Tuesday, May 27, 2008
195

Fine sediment tolerance in benthic macroinvertebrates of arizona

Patrice Spindler1, Jason Jones1, Meghan Smart1, Aiko Condon1, Kurt Ehrenberg1, John Woods1, Lin Lawson1, Lee Johnson1, and Amanda Kathleen Elrod2. (1) Water Quality Division, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, 1110 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007, (2) Biological Sciences, Clemson University, 132 Long Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634

Fine sediment in stream substrates is an important stressor on benthic macroinvertebrates. The loss of habitat and smothering effects of fine sediment trigger the loss of sensitive taxa and increase in tolerant taxa. While some researchers have conducted sediment bioindicator studies in the northwest and generally west-wide, there has been little research on southwestern desert streams. The objective of this analysis is to investigate the occurrence of macroinvertebrate taxa at different levels of sediment in desert and montane streams of Arizona to develop tolerance values that will aid our understanding of sediment impacts on benthic macroinvertebrates and aid in developing a stressor identification tool.


Web Page: sediment, macroinvertebrates, tolerance

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