Density declines, richness increases, and composition shifts in stream macroinvertebrates
Science Advances
By: Samantha L. Rumschlag, Michael B. Mahon, Devin K. Jones, William A. Battaglin, Jonny Behrens, Emily S. Bernhardt, Paul Bradley, Ethan Brown, Frederik De Laender, Ryan A. Hill, Stefan Kunz, Sylvia S. Lee, Emma J. Rossi, Ralf Schafer, Travis S. Schmidt, Marie Simonin, Kelly L. Smalling, Kristofor Voss, and Jason R. Rohr
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Abstract
Documenting trends of stream macroinvertebrate biodiversity is challenging because biomonitoring often has limited spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scopes. We analyzed biodiversity and composition of assemblages of >500 genera, spanning 27 years, and 6131 stream sites across forested, grassland, urban, and agricultural land uses throughout the United States. In this dataset, macroinvertebrate density declined by 11% and richness increased by 12.2%, and insect density and richness declined by 23.3 and 6.8%, respectively, over 27 years. In addition, differences in richness and composition between urban and agricultural versus forested and grassland streams have increased over time. Urban and agricultural streams lost the few disturbance-sensitive taxa they once had and gained disturbance-tolerant taxa. These results suggest that current efforts to protect and restore streams are not sufficient to mitigate anthropogenic effects.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Density declines, richness increases, and composition shifts in stream macroinvertebrates |
| Series title | Science Advances |
| DOI | 10.1126/sciadv.adf4896 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 18 |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Science |
| Contributing office(s) | New Jersey Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center |
| Description | eadf4896, 9 p. |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |