Streamside Forest Buffer Width Needed to Protect Stream Water Quality, Habitat, and Organisms: A Literature Review

摘要: This literature review addresses how wide a streamside forest buffer needs to be protect water quality, habitat, and biota for small streams (≤~100 km2 or ~5th order watershed) with focus on eight functions: (1) subsurface nitrate removal varied inversely flux sites >50 l/m/day (~40% avg base flow Chesapeake Bay) median efficiency was 55% (26-64%) buffers 40 m wide; (2) sediment trapping ~65 ~85% 10- 30-m buffer, respectively, based field experimentally loaded sites; (3) stream channel width significantly wider when bordered by ~25-m (relative no forest) additional widening ≥25 m; (4) meandering bank erosion were lower in but more studies are needed determine the effect of width; (5) temperature remained within 2°C levels fully forested watershed ≥20 m full protection against thermal change requires ≥30 m; (6) large woody debris (LWD) has been poorly studied we infer equal height mature trees (~30 m) can provide natural input levels; (7, 8) macroinvertebrate fish communities, their instream remain near semi-natural state buffered ≥30 m forest. Overall, physical, chemical, biological integrity streams.