HR: 1330h
AN: B33E-07    [Abstracts]
TI: The Relationship of Physicochemical Data, Macroinvertebrate Assemblages, and Land use in Rhode Island Wadeable Streams
AU: * Lussier, S M
EM: lussier.suzanne@epa.gov
AF: USEPA, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, 27 Tarzwell Drive, Narragansett, RI 02882 United States
AU: daSilva, S
AF: Nelson, Pope & Voorhis, LLC, 572 Walt Whitman Rd. , Melville, NY 11747 United States
AU: Charpentier, M
AF: Computer Sciences Corporation, 27 Tarzwell Drive, Narragansett, RI 02882 United States
AU: Heltshe, J
AF: Computer Sciences Corporation, 27 Tarzwell Drive, Narragansett, RI 02882 United States
AU: Cormier, S M
AF: USEPA National Exposure Research Laboratory, Ecological Exposure Research Division, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45268 United States
AU: Klemm, D J
AF: USEPA National Exposure Research Laboratory, Ecological Exposure Research Division, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45268 United States
AB: The ability of streams to support aquatic organisms is inextricably connected to the physical structure and chemical conditions of the immediate environment. Our objective was to study the relationships among physical and chemical attributes, habitat, and the benthic macroinvertebrates from wadeable streams in Rhode Island subwatersheds along a gradient of residential land use. We used the U.S. EPA Rapid Bioassessment Protocols to measure biological, physicochemical, and habitat effects at stream sites. A Geographic Information System was used to delineate the subwatersheds and document land use surrounding the sampled stream reaches. By using principle components analysis of chemical metrics and the individual metrics for habitat assessment, we found patterns among the sites correlated with land use. Results showed that sites with low residential land use had high stream flow, high dissolved oxygen, and high habitat scores with low temperature and total dissolved solids. Sites with increased residential land use showed the opposite trends. The species composition of benthic macroinvertebrates changed from mostly insect taxa (sensitive species) to noninsect taxa (tolerant species) with increasing levels of residential land use. Thus, altered habitat associated with land use was highly correlated with degraded physicochemical conditions that affected the species composition of aquatic organisms.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 4804 Benthic processes/benthos
DE: 4854 Physicochemical properties
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly