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MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AS A PREDICTOR OF WATER DURATION IN WISCONSIN WETLANDS 1
Author(s) -
Lillie Richard A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2003.tb04393.x
Subject(s) - wetland , environmental science , community structure , ecology , hydrology (agriculture) , habitat , abundance (ecology) , waterfowl , geography , geology , biology , geotechnical engineering
Fifty‐four Wisconsin wetlands were surveyed in spring 1996 to determine relationships between macroinvertebrate community structure and a suite of 11 environmental attributes. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that, after alkalinity, hydroperiod was the next most significant environmental factor influencing macroinvertebrate community structure within the wetlands sampled. CCA and direct gradient biplots were used to identify indicator taxa characteristic of the spring macroinvertebrate communities in persistent and ephemeral wetlands, and taxa characteristic of semi‐terrestrial habitats adjacent to wetlands. Two models were developed to permit the prediction of a wetland's hydroperiod class. One model assigns a range of probabilities that a wetland has a hydroperiod longer or shorter than eight months based on the occurrence or abundance of fairy shrimp, mayflies, scuds, mosquitoes, and phantom midges. A second model predicts that a wetland's hydroperiod is longer or shorter than five months based on the joint occurrences of seven persistent indicator taxa. Data used in both models were derived from a rapid bioassessment of three shoreline D‐frame net sweeps. The use of a coarse level taxonomic identification (primarily order and family) allows the approach to be performed in the field or laboratory. The macroinvertebrate models allow a manager to estimate a wetland's hydroperiod when long term water duration records do not exist. This ability is important to water resource managers because hydroperiod classification (i.e., water permanency) is one criterion used in differentiating wetlands from lakes in Wisconsin and because Wisconsin's legal system affords lakes substantially greater protection than wetlands.