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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Bioassessment
MACROINVERTEBRATE RESPONSE TO RIPARIAN RESTORATION IN SELECTED AGRICULTURAL STREAMS OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.
J. Rasmussen, D. Argent, and T. Scanlan. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA 15419
In 2000 selected tributaries that feed Whiteley Creek, Washington County, Pennsylvania received riparian streambank fencing (treatment) to improve water quality and to exclude livestock. As part of the restoration effort, we began to monitor these sites to determine the ecological response of this activity. Our experimental design consists of four streams (treatments) that received fencing; three streams that did not receive fencing (control streams); and three other streams that did not receive fencing but are still influenced by grazing activity (control farms). Three replicate macroinvertebrate (using a surber sampler) and water quality samples are taken at each site during a spring, summer, and fall period. Results to date indicate that abundance has nearly doubled in our treatment streams since restoration has occurred, but richness remains nearly the same. At this time, Chironomids and Hydrophilids appear frequently in treatment farms; Chironomids, Physids, and Sphaeriids appear frequently in control farms; and Chironomids, Heptageniids, and Hydropsychids appear frequently in control streams. Water quality data (temperature, nitrates, and fecal coliforms) also shows marked improvements with the addition of streambank fencing. Continued monitoring of these sites will document the long-term response of aquatic systems to riparian restoration seasonally.
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