PS 50-169 - CANCELLED - Disturbance Promotes Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Diversity in the Abbey Pond, De Pere, WI

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM EDT

Located in: ESA Exhibit Hall

Presenting Author(s)

SW

Sloan M. Wunder

Student
St.Norbert College
Escanaba, Michigan, United States

Coauthor(s)

CK

Carrie E. H. Kissman

Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Science
St.Norbert College
De Pere, Wisconsin, United States

Background/Question/Methods

Benthic macroinvertebrates (MIV) are primary consumers that are excellent bioindicators of ecosystem health. Each MIV species has a unique tolerance to pollution and to the biological, chemical and physical factors within a water body. We explored how disturbance, such as nutrient runoff and foot traffic, affects MIV community structure and diversity in pond ecosystems. We hypothesized that disturbance affects macroinvertebrate community structure and diversity and predicted that less disturbed sites would have higher species diversity, richness, and abundance and would have greater overall waterbody health. We sampled the Abbey Pond in De Pere, WI, weekly from May through August 2021 at two different study sites: a heavily disturbed boat launch and a relatively undisturbed deer path. The Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (H’) and Biological Monitor Working Party Index (BMWP) were calculated and data were analyzed using ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis Test, and repeated measures ANOVA.

Results/Conclusions

We found significantly greater abundance of clam (Unionoida) (p=0.006) and aquatic sow bug (Asellus aquaticus) (p=0.001) at the more disturbed site, and significantly greater caddisfly larva (Trichoptera) (p < 0.001) abundance at the less disturbed site. Chlorophyll a (CHLa) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) differed significantly from week to week (p≤0.008). MIV abundance patterns are likely due to substrate differences between the two sites. Lower abundance at the less distrubed site is due to the dominance of caddisfly larva that are less mobile due to their restrictive larval casing. The variable CHLa and SRP indicate changing nutrient availability and uptake into the pond food web. These data will help with ongoing pond restoration efforts to improve water quality via implementing land management strategies to reduce nutrient runoff, control the prevalent algae blooms and conserve primary consumer populations.