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COURSE INFO PROVIDER: SWSPCP Webinar
COURSE TITLE: Wetland water quality: Relationship with watershed land cover/ land-use, soils, and water inputs.

INSTRUCTORS Sindupa De Silva

COURSE DESCRIPTION Wetland water quality: Relationship with watershed land cover/ land-use, soils, and water inputs.
Presented by: Sindupa De Silva
11/17/2022
sd0131@mix.wvu.edu

ABSTRACT:

Wetlands are inherently invaluable ecosystems. Despite their values, they are still not comprehensively protected from degradation and loss - especially from watershed scale stressors. This is partially due to gaps in our understanding of how anthropogenic disturbance impacts wetlands. To help bridge this gap, we conducted a study to evaluate the relationships between watershed anthropogenic land cover/ land-use practices and wetland ecosystem health. We were interested in understanding how watershed scale land-use practices impacted wetland ecosystem health, and consequently their ability to perform functions and ecosystem services. We used GIS techniques to extract land-use data alongside other variables that connect wetlands to their contributing watersheds. In the field, we evaluated wetland ecosystem health using wetland water quality, macroinvertebrates, vegetation, and soils. For this webinar, we will be sharing preliminary results from our first year of water quality data collection. We analyzed different watershed land cover/ land-use areas, approximate water inputs, and soil characteristics with the representative wetland water quality data collected in the field. From these analyses, we observed several significant positive relationships between different land-use practices and water quality variables. The results of this project will help the state of West Virginia develop its own wetland water quality standards, and we hope that it will help in the collective efforts to eventually advance more comprehensive wetland protections.

BIO:

Sindupa De Silva is a Ph.D. student at West Virginia University working towards a doctorate in natural resource sciences. Currently, he is assessing wetlands across West Virginia to understand how watershed-scale anthropogenic land-use practices influence wetland ecosystem health and consequently their ability to perform their functions and ecosystem services. Prior to West Virginia University, Sindupa received a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation Biology (2014) and an M.S. in Environmental Science (2016) from Southeast Missouri State University. He also worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation (2014–2019) in several roles and across numerous aquatic ecosystems: from subterranean streams to the Mississippi River studying fish populations, habitat, and water quality. From Kandy, Sri Lanka; Sindupa aspires to conserve and protect freshwater ecosystems, through education, research, advocacy, and management recommendations, with an overall goal of sustaining clean and accessible freshwater resources.

Credit Points: 0.06

SYLLABUS/TOPICAL OUTLINE Topical Outline: 1) Intro: Bridging the gaps in knowledge of how anthropogenic disturbance may impact wetlands by evaluating the response of wetland ecosystem health to anthropogenic land cover/ land-use practices (10 min). 2) Research scope: Watershed scale land-use practices were studied to determine how they affect the associated wetland(s) health and ability to perform functions and ecosystem services (5 min). 3) Research Methods: GIS screening techniques and field collection of wetland water quality, macroinvertebrate, vegetation, and soils data (15 min). 4) Results: Significant relationships determined between land use and water quality (15 min). 5) Application: How the results of this study may guide regulatory standards for wetland water quality. 6) Questions and answers (15 min).

COURSE CONTACT

Louis Mantini
9225 CR49, Live Oak, FL, FL 32060
lfm@srwmd.org
P: 13866974891
F:

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