsidy direction, we explored the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures of brown trout (Salmo trutta), Tetragnathidae and Lycosidae spiders, and their aquatic and terrestrial prey sources around twelve streams in southern Sweden. For both predator groups, buffer presence showed no effect on resource subsidy source. We found that both brown trout and spiders are significantly reliant on terrestrial sources of prey for their diets in the fall. To support the terrestrial subsidy into small streams it is vital to maintain ecologically functional riparian zones by conserving complex surrounding habitats that optimize habitat and both terrestrial and aquatic prey diversity.

Lake and Stream Buffer Zone Widths' Effects on Nutrient Export to Lake Rawapening, Central Java, Indonesia: A Simple Simulation Study

Lake ecosystems in Indonesia face serious environmental problems. One of those problems is eutrophication caused by excessive plant nutrients, particularly nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Water quality degradation and biodiversity loss are the effects of eutrophication. The government of Indonesia (GoI) has issued a regulation on determining lake and stream buffer zones, but it has not been fully implemented in the field. Additionally, the data related to the effects of each buffer zone width is not available. This study aims to begin to fill this gap. It simulates the effect of lake and stream buffer zone widths on nutrient export to Rawapening Lake. The Nutrient Retention sub-model, which is part of InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs) software, has been used for this research to analyse information from several data sources, including a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and measurements of soil depth, annual rainfall, land cover/use, watershed/sub-watershed boundaries, and biophysical conditions. Several studies of eutrophication in Rawapening Lake have measured the magnitude of eutrophication but have not discussed the effects of buffer zone widths. Therefore, this study accommodates the updated data on how much effect of buffer zone widths on the reduction of nutrient export. Five scenarios of buffer zone width are considered: 30 m., 90 m., and 150 m, where the lake buffer zone widths and the stream buffer zone width are 30 m. The results indicated that the maximum nutrient export reduction of lake buffer zones was only 2.63% (for N) and 3.56% (for P). On the other hand, the 30 m stream buffer zone width reduced the nutrient export to Rawapening Lake by up to 43.05% for N and by 44.90% for P. A 30 m combined lake and stream buffer zone width slightly increases the nutrient export reduction effectiveness, i.e., 0.41% and 0.56% for N and P, respectively.

Socio-Economic Feasibility for Implementation of Environmental Legislation along the Riparian Buffer Zones in Urban Rivers of Northern Tanzania

The development of socio-economic activities within the 60 m buffer zone has imposed change on the characteristics of rivers in northern Tanzania, subjecting rivers to collateral and irreversible damage due to their prolonged exposure to anthropic activities. Time series satellite images were classified to analyze land use/cover (LULC) changes and anthropic development along the buffer zone from 2000 to 2020. Structured questionnaires were used to identify the encroachment factors and level of compliance with alleged environmental legislation. Furthermore, focus group discussions were used to acquire information on the concurrent barriers to environmental legislation implementation. The land use/cover change along the buffer zone showed that agriculture and artificial areas had a credible increase of about 43% and 30% from 2000 to 2020, respectively. Furthermore, forest and semi-natural areas decreased by 71% from 2000 to 2020, whereas wetlands decreased by about 2% within the same timeframe. On the other hand, artificial and agricultural areas increased by 24.5% and 19.5%, respectively. Forest and semi-natural areas decreased by about 44%, whereas wetlands and water showed a flimsy increase from 2000 to 2020. This trend shows that high land use/cover changes occurred along the riparian buffer zone. The results suggest that urbanization is the main driving force for riparian buffer zone encroachment, threatening ecological well-being and water resource sustainability in urban rivers. The findings of this study are useful for advancing regional and national policies and practices for sustainable water resource management.

How wide, how much? A framework for quantifying the economic and ecological outcomes of altering riparian width on agricultural land

Creating and managing riparian buffer zones (RBZs) is regarded as a global best-practice management strategy for maintaining and improving waterway health. Agricultural land often utilises RBZs as highly productive pasture, exposing waterways to increased inputs of nutrients, pollutants, and sediment, in addition to reducing carbon sequestration and habitat for native flora and fauna. This project developed a novel approach to the application of multisystem ecological and economic quantification models to the property-scale, at low cost and high speed. We developed a state-of-the-art dynamic geospatial interface to communicate these outputs when switching from pasture to revegetated riparian zone via planned restoration efforts. The tool was developed using the regional conditions of a south-east Australian catchment as a case study but is designed to be adaptable around globally using equivalent model inputs. Ecological and economic outcomes were determined using existing methods, including an agricultural land suitability analysis to quantify primary production, an estimation of carbon sequestration using historic vegetation datasets and GIS software analysis to determine spatial costings of revegetation and fencing. Economic outcomes are presented in raw values of pasture produced and carbon sequestered, and fencing and revegetation costs can be easily altered for enhanced usability and interoperability. This tool can provide property-specific data for almost 16,000 properties in a catchment area of over 130,000 km2 and 19,600 km of river length. Our results indicated that current financial incentives for revegetation rarely cover the cost of giving up pasture, but these costs may be compensated by social and ecological outcomes achieved over time. This method provides a novel way of informing alternative management approaches, such as incremental revegetation plans and the selective harvesting of timber from RBZ. The model provides an innovative framework for improved RBZ management and can be used to inform property-specific responses and guide discussion among stakeholders.

Rehabilitation Strategy for Restoration of Riverbank Protection Function in the Merawu Watershed, Banjarnegara Regency

Riverbank is a buffer zone for the river ecosystem and the surrounding land. The significant land use changes and land cover reduction in the Merawu Watershed had put pressure on the riverbank and threatened the protection function sustainability. Thus, this study aims to 1) identify the riverbank’s ecological status, 2) identify its Protection Carrying Capacity (PCC), 3) determine the indicative location of rehabilitation, and 4) develop a rehabilitation strategy for restoring the riverbank protection function. The Riparian Quality Index (RQI) results indicated riverbank ecological degradation and deviation from natural conditions due to intensive tillage. The entire riverbank PCC status was poor due to less land cover in dryland agriculture and mixed dryland agriculture. Three indicative locations of rehabilitation were prioritized, i.e., Karangkobar (54.86 ha), Kalibening (41.21 ha), and Wanayasa Sub-districts (39.31 ha). Recommended riverbank rehabilitation strategies were 1) constructing bunds and bench terraces in sloping land, 2) implementing trees along the border (hedgerow) pattern and riparian buffer strips to increase land cover on cultivated riverbank lands, and 3) constructing gully plugs and retaining dams to strengthen riverbanks; using organic mulch; and planting the recommended species (Falcataria falcata, Artocarpus altilis, Dendrocalamus asper, and Gigantochloa apus) on degraded critical lands.

The seeds of ecological recovery in urbanization – Spatiotemporal evolution of ecological resiliency of Dianchi Lake Basin, China

As a result of years of monitoring the ecological resiliency of natural areas and cities, it has become clear that it is both important and often feasible to implement ecological and environmental restoration in conjunction with ongoing processes of landscape change development and urbanization. Ecological resiliency and spatiotemporal evolution studies can objectively reveal the resiliency of ecosystems to external disturbances. Ecological monitoring and assessment can also help planners understand regional ecological spatial differentiation patterns and provided data support for planning. In this paper we have analyzes quantitatively the interrelationships of ecological factors in Dianchi Lake Basin (DLB) over the past 30 years and explored the spatial and temporal dynamics of ecological resiliency. Based on remote sensing images and primary data in 1995, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2022, we used the center of gravity migration and kernel density analysis to explore the spatial and temporal changes of ecological resiliency. We built the overall resiliency evaluation system using entropy weight in the TOPSIS model, and finally simulate the future changes based on CA-Markov (CA-MC) model. The results show that from 1995 to 2022, the ecological resiliency of land use and vegetation cover in DLB decreased substantially. An important finding was that the ecological resiliency of riparian buffer zone and landscape pattern were generally increasing. The distribution of barycenter movement and kernel density of different levels of ecological resiliency differed significantly and showed fluctuating changes. The extreme low resiliency and extremely resilient areas shift to the northeast, the mildly resilient areas shift to the northwest, and the highly resilient areas shift to the southeast. The overall resiliency level of DLB is predicted to slowly increase from 2022 to 2030 by deduction of the CA-MC model. Our analysis suggests that the study of the evolution of regional ecological resiliency can provide a timely understanding of regional ecological evolution patterns and propose ecological protection strategies.

Scenario-based land use modeling for nutrient management in the Skaneateles Lake Watershed

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are becoming increasingly common in freshwater and coastal waters around the world. Eutrophication and the impairment of water quality due to the toxins produced by HABs are especially concerning for water bodies used as a drinking water supply. Freshwater systems are becoming more susceptible to HABs due to anthropogenic nutrient loading from nonpoint sources and from the influence of climate change, which results in increased water temperatures and precipitation. This paper focuses on Skaneateles Lake, one of New York's Finger Lakes that has recently begun to experience HABS. Here, we use the InVEST Nutrient Delivery Ratio (NDR) Model to demonstrate a novel approach to stakeholder engagement in assessing the potential impact of different land management options on annual nutrient loads. Through these stakeholder-informed scenarios, we find that the use of riparian buffers offers the most efficient pathway to reducing nutrient loading to the Lake.

Spatial Distribution of Flood Vulnerability in Langkat Regency, North Sumatera Province, Indonesia

Deforestation has a real impact on increasing the level of disaster risk, especially flooding. The real impact of the flood disaster is experienced by Langkat Regency community, North Sumatera Province, Indonesia. The impact of flooding is physical, social, economic, and environmental losses that are perceived directly by the community close to the disaster site. The objective of this study is to analyze the distribution of flood vulnerability levels in Langkat Regency, North Sumatera Province. Determination of the distribution of the flood vulnerability level area used spatial modeling with a scoring method with several variables, including rainfall, land slope, soil texture, land use, landform, and riparian buffers. The distribution of flood vulnerability areas is mostly at very low level with the percentage of the area reaching 53% of the Langkat Regency area. The three districts that have the widest high - very high flood vulnerability levels are Wampu District covering an area of 63,805.92 ha or 14.56%, of the total area of Langkat Regency, Pematang Jaya District covers 78,882.02 ha or 18.01% and Hinai District covers an area of 70,311.41 ha with or 16.05%. This study offers suggestions that the spatial distribution data of flood vulnerability level areas can be developed into an early warning system, for making rapid disaster response procedures.

Determining the main contributing factors to nutrient concentration in rivers in arid northwest China using partial least squares structural equation modeling

Understanding the main driving factors of oasis river nutrients in arid areas is important to identify the sources of water pollution and protect water resources. Twenty-seven sub-watersheds were selected in the lower oasis irrigated agricultural reaches of the Kaidu River watershed in arid Northwest China, divided into the site, riparian, and catchment buffer zones. Data on four sets of explanatory variables (topographic, soil, meteorological elements, and land use types) were collected. The relationships between explanatory variables and response variables (total phosphorus, TP and total nitrogen, TN) were analyzed by redundancy analysis (RDA). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to quantify the relationship between explanatory as well as response variables and fit the path relationship among factors. The results showed that there were significant differences in the TP and TN concentrations at each sampling point. The catchment buffer exhibited the best explanatory power of the relationship between explanatory and response variables based on PLS-SEM. The effects of various land use types, meteorological elements (ME), soil, and topography in the catchment buffer were responsible for 54.3% of TP changes and for 68.5% of TN changes. Land use types, ME and soil were the main factors driving TP and TN changes, accounting for 95.56% and 94.84% of the total effects, respectively. The study provides a reference for river nutrients management in arid oases with irrigated agriculture and a scientific and targeted basis to mitigate water pollution and eutrophication of rivers in arid lands.

Characterizing riparian vegetation and classifying riparian extent using airborne laser scanning data

Riparian areas are an integral component of the forest hydrologic system. However, systematic management and conservation of riparian vegetation remains a challenge when the extent and nature of riparian vegetation is not easily characterized. Thus, describing riparian vegetation structural attributes and mapping riparian extent is important for stream protection and restoration. This study discriminated riparian and upland vegetation zones in two watersheds on Vancouver Island, Canada, and characterized vegetation attributes ascribed to streamside forest vegetation using fine-scale airborne laser scanning (ALS) data with field-based measurements for controls. Comparison of ALS metrics for riparian and upland vegetation plots indicated metrics of canopy cover, height, and vertical canopy complexity were significantly different. Machine learning was used to model the probability of riparian and upland vegetation zone extent in each watershed and to determine which ALS metrics were the most important for discriminating between these two zones. Separate models were built for each watershed and results indicated that each watershed's model had different ALS metrics that were important for model development, reflecting the different management histories associated with each watershed. Models achieved overall classification accuracies of 65–77% using a 10-fold cross validation. Probability maps were then developed to characterize riparian extent, indicating that the majority of riparian areas in these watersheds were within 20 m of a stream. Additionally, riparian areas were found up to 200 m away from the stream, which is beyond the current provincial regulation widths set for riparian buffers in forested areas in British Columbia, Canada. However, the majority (roughly 75%) of vegetation within existing management buffers was riparian, although this differed by stream classification. We conclude that ALS data provides a potentially useful source of information for determining the characteristics and extent of riparian vegetation.

Drivers of Forested Riparian Microclimate on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State

Riparian zones have unique microclimates that support distinct assemblages of aquatic and terrestrial species, which in recent decades have resulted in a regulatory emphasis on riparian protections. However, an understanding of the drivers of riparian microclimate is still lacking. This study examined drivers of variability in summer air temperature and vapor pressure deficit in the riparian zones of 10 drainage basins (31 to 789 ha) on the western Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Model selection analysis was used to explore hypotheses about the influences of 3 types of drivers on microclimate: regional climate gradients, proximity to stream, and solar radiation. Proximity to stream had the strongest influence on microclimate; the air became warmer and drier with increasing distance from the stream and with increasing steepness of the stream valley slope. Basins at lower elevations (range = 28 to 362 m) had cooler, more humid microclimates, a pattern attributed to marine influence. Variation in microclimate was also associated with variation in solar exposure, modeled as a function of topography. Testing of canopy closure influence on microclimate was hindered by uniformly high canopy closure across the study area (87 to 98%) as a result of unmanaged, primarily second-growth stream buffers. Each of the microclimate drivers identified in this study was a function of topography, across a range of scales. By understanding these relationships between topographic variation and riparian microclimate, managers and researchers will be able to more accurately and efficiently delineate the extent of riparian microclimate influence.

Ecosystem services from partially harvested riparian buffers can offset biomass production costs

There is a broad consensus that riparian buffers provide environmental benefits and increase resilience to climate change. In this study, we examined the potential benefits of multi-zone riparian buffers with outer layers planted in perennial crops (i.e., partially harvested buffers). This was accomplished by developing a simplified regional modeling tool, BioVEST, which was applied in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA. Our analysis revealed that a substantial portion of variable costs to produce biomass for energy can potentially be offset by values provided by ecosystem services from partially harvested riparian buffers. Ecosystem services were monetized and found to represent a substantial fraction (median = ~42%) of variable crop production cost. Simulated water-quality improvements and carbon benefits generally occurred where buffer area was available, but hotspots occurred in different watersheds, suggesting potential trade-offs in decisions about buffer locations. A portion of buffers could be eligible for ecosystem service payments under US government incentive programs. Partially harvested buffers could represent a sustainable and climate-resilient part of multi-functional agricultural landscapes, and one that could become economically viable if farmers are able to reap the value of providing ecosystem services and if logistical challenges are resolved. Our results suggest that payments for ecosystem services can close the gap between what biorefineries are willing to pay and what landowners are willing to accept to grow and harvest perennials along streams.

