Effects of sediment upon benthic macroinvertebrates in forested northern Appalachian streams

Excess fine sediment negatively influences the fauna of North American streams. With the current emphasis on multiple-use forests, the question is not whether fine sediment is detrimental, but what is the threshold of fine sediment that is tolerable?;To determine a threshold tolerance of fine sediment, a two-part project investigated the influence of fine sediment upon benthic macroinvertebrates. The first part encompassed two experiments in sediment manipulation in 1999 and 2000. The experiments tested benthic macroinvertebrate metric sensitivity to a range of fine sediment treatments. The second part involved four seasonal surveys of seven streams to determine the threshold amount of fine sediment.;The fine sediment experiments revealed EPT taxa richness and % climber to be sensitive to increasing proportions of fine sediment. The stream surveys identified significant declines (p < 0.0001) in EPT taxa richness occurring when fine sediment exceeded approximately 1% of the substrate composition.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Wood Science and Technology

Year dc:date.available

2001

Author dc:creator

• Kaller, Michael Douglas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kyle J. Hartman.

• Forestry
• Aquatic sciences
• Ecology
• Limnology

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/1256

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-2259