HR: 16:00h
AN: NB44A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Biological Assessment of Newfoundland Rivers Based on the Depauperate Macroinvertebrate Fauna With Emphasis on the Mayfly, Stonefly and Caddisfly Fauna: a Cautionary Tale.
AU: * Colbo, M H
EM: mcolbo@mun.ca
AF: Memorial University, Department of Biology Memorial University, St. John's, NL A1B 3X9 Canada
AU: Cote, D
EM: David.Cote@pc.gc.ca
AF: Terra Nova National Park, Terra Nova Natonal Park, Glovertown, NL A0G 2L0 Canada
AU: Kendall, V
EM: valkendall@gmail.com
AF: Memorial University, Department of Biology Memorial University, St. John's, NL A1B 3X9 Canada
AB: The fauna of insular Newfoundland compared to the mainland is depauperate, e.g., 35 spp of mayflies versus about 160 spp in Maine. The question is can this depauperate fauna provide good biomonitoring information? A comparative study using present /absent data from 85 sites in eastern Newfoundland was analyzed with particular reference to the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera fauna. The results indicated these data did differentiate regions sampling type and land use when run through a simple Principle Component Analysis (PCA). The PCA 1 and 2 components varied from no to a strong correlation with both Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera richness and taxa richness of the major feeding groups. However, applying previously published biotic indices of species that occur in Newfoundland did not provide satisfactory results. It appears these indices may reflect oxygen gradients rather than pollutant concentrations and in our cold well oxygenated streams yield unsatisfactory discrimination among natural and perturb streams.
DE: 1871 Surface water quality
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly