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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2004
in Wetlands and Lentic Ecology
Macroinvertebrate diversity of isolated wetlands: Are wetland quality and size important factors?
M.D. McIntosh1, R.W. Merritt1, V.L. Lougheed2, C.A. Parker2, and R.J. Stevenson2. 1Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA 48824-1115, 2Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA, 48824-1115
Recent attention has focused on the conservation of isolated wetlands due to changes in the federal wetland regulatory program. In order to protect these isolated wetlands, more scientific information is needed to understand the ecology and function of these ecosystems. Our research focused on the role of different biological communities within isolated wetland ecosystems and how these communities change with environmental stressors (e.g., human disturbance). Specifically, the objective of this study was to compare macroinvertebrate diversity among isolated wetlands of variable quality (impacted or non-impacted) and size (large or small). Four depressional marshes were sampled from each possible combination of treatments (large impacted, large non-impacted, small impacted, and small non-impacted) from the Muskegon River watershed, Michigan, USA, during July 2002. Preliminary results suggest differences in macroinvertebrate diversity among wetlands of variable quality; however differences due to wetland size were not as defined. Knowledge of the association between macroinvertebrates and environmental stressors can be utilized in the assessment of wetland health, predicting change in wetland structure, and in the establishment of biocriteria for the regulation and protection of isolated wetland ecosystems.
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