Dr. Arsuffi: Hello everybody, I'm looking forward to your questions!

Dr. Arsuffi: It's not clear to me that there has actually been that kind of a study that put numbers of different species on different watersheds. In some respects, all of the different watersheds, rivers and streams and lakes, have biological components that make them unique and worth their study. The ones that I'm most familiar with in terms of biodiversity have to do with many of the springs in Texas. Right outside my window I'm looking at the San Marcus River, which is the second largest spring ecosystem west of the Mississippi River. And, to give you some sort of perspective of what I mean by the second largest spring system west of the Mississippi River, I'm originally from Ohio. And before I came to Texas, the springs that I was used to were little trickles that came out of the sides of hills, and we called those springs. The San Marcus springs, when it comes out of the aquifer, has an average flow rate of about 170 cubic feet per second. So, for most people, this spring comes out of the ground at about the size of a mid-sized river. These spring systems that I'm talking about, that occur throughout much of Texas, especially in the west, are very unique, and often have endemic floras and faunas. Species that are found no place else in the world. For example, the San Marcus springs has 6 species that are federally and state listed as endangered, or threatened with extinction. Many of the other spring systems that occur in Texas haven't been well studied in terms of their biodiversity.

Dr. Arsuffi: Yes, there are a few aquatic insects that if you find are good biological indicator of water quality. These are the stone flies, order plecoptera, some of the caddis flies, order trichoptera, and some of the may flies, order ephemeraptera. Now, unfortunately for those of us that live in Texas, the stone flies don't have a very common distribution as they do much further north; we don't have the species richness of stone flies. But if you find a stone fly, that's usually a good indication that you have good water quality.
Dr. Arsuffi: I guess on the flip side of the question of what are the good insect indicators, what are the bad insect indicators? Usually if you find lots of dipterans, different types of fly larvae, that's generally an indicator of poor water quality. However, you have to be careful. We are now finding out that many of the biological indicators of water quality were developed from north temperate states. Consequently, when we start looking at the fauna of Texas rivers, we find that some of the indicator species that are very common in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, and so forth, those groups are largely absent from many Texas rivers. And, they are absent from Texas rivers not because of pollution, but because of historical distribution considerations. And also, because of availability of different food types. One important food resource in streams and rivers is something called detritus. And detritus is the leaves that fall from the trees during Autumn, organic matter, twigs, reproductive structures of plants, and so forth. In northern streams, that is an important resource, and there is an entire fauna of caddis flies, stone flies, may flies, and other groups, that use this material as a food resource. However, because of the climate in Texas, and the physical characteristics of streams, we get a lot of flash flooding, and as a consequence, all of these potential food resources get swept downstream and are not available for aquatic insects. Consequently, many of the groups that people find as indicators in northern streams are not found in Texas streams.

Dr. Arsuffi: Oh, that's a short story and a long story. I grew up in northeastern Ohio, in the country. And, down the road from where I lived, there was a swamp that had a small stream that flowed through the swamp. I used to spend a lot of time playing in that stream. And during my childhood in the area where I grew, they did a lot of strip mining for coal all around my house. After they had mined the coal, they'd mine deep enough to get into the water table, and this was before there were environmental laws for strip mines to reclaim the land after they were through, and the holes they dug created lots of lakes. I remember spending much of my childhood stomping through the swamps, wading in the streams, and swimming in the strip mine lakes. So from a young age I had a tremendous appreciation and fascination with water.
Dr. Arsuffi: Then when I went to college, I had initially planned to be a wildlife biologist. But then I took a course in entomology, and there was a really good professor teaching that course. But I didn't like entomology very much, because at the time I was kind of immature, and I didn't think it was cool to walk around campus with a bug net and an insect collection box. Well, needless to say, we had a collection requirement for the class, which I largely ignored because I didn't want to look goofy, running around campus, collecting butterflies. Well, it just so happens that about the time that I started to get worried about my collection requirement, we got into the phase of the course where we talked about aquatic insects. Now, for some reason, collecting aquatic insects seemed OK to me. And, I was surprised that in all my youth and tromping around water I never knew aquatic insects existed, perhaps because they were so well camouflaged, and I didn't know what to look for. So anyway, at the end of November in Ohio, and early December, I was tromping around in the snow, breaking through ice, collecting aquatic insects that I used for my collection.
Dr. Arsuffi: And, it saved my grade. Shortly thereafter, the professor that taught the course sort of took me on, because my interest in aquatic insects, and invited me to go with him in the summer as a research assistant, to the University of Montana biological station at Flathead Lake. There I took a course in limnology, and that required a collection of aquatic invertebrates. In that course, we did lots of field trips at Glacier National Park, Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, and other interesting aquatic ecosystems. And after that, I knew I wanted to be an aquatic biologist.

Dr. Arsuffi: I don't have a lot of experience along those lines. Generally, when I taught biomonitoring in my classes, it's a natural tendency when you are picking bugs to pick out the big things, and ignore the smaller invertebrates and insects. And that's a common mistake even experienced aquatic biologists make.

Dr. Arsuffi: That's one of those answers... When I teach ecology, I tell students the most common answer in ecology is "It depends." So, students typically answer, pick up the answer to my questions, requires "It depends." And then I usually ask after that, "It depends," "On what?"
Dr. Arsuffi: So, does NAFTA have an impact on water quality? And I think the answer is clearly "Yes." And initially I think people would think that the impact would be negative. It is negative associated with increased transportation, which means increased vehicles, increased populations along NAFTA corridors, and with increased population, traffic and so forth; automatically you have increases in pollution. On the other hand, I think that with NAFTA, because of its high profile and economic impact, I also think that there is more awareness of pollution, and consequently, with the awareness, there is a recognition for need to do something about the pollution. I think for a long time waters along the borders between Mexico and the United States have been in a lot of stress associated with pollution, partly because of lack of regulations, partly because of lack of interest, and partly because of lack of monies to do something about it. So, on the positive side, I think that NAFTA being as high profile as it is, along with the negatives, has also some positives, in terms of public awareness and the need to do something about water quality, between the borders of the United States and Mexico.

Dr. Arsuffi: Boy, I'm not sure that I can answer in the affirmative to that question. Texas has a real problem in terms of water. And, here where I live, close to Austin, in San Antonio, where we have a region that the sole source of water is the Edwards Aquifer, and San Antonio is the largest city in the world, whose sole source of water is the aquifer. In some of my research, the problem we have is that as the population in this region grows, and your dependency on the aquifer grows, as that is your only source of water, it causes the aquifer to be depleted. Which means that the aquifer gets lower and lower and lower. So the springs that I talked about earlier, San Marcus Springs, Comal Springs, and many other springs, depend upon the aquifer for their flow.
Dr. Arsuffi: There has been much litigation over the Edwards Aquifer, until about six years ago, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act, and won the lawsuit, and this required the region to restrict pumping of the aquifer to protect federally endangered species. Now, the judge in that case was Judge Lucius Bunton. That was a landmark ruling for the state of Texas, to regulate groundwater pumping. And part of the problem Texas has, is we have this antiquated groundwater rule, it's called the Rule of Capture. And what the Rule of Capture means is that if you drill a well you can pump as much water out of that well as you want to. You have virtually unlimited pumping rights. Even if it causes your neighbor's wells to go dry, you still have the right of capture. This was based upon a ruling back in the early part of the century, in which the judge determined that underground water, and the way it works, this is a direct quote, that "underground water was mysterious and occult". Based upon this decision, because we didn't have an understanding of the way underwater systems worked, the judge was convinced that there was no way to prove that one person's pumping was causing another person's well to run dry.
Dr. Arsuffi: What Judge Bunton recognized was that Texas is an extremely large state. And, in some respects, I've heard him comment that it doesn't make sense for Texas to have uniform water rules that apply equally across the state of Texas. The point that he made was, if you go to West Texas, say, the town of El Paso, the average annual rainfall is about 7 inches a year. So West Texas is water-poor. If you go to East Texas, say around Beaumont, average rainfall is about 56 inches per year, so East Texas is water-rich. So, the problem with water in Texas, and actually, this is a problem throughout the United States and worldwide, is that we have an unequal distribution and abundance of water. And, because of this, especially as world population grows, and Texas population grows, and the United States population grows, there is going to be need to redistribute water.
Dr. Arsuffi: To go back to the original question, about interbasin water transfers, yes, there will be environmental impacts, and yes, we need to be concerned about the environmental impacts in the planning process. And to try to mitigate as much as possible these environmental impacts. Now, as far as interbasin transfers go, I think every region needs to do as much as possible to develop their own water resource supplies within that region. And, partly as a result of the Sierra Club lawsuit over the Endangered Species Act about six years ago, that shortly thereafter followed a drought in Texas, and the drought in Texas cost billions of dollars of economic losses, the Texas legislature a few years ago came up with Senate Bill Number 1, and the Number 1 is an indication of the high priority the legislature placed upon this law. The law had to do with dealing with Texas' water problems. So Texas was divided up into 16 regions. Each region was to have developed a drought management plan. And also, develop a water plan for the region for the next 50 years, which identifies ways of supplying water for the projected population increases for that region. And, in many of these water plans, interbasin transfers are components. So I think we will be dealing with interbasin transfers in the future, and these interbasin transfers need to be examined closely for their feasibility, which includes not only economic, but also environmental.

Dr. Arsuffi: I think there are several things that students can do to help preserve Texas rivers. Clearly, in terms of water quality, one of the first things that we need to have for Texas rivers is the water. And, so consequently, anybody that's looking at these various water plans usually a component of the environmental impact of various water plans is something called Minimum In-Stream Flow Requirements. And, I think it's pretty common knowledge that the more water you have generally, the less problems you have with water quality. So, with all of these various water plans, lots of these water plans require some sort of diversion of water. And what needs to be examined closely has to do with the question "How much water can we divert before we negatively impact the biological integrity of the rivers and streams we are drawing the water from?" So I think public awareness is an important thing, that students that are interested in preserving our rivers can be involved in. Understanding the biology and ecology of rivers, understanding the policy issues associated with water needs requires a sort of a mixed background, and a mixed education, so that informed decisions can be made.
Dr. Arsuffi: The other recommendation that I would make if you are interested in preserving Texas rivers, is joining or creating some kind of river appreciation group. There are many of these groups in town, we have a group called the San Marcus River foundation, and they are a small local organization of people interested in protecting the San Marcus River. They get involved in water permit issues, discharge issues, they help sponsor water quality monitors, they are involved in river clean-ups, and they are informed. Down the road, about thirty miles away, in the city of New Braunfels, they have an organization there called Friends for Rivers. And again, maybe the same kinds of things as the river foundation. So those are small local organizations that are very much interested, and keep very much aware and abreast of issues associated with their local rivers.
Dr. Arsuffi: In the state, at least in Texas, and many other states have these, there are various types of river watches. And Texas has Texas Watch. This is a network of statewide volunteers that are trained to monitor physical and chemical and biological characteristics of rivers throughout the state. They have an annual meeting, in which people talk about their rivers, they talk about collecting techniques, quality control, databases, data analyses. So we go from local, city type of organizations, to statewide organizations, and there are many national organizations that deal with rivers.
Dr. Arsuffi: One of the national organizations that I'm a member of is called the River Management Society. And, the other national organization that deals with rivers is called American Rivers. Both of these are outstanding national organizations that keep us apprised of what is happening with the nation's rivers and streams. American Rivers comes out with a list every year called "America's Ten Most Endangered Rivers." And both of these national organizations have web sites that, if you just type in the name in your browser, it should be able to locate those organizations. Once you get to their websites, they will have many links that will take you to other major websites that deal with rivers.

Dr. Arsuffi: I think you can use your data to make a difference in a couple of different ways. One way is if you are involved in something like Texas Watch, or some other statewide watch, that information can be put into their database, and compared with other rivers and streams. You can also take that data to some of your local authorities. Statewide, if you are in Texas, you can give it to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. They also have regulatory responsibility for impact in waterways.

Dr. Arsuffi: From what I have read about the oil spill along the Galapagos--and I'm like you, with response to the question, I only know what I have read--it seems that the direct impact of the oil spill was largely averted. However, with a spill of that magnitude, it's the long term indirect effects on the ecosystem that will take time to tell on how much damage was actually done.

Dr. Arsuffi: I don't know.

Dr. Arsuffi: Insects typically get their nutrient requirements from the food that they eat, so the impact of phosphorous pollution will not be direct, it will be indirect. Phosphorous, by increasing nutrient levels for algae, which increases the biomass of algae, that changes substrate conditions, so some aquatic insects that like, sort of, bare rocks, will lose habitat. Also, with algae-blooms, you have a change and a chance of die-offs of algae, that then uses up oxygen, which then can also impact aquatic insects that have low tolerances to low oxygen.

Dr. Arsuffi: That answer is, I guess, it depends! The rarest insect that I can say that I've found? One of the federally listed endangered species is called the Comal Springs Riffle Beetle. It has only been found in San Marcos Springs, and less than maybe a dozen individuals have been collected, and in Comal Springs. So I've collected the Comal Springs Riffle Beetle, as part of a study that we are doing to look at how changing aquifer levels affect spring flows, and subsequently affect endangered species. So the Comal Springs Riffle Beetle, from that perspective, is one of the rarest aquatic insects that I have collected.

Dr. Arsuffi: Yes. I really think global warming is something that the next generation of aquatic biologists needs to be aware of, and it is something that you can start thinking about now, because the impacts of global warming on water are many, varied, and significant.
Dr. Arsuffi: This is one of those things that is a classroom exercise I have students do. What happens to water, environmentally, if we have global warming? And then, if that happens, what are the impacts? I'll be brief now, and just cover a few of the big things. If we get global warming, some of the mid-level increases that I've seen, say about six degrees Fahrenheit. Well, water temperature follows air temperature. So we can expect water temperatures to increase. And consequently, we know, that warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen and that may make it hard for some aquatic invertebrates. Also, we have some species that have thermal requirements, so increased water temperatures may make some rivers uninhabitable to some species, and allow other species to spread to places that they never lived before.
Dr. Arsuffi: One of the major concerns, from an aquatic ecology perspective, has to do with spread of diseases. We've got a lot of diseases, horrible diseases, that are now largely restricted to tropical and sub-tropical regions. Diseases like malaria, schistosomiasis, filariasis--this is the one that causes elephantiasis, huge distortions of limbs. There is river blindness, yellow fever, sleeping sickness, and the list can go on.
Dr. Arsuffi: The point is, that all of the intermediate hosts for these parasitic human diseases are aquatic insects, or invertebrates. So, as water temperatures rise with global warming, then areas of the United States--and Texas would be one of the first--will have water temperatures that allow these intermediate aquatic insects that are hosts to these tropical diseases to spread. Some of the projections that I've seen, if global warming hits that six degrees Fahrenheit, hundreds of millions of people are at risk to these tropical diseases. So there may be a need in the future for aquatic biologists that understand aquatic insect ecology to control the intermediate hosts of these debilitating and deadly tropical diseases.

Dr. Arsuffi: I was just going to say I hope everybody takes the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate our rivers and streams and lakes, because I really believe that protection of rivers and streams and our waterways helps people to have an appreciation, a first-hand appreciation and understanding.