A strategy for optimizing catchment management actions to stressor–response relationships in freshwaters

Abstract

A myriad of management actions can be applied to reduce anthropogenic pressures on aquatic environments. Appropriate management actions, whether they be mitigations of contaminant transfer to receiving environments or interventions within the receiving environments to alter resilience to a contaminant, are those which are acceptable to stakeholders and cost-effective and which operate over desired time frames. The stressor–response relationship describes the change in ecological, social, or economic value of a receiving environment when impacted by a specific contaminant. Defining a receiving environment × value × contaminant system and determining a specific stressor–response relationship for that system provide valuable decision support strategy to optimize management actions toward a water quality objective. Here, we outline a potential method for using stressor–response relationships to help identify the most appropriate management actions for aquatic ecosystems. We use the example of a eutrophic lake to show how the method can be applied to any receiving environment × value × contaminant system.