ARS | Publication request: A Combined Modeling Approach to Evaluate Water Quality Benefits of Riparian Buffers in the Jobos Bay Watershed

Submitted to: Aquatic Sciences - Research Across Boundaries
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 7, 2010
Publication Date: February 13, 2011
Citation: Williams, C.O., Lowrance, R.R., Williams, R.G., Williams, J., Dieppa, A., Sotomayor-Ramirez, D., Mas, E., Strickland, T.C., Hubbard, R.K., Bosch, D.D., Potter, T.L. 2011. A Combined Modeling Approach to Evaluate Water Quality Benefits of Riparian Buffers in the Jobos Bay Watershed [abstract]. Aquatic Sciences - Research Across Boundaries.

Technical Abstract: The Jobos Bay Watershed, located in south-central Puerto Rico, is a tropical Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) Special Emphasis Watershed. The purpose of CEAP is to quantify environmental benefits of conservation practices and includes field and watershed modeling. In Jobos Bay, the goal is to determine the environmental impacts of conservation practices, implemented by farmers on the uplands, on coastal and associated coral reef ecosystems. Cultivated fields, adjacent to the Mar Negro mangrove forest, were evaluated to determine the potential effectiveness of a three-zone riparan buffer on the quality of water transported to the bay. The modeling approach included the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) and Riparian Ecosystem Management Model (REMM). The APEX model was used to simulate conservation practices on the cultivated field and REMM was used to simulate site-specific conditions of the riparian buffer. Outputs of hydrologic and nutrient data from APEX were used as input for REMM to simulate hydrology and water quality. Benefits of the riparian buffer and its management were determined by comparing potential reductions in water quality outputs.