Soil carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in permanent upslope pasture and downslope riparian buffers with varying vegetation

AbstractBackgroundRiparian buffers are primarily implemented for their water quality functions in agroecosystems. Their location in the agricultural landscape allows them to intercept and process pollutants from immediately adjacent agricultural land. Vegetated riparian buffers recycle soil organic matter, which elevates soil carbon (C), which upon processing, processes and releases carbon dioxide (CO2). The elevated soil C and seasonally anoxic environments associated with riparian buffers promote denitrification and fermentation, further increasing soil CO2 production.AimAgainst this context, a replicated plot‐scale experiment was established at North Wyke, UK, to measure the extent of soil CO2 emissions in permanent pasture served by grass, willow, and woodland riparian buffers, as well as a no‐buffer control.MethodsSoil CO2 was measured using the static chamber technique in conjunction with soil and environmental variables between June 2018 and February 2019.ResultsCumulative soil CO2 fluxes were in the descending order: woodland riparian buffer; 11,927.8 ± 1987.9 kg CO2 ha–1 > no‐buffer control; 11,101.3 ± 3700.4 kg CO2 ha–1 > grass riparian buffer; 10,826.4 ± 2551.8 kg CO2 ha–1 > upslope pasture; 10,554.6 ± 879.5 kg CO2 ha–1 > willow riparian buffer; 9294.9 ± 1549.2 5 kg CO2 ha–1. There was, however, no evidence of significant differences among all treatments of the current study.ConclusionsDespite the lack of significant differences, the results from our short‐term study show that the woodland riparian buffer had relatively larger soil CO2 emissions than the remainder of the other riparian buffers and the upslope pasture it serves. Our short‐term findings may be useful in developing soil CO2 mitigation strategies through careful selection of riparian buffer vegetation and may be useful in calibrating mechanistic models for simulating such emissions from similar agro systems.

Costs of Reducing Nutrients from Riparian Buffers in Western Maryland

AbstractWe estimate the economic cost of nutrient reductions from riparian buffers in two counties in western Maryland. The costs and gains for farmers are estimated for establishing riparian buffers under the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. For nutrient reductions, we utilize nitrogen and phosphorus mitigation loads from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model and own estimates from our synoptic studies. We show that costs of reducing nutrients vary based on buffer type, its location, and the nutrient pollutant. We also show that installing riparian buffers alongside existing forests could be a more cost-effective practice for reducing nitrogen than other riparian buffers.

Projecting the impacts of the bioeconomy on Nordic land use and freshwater quality and quantity – An overview

This paper synthesizes a five-year project (BIOWATER) that assessed the effects of a developing bioeconomy on Nordic freshwaters. We used a catchment perspective and combined several approaches: comparative analyses of long-term data sets from well-monitored catchments (agricultural, with forestry, and near pristine) across Fennoscandia, catchment biogeochemical modelling and ecosystem services assessment for integration. Various mitigation measures were also studied. Benchmark Shared Socio-economic Pathways were downscaled and articulated in dialogue with national stakeholder representatives leading to five Nordic Bioeconomy Pathways (NBPs) describing plausible but different trajectories of societal development towards 2050.These were then used for catchment modelling and ecosystem service assessment. Key findings from the work synthesized here are: (a) The monitoring results from 69 catchments demonstrate that agricultural lands exported an order of magnitude more nutrients than natural catchments (medians 44 vs 4 kg P km−2 y-1 and 1450 vs 139 kg N km−2 y-1) whilst forests were intermediate (7 kg P km−2 y-1 and 200 kg N km−2 y-1). (b) Our contrasting scenarios led to substantial differences in land use patterns, which affected river flow as well as nutrient loads in two of the four modelled catchments (Danish Odense Å and Norwegian Skuterud), but not in two others (Swedish catchment C6 and Finnish Simojoki). (c) Strongly contrasting scenarios (NBP1 maximizing resource circularity versus NBP5 maximizing short-term profit) were found to lead to similar monetary estimates of total societal benefits, though for different underlying reasons – a pattern similar across the six studied Nordic catchments. (d) The ecological status of small to medium sized rivers in agricultural landscapes benefitted greatly from an increase in riparian forest cover from 10 % to 60 %. Riparian buffer strips, constructed wetlands, rewetting of ditched peatlands, and similar nature-based solutions optimize natural biogeochemical processes and thus can help in mitigating negative impacts of intensified biomass removal on water quality.

Stream nitrate enrichment and increased light yet no algal response following forest harvest and experimental manipulation of headwater riparian zones.

Disturbances to forested watersheds often result in increases of nutrients and light to nearby streams. Such changes are generally expected to produce a shift to a more autotrophic aquatic ecosystem, with measurable increases in algae, and associated implications for food webs and fisheries. Although this paradigm is widely established, results from our 10-year study (2007-2016) in 12 headwater streams and four sites downstream in the Trask River Watershed (Oregon, USA), did not concur. In 2012, one watershed was thinned, three were clearcut harvested with variable buffers and three with uniform riparian buffers. After harvest, light to the stream surface significantly increased at the three watersheds with variable buffers while dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) significantly increased in all of the clearcut harvested streams. Despite the increase in DIN and light, algal standing stocks and chlorophyll a concentrations did not significantly increase. The common assumption of increased autotrophic responses in stream food webs following increases of nitrogen and light was not supported here. We postulate the co-limitation of nutrients, driven by low phosphorus concentrations, which unlike DIN did not increase post-harvest, and the characteristics of the algal community, which were dominated by low light adapted diatoms rather than green algae, contributed to our findings of no responses for standing stocks of epilithic algae or concentrations of chlorophyll a. The inclusion of multiple statistical analyses provided more certainty around our findings. This study documents responses to current forest practices and provides cautionary information for management and restoration activities aiming to increase fish abundance and standing stocks by opening riparian canopies and adding nutrients.

Aquifer recharge capacity assessment of an anthropogenically impacted wetland by the DC resistivity geophysical method

Population growth and social and economic development demand increasing volumes of water for public supply, especially in scenarios where surface sources such as rivers may not meet the basic demands for the population. In southeastern Brazil, with emphasis on the Piracicaba region, there is a conflict over water use regarding agricultural and industrial activities, where the sugar-alcohol sector is widely highlighted. The region has thousands of hectares of sugarcane cultivated, which requires intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides, in addition to the need for large volumes of water in the production of sugar and ethanol, where the main effluent produced is represented by vinasse, used as fertilizer complement and soil hydration in sugarcane fields. This work presents the results of a geophysical diagnosis in a closed wetland, located in a sugarcane field region, to evaluate the hydrogeological function of this environment in aquifer recharge and the risks that land use can cause in the quality and availability of surface and underground water resources. The geophysical survey consisted of nine lines of electrical resistivity tomography in Schlumberger arrangement, submitted to 2D processing and inversion followed by interpolation and generation of 3D visualization models. The results indicate a direct connection between water accumulated in the wetland and the aquifer underneath, separated by an aquitard interface about 44 m thickness. The study points out to the high vulnerability to the input of pesticides and vinasse effluent from the surrounding sugarcane fields to the interior of the wetland, given the absence of riparian forest or buffer zone, in addition to the risk of contamination of surface and groundwater. Understanding the local hydrological dynamics should subsidize the sustainable use of the soil providing preservation of water resources, with emphasis on aquifers, a source of increasing importance in the face of the imminent scarcity of surface resources.

