| |
Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Athens, Georgia, 2003
in Restoration Ecology
Changes in snag-dwelling invertebrate communities in response to the restoration of flow, Kissimmee River, Florida
M.R. Alicia. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
The success of the Kissimmee River restoration in south-central Florida is being determined by the South Florida Water Management District with a comprehensive evaluation program. To aid this effort, invertebrate communities were studied in a reach of the river that has been utilized to test different restoration methods which have enhanced the flow conditions. Samples were collected in 2001 during severe drought, which resulted in negligible flow (0.10 km/hr), and in 2002 (current velocity = 1.80 km/hr), after sustained flow for six months. Samples were collected again in 2003, after eighteen months of sustained flow, during a period of high current velocity (> 4.1 km/hr). Invertebrate communities were sampled on and around woody snags of a large live oak (Quercus virginiana) by sweeping with a D–frame dipnet (500 micron mesh) and by collecting branch segments. Data indicate substantial changes in the invertebrate communities between sampling dates, including a shift from dominance by chironomids (69% of total individuals) to a mixture of chironomids (57%) and the polycentropid caddisfly Cyrnellus fraternus (19%). Preliminary data from 2003 indicate an abundance of rheophilic taxa, including hydropsychid caddisflies and the chironomid Rheotanytarsus.
|
|
