Abstract
Current aquatic ecosystem assessment methods and tools often focus on physical, chemical, and biological indicators of ecosystem health. This approach to ecosystem assessment is not always straightforward to execute in urban environments and ignores potential connectivity between social and environmental outcomes. During a workshop at the Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology in Brisbane, Australia in 2023 (SUSE6), we developed an approach to urban aquatic ecosystem assessment that incorporates a holistic perspective. Specifically, our approach considers both environmental (biological, chemical, and physical integrity) and social (community connection, human safety, resource use) values of urban waterways. This approach is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives, such as the concept of reciprocity, whereby consideration of both the environment and society leads to a healthy ecosystem. To highlight how this holistic assessment approach could be used, we present real-world examples that included assessing both environmental and societal values informed by reciprocity or balanced perspectives. This approach can be broadly applied and adapted to specific aquatic ecosystem conditions and projects, providing an inclusive, community-centered approach for assessing the health of waterways in urban environments.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 633-659 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Freshwater Science |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2025 |
Funding
We acknowledge the SUSE6 participants who worked to create the initial list of values that guided the development of this paper: Aditi Bhaskar, Sergio Bonilla, Issie Barrett, Natalie Griffiths, Genevieve Hehir, Vinitha Nanjappa, Shayenna Nolan, Belinda Margetts, Eugènia Martí, Allison Roy, Ruth Shear, and Tāne Tāmati. We would like to thank each and every one of the attendees who fueled these conversations. Dr Mary Poteet (University of Texas at Austin) and Rebecca Lave (Indiana University, Bloomington) both provided thorough and productive external peer review of the manuscript. Staff from Dairy New Zealand provided additional peer review of the whole manuscript, and the Christchurch City Council provided information and review of the Cashmere Stream example. NAG was supported by the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research Program. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the DOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. Furthermore, we would like to offer our deepest gratitude and appreciation for the memory of a fellow SUSE member, José “Tosty” Sánchez-Ruiz, who sadly passed away during the writing of this manuscript. His enthusiasm and passion for freshwater science will not be forgotten. The SFS Endowed Publication Fund paid some of the publication costs of this paper ( https://freshwater-science.org/publications/endowed-publication-fund ). Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the United States Government. BIM and RIS each received a grant from the Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology to attend the Brisbane meeting (SUSE6). Notice: This manuscript has been coauthored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the DOE. The United States government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States government purposes. The DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://www.energy.gov/doe-public-access-plan ).