Wednesday, June 6, 2007 - 3:45 PM
327

Are plant beds in streams hot spots for invertebrate abundance, biomass and diversity?

Michael P. Shupryt and Robert S. Stelzer. Biology and Microbiology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 800 Algoma blvd, Oshkosh, WI 54901

Although there is a growing understanding of the role of plant beds in lotic ecosystems, the importance of aquatic macrophytes to diversity and productivity of macroinvertebrate communities in streams is largely unknown.  We assessed the role of macrophyte beds in shaping invertebrate communities across seasons by measuring abundance, biomass, and diversity of macroinvertebrates in plant beds and sand/gravel habitats from March to November of 2006 in the West Brach of the White River, a Central Wisconsin Sand Plain stream.  We hypothesized that abundance, biomass, and diversity of aquatic invertebrates will be greater in plant beds than in sand/gravel habitats.  Preliminary results show that plant beds have similar diversity (1.51 to 1.33 Shannon-Weiner index), 5x higher average invertebrate abundance (3946 to 828 individuals/m2) and a 3.5x higher average invertebrate biomass (2209 to 590 mg dry mass/m2) than sand/gravel habitats. Although macrophytes make up a much smaller percentage of the total habitat area than sand/gravel habitats (18% vs. 58% in summer), macrophytes have similar total invertebrate biomass and 1.5x higher invertebrate abundance at the whole reach scale.   Our results suggest that plant beds in sand plain streams are hot spots for invertebrate abundance and biomass but not diversity.

See more of Community Ecology II
See more of Contributed Sessions

See more of The NABS 55th Annual Meeting