Effects of Channel and Riparian Zone Rehabilitation on Invertebrate Taxa Richness and Diversity in a Mississippi Hill Land Stream
Abstract
Invertebrate community and physical habitat information was recorded 1 year before, after 2 years, and 10 years after rehabilitation of an incised, degraded stream, and compared to a nearby similar non-rehabilitated stream. A one-kilometer reach of Goodwin Creek, located in the loess hills of north central Mississippi, was modified with small weirs and spur dikes of quarried limestone (D50=20cm) to stabilize stream banks/bed, increase water depth and produce riffle-run-pool sequences. Sand banks were stabilized with black willow. The non-rehabilitated stream lacked adequate bed controls and flow dampening structure, and thus remained shallow with a frequently vacillating sand bed that was regularly scoured by runoff. Ten years after rehabilitation, base flow average water width and aquatic habitat volume in Goodwin Creek were, respectively, 86% and 118% greater than at the untreated creek, and average depth in Goodwin was 36 cm, but only 19 cm in the untreated creek. While invertebrate communities in the two creeks were very similar before rehabilitation, both Morisita-Horn and Bray-Curtis community similarity indices indicated moderate differences 2 years after treatment and high dissimilarity after 10 years. A suite of seven species richness estimators and three common diversity indices were all much higher for Goodwin Creek after rehabilitation.
- Publication:
-
AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2005
- Bibcode:
- 2005AGUSMNB33K..02C
- Keywords:
-
- 0400 Biogeosciences;
- 1803 Anthropogenic effects;
- 1815 Erosion and sedimentation;
- 1860 Runoff and streamflow;
- 1871 Surface water quality