Variations of methane fluxes and methane microbial community composition with soil depth in the riparian buffer zone of a sponge city park

Riparian buffers benefit both natural and man-made ecosystems by preventing soil erosion, retaining soil nutrients, and filtering pollutants. Nevertheless, the relationship between vertical methane fluxes, soil carbon, and methane microbial communities in riparian buffers remains unclear. This study examined vertical methane fluxes, soil carbon, and methane microbial communities in three different soil depths (0–5 cm, 5–10 cm, and 10–15 cm) within a riparian buffer of a Sponge City Park for one year. Structural equation model (SEM) results demonstrated that vertical methane fluxes varied with soil depths (λ = −0.37) and were primarily regulated by methanogenic community structure (λ = 0.78). Notably, mathematical regression results proposed that mcrA/pmoA ratio (R2 = 0.8) and methanogenic alpha diversity/methanotrophic alpha diversity ratio (R2 = 0.8) could serve as valid predictors of vertical variation in methane fluxes in the riparian buffer of urban river. These findings suggest that vertical variation of methane fluxes in riparian buffer soils is mainly influenced by carbon inputs and methane microbial abundance and community diversity. The study's results quantitatively the relationship between methane fluxes in riparian buffer soils and abiotic and biotic factors in the vertical direction, therefore contributing to the further development of mathematical models of soil methane emissions.

Mowers versus growers: Riparian buffer management in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA

AbstractDespite long‐standing knowledge of the benefits of riparian buffers for mitigating nonpoint source pollution, many streams are unprotected by buffers. Even landowners who understand ecological values of buffers mow riparian vegetation to the streambank. Do trends in rural riparian conditions reflect the development of riparian forest science? What motivates residential riparian management actions? Using high‐resolution orthoimagery, we quantified riparian conditions and trends between 1998 and 2015 in the rural upper Little Tennessee River basin in Macon County, North Carolina and explored how landowners view riparian zone management and riparian restoration programs. Buffer composition in 2015 was as follows: no buffer (32.5%), narrow (19.3%), forested (26.7%), shrub (7.2%), and intermediate (7.0%). Relative to 1998, the greatest decrease occurred in the no buffer class (−17.7%, 46 km) and the largest increases occurred in the shrub (+72.5%, 20 km) and narrow (12.6%, 14 km) classes. Forested buffer marginally increased. Semi‐structured interview data suggest that landowners prioritize recreational and scenic aspects of riparian buffers over ecological functions such as filtration and bank stabilization. Riparian restoration programs might be made more enticing to non‐adopters if outreach language appealed to landowner priorities, design elements demonstrated intentional management, and program managers highlighted areas where ecological goals and landowner values align.

A Stream-Aware MPQUIC Scheduler for HTTP Traffic in Mobile Networks

A QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) protocol is designed to improve Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) traffic and carries a non-negligible portion of the traffic in the current Internet. As its extension, Multipath QUIC (MPQUIC) provides higher bandwidth and smoother network handover by using multiple network interfaces simultaneously. However, to improve HTTP traffic, there are still some issues not yet carefully addressed in the existing MPQUIC, and packet scheduling is a vital one among the issues. Specifically, existing methods fail to respond to the stream prioritization of HTTP Version 2 (HTTP/2), leading to unsatisfying web page load performance. Besides, managing asymmetric and dynamic network paths is also a challenging issue, which may result in Head-of-Line (HoL) blocking and excessive buffer usage if not effectively handled. In this paper, we present a stream-aware per-packet scheduler, HoL Blocking Eliminating Scheduler (HBES), to improve the performance of MPQUIC in mobile networks. Firstly, HBES provides a fair allocation of aggregated bandwidth for different streams based on their priority. Then, it keeps stream data arriving at the receiver in order by estimating packet arrival time to mitigate HoL blocking and excessive buffer usage. We implement HBES and evaluate its performance in various network scenarios. Experimental results verify the superiority of HBES in reducing stream completion time and buffer occupation over those existing MPQUIC schedulers.