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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2004
in Bioassessment 2
Biological assessment of non-wadeable rivers in Michigan using macroinvertebrates
K.J. Wessell1, R.W. Merritt1, K.W. Cummins2, J.G.O. Wilhelm3, and J.D. Allan3. 1Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, 2Humboldt State University, California Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Arcata, CA, 3School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
There are relatively few state or federal programs designed to monitor and evaluate non-wadeable rivers. Many of the more traditional population and community level metrics used in wadeable stream assessment may not be appropriate for assessing non-wadeable systems. We analyzed macroinvertebrate samples from non-wadeable river reaches subjected to a wide array of anthropogenic influences to determine which potential metrics provided the most unique information and accounted for the largest amount of among-reach variability. The final protocol allows for two types of assessments: One that targets large woody debris habitats only, and one that relies on samples from all habitats present in the study reach. Both assessment types evaluate sites based on scores from 7 individual metrics incorporated into a summary index. When properly implemented and combined with the habitat assessment procedures, the macroinvertebrate protocol will allow for the objective evaluation of Michigan’s non-wadeable rivers and may provide a framework for evaluating non-wadeable river systems in other regions.
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