HR: 14:00h
AN: NB43D-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Wetland Macroinvertebrates: Do They Respond to Human-Induced Changes in the Environment?
AU: * McIntosh, M D
EM: mcinto57@msu.edu
AF: Michigan State University, Department of Entomology, 243 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1115 United States
AU: Merritt, R W
AF: Michigan State University, Department of Entomology, 243 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1115 United States
AU: Lougheed, V L
AF: Michigan State University, Department if Zoology, 203 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1115 United States
AU: Parker, C A
AF: Michigan State University, Department if Zoology, 203 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1115 United States
AU: Stevenson, R J
AF: Michigan State University, Department if Zoology, 203 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1115 United States
AB: Wetlands provide many functions, both ecological (e.g., fish and wildlife habitat) and economical (e.g., flood prevention and recreation); however, they are continuously threatened by numerous human activities. These activities (e.g., agriculture, development) subsequently generate environmental stressors (e.g., nutrients, road salt) that can impact the physical, chemical and biological integrity of wetland ecosystems. The objective of this study was to identify relationships between human activities, stressors, and macroinvertebrate communities in wetland ecosystems, in order to identify macroinvertebrate response metrics to human-induced landscape changes. We predicted that macroinvertebrate taxa would show differentiated patterns along a human disturbance gradient. During the summer of 2002, macroinvertebrates were collected from multiple habitats (e.g., emergent vegetation, submergent vegetation) within 16 depression wetlands of the Muskegon River watershed (Michigan, USA). Preliminary data suggest that there are distinct shifts in macroinvertebrate taxa that represent biological responses along a human disturbance gradient. These shifts in taxa appear to vary between different wetland habitats. Knowledge of these relationships, between macroinvertebrates and human activity, could be utilized in assessments of wetland quality, predicting change in wetland structure, and in the establishment of biocriteria for the regulation and protection of wetland ecosystems.
DE: 1890 Wetlands
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly