The theme of SUSE7, “Grassroots to Greenways: Local Voices and Strengths Shaping the Future of Urban Waters”, will focus this year's symposium on place-based science and cooperative management of urban aquatic ecosystems. This vision will be realized through hands-on and interactive workshops that will give local and visiting attendees the opportunity to teach and learn about, and participate in, the management, community, and research challenges, and achievements, of the diverse urban aquatic ecosystems of San Juan.

Learn more about our exciting slate of workshops by expanding the titles below:
High impact events

High impact events

This will be a two-part event: (1) The morning will involve a short field-trip in collaboration with Alianza Rio Piedras to a local site where they have been involved in community engagement in response to a proposal to channelize the main stem of the river to prevent flooding. (2)The afternoon will include short (~15 min) talks from a panel of 4-5 speakers covering different types of high-impact events (e.g., hurricanes, drought, forest fires). The panel will be followed by an 'around the world' activity where participants will be broken into smaller groups that will travel between the different event types for discussions. The goal is to pull perspectives of the challenges and research questions surrounding high-impact events from around the world to produce a global overview of the unifying themes related to high-impact events.

Led by: Rebeca de Jesus (Louisiana State University) & Elli Papangelakis (McMaster University)
In collaboration with: Alianza Rio Piedras
Policy-Community Interface

Community-Policy interface

The Río Puerto Nuevo (Río Piedras) Channelization Project is a US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project that will reduce the risk of flooding against the 100-year to a densely developed area of San Jaun. The Río Puerto Nuevo Basin drains 24 square miles of a highly urbanized watershed. Rapid upstream runoff, inadequate channel capacity, constriction at bridges, and elimination of the floodplain by urbanization cause severe flooding. It includes nine discreet project segments that will be constructed between now and 2032.

The Project was formulated in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when there was less understanding of the river’s social and environmental functions. Alianza por la Cuenca del Rio Piedras (Alianza Rio Piedras, Alliance for the Piedras River Basin) has identified environmental And ecological concerns with the project as it is currently designed. They highlight current USACE policies that seek modern engineering with nature approaches to prevent single-purpose flood control projects. The Alianza has been filling in the gaps in the participatory process to provide the technical orientation and spaces where multiple communities can express their needs, wants, and solutions for flooding.

The goal of this workshop is to produce a policy-community interface guide/approach for multi-benefit river projects, using the Rio Piedras as a case study with presentations and discussion from USACE and Alianza Rio Piedras staff.  The morning session will include a short field-trip in collaboration with Alianza Rio Piedras to a local site where they have been involved in community engagement in response to the Rio Piedras Channelization Project. Upon return to the convention center, we will conduct breakout sessions where attendees will be asked to share their observations about the Project as well as opportunities and challenges to meeting the community needs and providing ecological integrity while reducing flood risk.

Led by: Brian Murphy (River Network) & Thomas Douthat (Louisiana State University)
In Collaboration with: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers & Alianza Rio Piedras
Caño Martín Peña Project - A Partnership to Deliver Community-based Science Results

Caño Martín Peña Project - A Partnership to Deliver Community-based Water Quality Results

The Caño Martín Peña (CMP) is a 3.75-mile-long tidal channel located in the heart of the San Juan Bay Estuary system which connects the San Juan Bay with the San Jose Lagoon. Once a navigable channel, it became increasingly sedimented and non-navigable over time. CMP is surrounded by eight communities that make up the Caño Martín Peña Special Planning District (District) and the Peninsula de Cantera, each with a distinct identity and set of priorities. The communities are challenged by an ongoing risk of flooding of their streets and homes, which is attributed to poor drainage at the CMP and overflow of storm and wastewater infrastructure. The key research question is to understand the degree of contamination of floodwaters, which will support the local government’s risk communication and mitigation decisions. The goal of this workshop is to provide a working example of how to study water contamination risk in recurring flooding events through a multi-organization collaboration.

In this workshop, attendees will learn about the development and implementation of the study based on partner’s input, along with a summary of research results regarding measurements of emerging contaminants, fecal indicator bacteria, and presence of waterborne pathogen in CMP floodwaters. The workshop will also include a discussion of the role of the community assisting water quality monitoring efforts, citizen science initiatives implemented through a high school’s environmental awareness program, Estudiantes Dispuestos a la Restauracion Ambiental (EDRA), and the monitoring initiative lead by University of Sagrado Corazon, a local university serving undergraduate students.

Participants in the workshop will meet at the Convention Center and then depart to the Buena Vista Santurce Community Center. Attendees should come prepared for a walking tour of the CMP (comfortable walking shoes and water bottles to stay hydrated) and plan to stay at the community center for presentations and interaction with project partners.  Upon return to the convention center, we will conduct breakout sessions where attendees will be asked to produce a framework identifying critical elements to develop similar collaborative research projects in their respective communities.     

Led by: Estrella Satiago-Perez (ENLACE) & Noemi Soto Nieves (Universidad del Sagrado Corazón)
In collaboration with: ENLACE
Long-term Studies of Urban Stream Fauna: Fish and Invertebrates of the Río Piedras

Long-term Studies of Urban Stream Fauna: Fish and Invertebrates of the Río Piedras

This is a field-based workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to learn about the standardized sampling methods that have been used for long-term studies of the fauna of an urban stream in Puerto Rico. On the workshop day, participants will travel to the El Señorial long-term study site where they will learn and practice fish and macroinvertebrate field sampling techniques and collect data that will contribute to long-term ecological studies of the fauna of the Río Piedras watershed in Puerto Rico. Participants will sample fishes with triple-pass backpack electrofishing and will sample macroinvertebrates with cores and surber samplers.                                                                                                                                                                                                             

The main objective and product of the synthesis day will be to build a network of long-term studies of urban fauna. First the results and products of the long-term studies from the Río Piedras will be examined and discussed. Next, participants will be invited to share their own results from similar studies that they have participated in or are aware of from other ecological contexts. Participants who would like to initiate new studies will be invited to share their ideas and propose sampling designs that are compatible with other studies that have been highlighted. Finally, a listserv or other means for communication of this network will be built and plans will be made to share results that could lead to synthesis products, like a publication.

Led by: Vamery Gonzalez-Hernandez (North Carolina State University) & Augustin Engman (University of Tennessee)
Ecosystem service tradeoffs in urban waters

Ecosystem service tradeoffs in urban waters

Lotic and lentic urban waterbodies – through interactions and interlinked functions – can provide multiple ecosystem services if properly managed. However, as the objectives of urban watershed management have grown over time from a singular focus on flood mitigation to a diverse range of goals (e.g., water quality, recreation, flow regime, biodiversity), so have the challenges associated with achieving multiple endpoints in complex networks. Due to space, design, funding, or ecological limitations it is questionable if certain co-benefits can be compatible within the same space. For example, a system designed to retain pollutants may cause disservices that directly impact wildlife (e.g., metal toxicity, disease or parasite burden); the installation of poorly-designed inline treatment wetlands may negatively impact biota adapted to lotic systems; and systems designed with the intent to capture greenhouse gases (likely with large amounts of vegetation) may be less useful for fishing or boating. While networks of constructed and remnant natural waterbodies may be viewed as novel ecosystems with no historic point of comparison, through a different lens they might be a return to historical morphology and function. This too raises important questions about how or if those historical baselines can be identified and whether they should always be the goal. Targeted studies can address these challenges, and this workshop will lay out a research agenda for understanding ecosystem service tradeoffs in urban waterbodies to maximize net benefits.


Led by: Andrew Mehring (University of Louisville), Krissy Hopkins (U.S. Geological Survey), & Seth Wenger (University of Georgia)
Deciphering Stream Energetics (Metabolism) in Human-Altered Watersheds

Deciphering Stream Energetics (Metabolism) in Human-Altered Watersheds

Watersheds are complex systems that provide important ecosystem services to diverse human and wildlife communities. The economic and societal importance of freshwater ecosystems—and their vulnerability to human stressors—is exemplified in streams that drain developed watersheds. Human and natural disturbance regimes alter stream processing of energy, carbon, nutrients, and contaminants. Measures of stream metabolism is a powerful method for assessing how stream ecosystems are responding to both opportunities and stressors unique to each watershed. In this workshop we will convene brainstorming sessions to set the foundation for a co-written review paper focused on stream metabolism in human-impacted watersheds, especially those with increased urban land-use (“urban streams”). Meeting participants will be welcome as co-authors. We aim to (a) identify unique energetic opportunities and stressors associated with urban streams, (b) common challenges and pitfalls associated with measuring metabolism in these systems, (c) key research gaps in our community’s understanding of energetics (metabolism) in urban streams, and, finally, (d) identify examples/opportunities for metabolism measures to advance watershed and ecosystem science, support management of these socioecological systems, and inform relevant water policies. We encourage a wide range of participants from those who generate estimates of metabolism (e.g., empirical field studies to process-based models) to current and aspiring “end users” of these estimates (e.g., ecologists to resource managers and policymakers).

Led by: Jonny Behrens (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Erin Hotchkiss (Virginia Tech), & Natalie Griffiths (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Macro-trash pathways and dynamics in urban waterways

Macro-trash pathways and dynamics in urban waterways

This workshop will bring SUSE participants together to develop questions and resources to better understand (and develop solutions to) the issue of urban trash that is visible to the naked eye and moves through waterways in complex forms and timescales. We will focus on the following 3 concepts:
  • Sources, transport, retention, and the biological and geomorphological consequences of macro-trash in urban streams
  • Effects of trash on the cultural value and human experience of urban streams, and
  • Review and analysis of global policy governing macro-trash in urban catchments, relative effectiveness, opportunities, and challenges
An anticipated outcome of this workshop is a collaboratively-written review paper on this topic.

Led by: Megan Fork (West Chester University), Mateo Scoggins  (River Network), Eugènia Martí Roca (Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes), & Frank Akamagwuna (University of Alabama)

SUSE7 Organizing Committee: