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Effects of stream restoration and wastewater treatment plant effluent on fish communities in urban streams
Author(s) -
NORTHINGTON ROBERT M.,
HERSHEY ANNE E.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2427.2006.01626.x
Subject(s) - streams , species richness , environmental science , invertebrate , biota , ecology , effluent , stream restoration , abundance (ecology) , biology , environmental engineering , habitat , computer network , computer science
Summary 1. Fish community characteristics, resource availability and resource use were assessed in three headwater urban streams in Piedmont North Carolina, U.S.A. Three site types were examined on each stream; two urban (restored and unrestored) and a forested site downstream of urbanisation, which was impacted by effluent from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Stream basal resources, aquatic macroinvertebrates, terrestrial macroinvertebrates and fish were collected at each site. 2. The WWTPs affected isotope signatures in the biota. Basal resource, aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish δ 15 N showed significant enrichments in the downstream sites, although δ 13 C signatures were not greatly influenced by the WWTP. Fish were clearly deriving a significant part of their nutrition from sewage effluent‐derived sources. There was a trend towards lower richness and abundance of fish at sewage‐influenced sites compared with urban restored sites, although the difference was not significant. 3. Restored stream sites had significantly higher fish richness and a trend towards greater abundance compared with unrestored sites. Although significant differences did not exist between urban restored and unrestored areas for aquatic and terrestrial macroinvertebrate abundances and biotic indices of stream health, there appeared to be a trend towards improvements in restored sites for these parameters. Additional surveys of these sites on a regular basis, along with maintenance of restored features are vital to understanding and maximising restoration effectiveness. 4. A pattern of enriched δ 13 C in fish in restored and unrestored streams in conjunction with enriched δ 13 C of terrestrial invertebrates at these sites suggests that these terrestrial subsidies are important to the fish, a conclusion also supported by isotope cross plots. Furthermore, enriched δ 13 C observed for terrestrial invertebrates is consistent with some utilisation of the invasive C4 plants that occur in the urban riparian areas.