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Relationships between borders, management agencies, and the likelihood of watershed impairment.

ABSTRACT: In the United States, the Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes water quality standards important for maintaining healthy freshwater ecosystems. Within the CWA framework, states define their own water quality criteria, leading to a potential fragmentation of standards between states. This fragmentation can influence the management of shared water resources and produce spillover effects of pollutants crossing state lines and other political boundaries. We used numerical simulations to test the null prediction of no difference in impairment between watersheds that cross political boundaries (i.e. state lines, national or coastal borders, hereafter termed "transboundary") and watersheds that cross no boundaries (hereafter "internal"). We found that transboundary watersheds are more likely to be impaired than internal watersheds. Further, we examined possible causes for this relationship based on both geographic and sociopolitical drivers. Though geographic variables such as human-modified land cover and the amount of upstream catchment area are associated with watershed impairment, the number and type of agencies managing land within a watershed better explained the different impairment levels between transboundary and internal watersheds. Watersheds primarily consisting of public lands are less impaired than watersheds consisting of private lands. Similarly, watersheds primarily managed by federal agencies are less impaired than state-managed watersheds. Our results highlight the importance of considering Integrated Watershed Management strategies for water resources within a fragmented policy framework.

SUBMITTER: Epperly J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6157817 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Relationships between borders, management agencies, and the likelihood of watershed impairment.

Epperly Josh J Witt Andrew A Haight Jeffrey J Washko Susan S Atwood Trisha B TB Brahney Janice J Brothers Soren S Hammill Edd E

PloS one 20180920 9

In the United States, the Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes water quality standards important for maintaining healthy freshwater ecosystems. Within the CWA framework, states define their own water quality criteria, leading to a potential fragmentation of standards between states. This fragmentation can influence the management of shared water resources and produce spillover effects of pollutants crossing state lines and other political boundaries. We used numerical simulations to test the null p ...[more]

PMID: 30235270

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Project description:BackgroundAssociations of low lung function with features of poor cardio-metabolic health have been reported. It is, however, unclear whether these co-morbidities reflect causal associations, shared genetic heritability or are confounded by environmental factors.MethodsWe performed three analyses: (1) cardio-metabolic health to lung function association tests in Northern Finland Birth cohort 1966, (2) cross-trait linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) to compare genetic backgrounds and (3) Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis to assess the causal effect of cardio-metabolic traits and disease on lung function, and vice versa (bidirectional MR). Genetic associations were obtained from the UK Biobank data or published large-scale genome-wide association studies (N > 82,000).ResultsWe observed a negative genetic correlation between lung function and cardio-metabolic traits and diseases. In Mendelian Randomisation analysis (MR), we found associations between type 2 diabetes (T2D) instruments and forced vital capacity (FVC) as well as FEV1/FVC. Body mass index (BMI) instruments were associated to all lung function traits and C-reactive protein (CRP) instruments to FVC. These genetic associations provide evidence for a causal effect of cardio-metabolic traits on lung function. Multivariable MR suggested independence of these causal effects from other tested cardio-metabolic traits and diseases. Analysis of lung function specific SNPs revealed a potential causal effect of FEV1/FVC on blood pressure.ConclusionsThe present study overcomes many limitations of observational studies by using Mendelian Randomisation. We provide evidence for an independent causal effect of T2D, CRP and BMI on lung function with some of the T2D effect on lung function being attributed to inflammatory mechanisms. Furthermore, this analysis suggests a potential causal effect of FEV1/FVC on blood pressure. Our detailed analysis of the interplay between cardio-metabolic traits and impaired lung function provides the opportunity to improve the quality of existing intervention strategies.

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Relationships between borders, management agencies, and the likelihood of watershed impairment.

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Relationships between borders, management agencies, and the likelihood of watershed impairment.

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