HR: 1330h
AN: NB33H-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Zooplankton as Potential Indicators of Biotic Condition in Large Rivers
AU: * Medley, K A
EM: kam797t@smsu.edu
AF: Southwest Missouri State University, 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, Mo 65804 United States
AU: Havel, J E
EM: jeh694f@smsu.edu
AF: Southwest Missouri State University, 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, Mo 65804 United States
AU: Jack, J D
EM: jeff.jack@louisville.edu
AF: University of Louisville, 139 Life Sciences, Louisville, Ky 40292 United States
AB: As part of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we are examining zooplankton diversity and abundance in three large rivers (Missouri, Ohio, and upper Mississippi). These rivers are particularly interesting because of large differences in their hydrologic patterns, resulting primarily from their different management strategies. Preliminary data from summer 2004 surveys of the Missouri and Ohio rivers reveals high taxonomic diversity of rotifers (32 genera), cladocerans (22 species), and copepods. Rotifers are numerically dominant in all river samples except in the late summer Ohio River samples, where they are occasionally co-dominant with calanoid copepods. Using multivariate analyses, we will present a comparison of zooplankton diversity between rivers, among sites within rivers, and correspondence with 35 physico-chemical properties of the river. These data will be used to develop bioindicators of the current condition of each river in order to support conservation and restoration decisions by management agencies.
DE: 9350 North America
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly