Using Submerged Aquatic Vegetation to Assess Riverfront Areas and Ecological Condition
Abstract
Current regulations dictating development on the banks of river systems found throughout Massachusetts are scientifically incomplete and result in unproductive arguments between landowners and local governments. According to the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and Rivers Protection Act, a 25-foot or 200-foot riverfront area (depending on the density of the surrounding municipality) is established to protect the critical habitat bordering these freshwater systems. While this law restricts development along the banks of streams and rivers within the riverfront area, not only is it still permissible to develop on that land if approved by a local Conservation Commission, but also there seems to be no scientific data supporting 25-foot or 200-foot areas as adequate barriers for development.In this study, I developed a procedure to rapidly assess the ecological condition of the Swift River in central Massachusetts by testing to determine if either submerged aquatic plant species richness or percent cover can act as an indicator of impact due to development in a riverfront area. Two locations in an undeveloped and developed section of the Swift River were sampled once in September and once in October using a one-square-meter quadrat and 15 randomized throws over 100-meter distance following the flow of the river. Comparing the undeveloped sample site to the developed ultimately revealed a statistical difference in the number of species present for both September and October, though there was no statistical difference in percent cover. This study acts as the first step in quantitatively addressing the riverfront areas outlined by the Rivers Protection Act and has a variety of future applications in furthering knowledge of freshwater systems in Massachusetts.
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