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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Athens, Georgia, 2003
in Restoration Ecology
The effects of bioengineered bank stabilization in urban streams
E.B. Sudduth and J.L. Meyer. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
The effectiveness of bioengineering, one of the most common forms of stream restoration, has not been adequately evaluated. A study of the physical and biological effects of these practices is needed to evaluate current restoration efforts and make recommendations for improvement. In a study of four urban stream sites that were restored through bioengineered bank stabilization 1 to 9 years ago, our preliminary results indicate that quantities of organic matter and abundance and species richness of bank and benthic macroinvertebrate communities at restored sites are not significantly different from those at an unrestored site and do not seem to be related to the time since restoration. In addition, values of these measures at the restored sites are significantly lower than at a reference site in an urban nature preserve.
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