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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
193
Linking embeddedness and macroinvertebrate health in two Southwest Ohio streams
Jon P. Kochersberger, G. Allen Burton Jr., K. Custer, K. Taulbee, P. Anderson, C. Cloran, and K. Simpson. Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, Dayton, OH 45435
The effect of sediment depositing within the interstitial spaces of stream substrate (embeddedness) on aquatic biota has been established, yet lacking is an effective in situ method of quantifying embeddedness over short time periods. The goal of this research was to develop a short-term embeddedness (EMB) quantification method that can be linked to benthic macroinvertebrate health. An in situ embeddedness chamber was developed to capture sediment deposited within the interstitial spaces of a uniformly sized substrate. Three exposure periods were evaluated (4, 7, and 14 days) on a small order and a medium order stream in Southwest Ohio using sediment accumulation and macroinvertebrate colonization as endpoints. Three treatment areas located downstream of the EMB chambers were established to assess benthic macroinvertebrate colonization rates by mimicking different levels of substrate disturbance by removing the embedded fine sediments. Embeddedness chamber results appear to show a correlation between newly deposited sediment and insect colonization rates. Increases in both sediment and insect colonization within the EMB chambers over the three sampling times show that the chambers had not reached the embeddedness equilibrium for the stream conditions at that time. Further exploration of effective in situ embeddedness quantification methods of stream habitats should be considered a necessary tool for use in stream assessments.
Web Page: embeddedness, in situ, sediment
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See more of The Nabs 56th Annual Meeting (25-28 May, 2008)
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See more of The Nabs 56th Annual Meeting (25-28 May, 2008)