Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Communities and Water Quality at Buffered and Non-Buffered Wetland Sites on Federal Waterfowl Production Areas in the Rainwater Basin, Nebraska

Abstract

Nebraska's Rainwater Basin has an abundance of natural wetlands and is a focal point in the annual migration corridor used by millions of waterfowl and shorebirds. However, these wetlands are in a landscape dominated by agriculture and as a result, siltation and poor water quality are continual problems. We evaluated twelve wetland sites on federally managed Waterfowl Protection Areas from 2007-2009 for water quality, sediment quality, and macroinvertebrate diversity. Six of the sites received agricultural runoff directly via culverts and drainage ditches (non-buffered sites) and six sites were protected from agricultural runoff by a vegetated buffer (buffered sites). Mean total number of aquatic macroinvertebrates were significantly greater (p <0.001) for buffered sites (230±44 standard error) than non-buffered sites (97±24). Water from non-buffered sites had significantly greater turbidity, conductivity, and concentrations of chlorophyll α and atrazine than buffered sites in addition to consistently greater annual averages of total nitrogen and total phosphorus. Furthermore, sediments from non-buffered sites had significantly greater cadmium, potassium, sodium and zinc than buffered sites. Use of vegetative buffers to intercept direct row-crop runoff can improve water quality and aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity and abundance in Rainwater Basin wetlands. Keywords Macroinvertebrate. Rainwater basin. Vegetative buffers. Environmental contaminants. Water quality The information stated in this article has not been published elsewhere.

Influence of Water Quality on the Variation Patterns of the Communities of Benthic Macroinvertebrates in the Lakes of the Central Highlands of Peru

“…Likewise, the greater abundance of these species in the Tg Lake corroborates the low level of oxygenation of its waters. These results coincide with those recorded in other studies in aquatic environments with low oxygen levels, dominance of Chironomidae and decrease in macro invertebrate density [33]. However, these effects are related to the decrease in the quality of water, food and the interference of breathing mechanisms [34].…”

Prairie wetlands confer consistent migrant refueling conditions across a gradient of agricultural land use intensities

“…The first scale was a 50 m buffer around the maximum wet-area extent of sampled wetlands, which allowed us to evaluate associations between immediately-adjacent land use and response variables independent of larger-scale land use. Upland cultivation in the area immediately adjacent to wetlands as measured in this scale has been shown to influence a number of biotic and abiotic factors in wetlands (Gleason and Euliss, 1998;Riens et al, 2013). The second scale we considered was a 2-km radius buffer around wetland margins and collection locations, intended to characterize the local landscape where wetlands and birds occurred.…”

Evaluating alternative macroinvertebrate sampling methodologies in wetlands: Influence of sieve mesh size on relationships between environmental and assemblage variables

“…Changes in land use that affect and reflect wetland condition also influences the macroinvertebrate assemblage structure (Euliss and Mushet 1999;Gleason et al 2003;Riens et al 2013). Disturbance of the surrounding landscape (e.g., crop fields, roads) influences habitat available to wetland-dependent invertebrates with terrestrial life stages (Euliss and Mushet 1999;Meyer et al 2015;Scharold et al 2015).…”

“…Disturbance of the surrounding landscape (e.g., crop fields, roads) influences habitat available to wetland-dependent invertebrates with terrestrial life stages (Euliss and Mushet 1999;Meyer et al 2015;Scharold et al 2015). Through these changes, the addition of nutrients and synthetic chemicals at high concentrations in the sediment or water column negatively affect macroinvertebrates at certain thresholds (Relyea 2005;Petranka and Francis 2013;Riens et al 2013). High herbicide use in the watershed has been linked to reduced wetland macroinvertebrate abundance and taxon richness, and shifts from diverse aquatic insect-based assemblages to those dominated by oligochaetes (Euliss and Mushet 1999;Relyea 2005;Davis and Bidwell 2008).…”

“…Additionally, large-bodied benthivorous fishes, including common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and black bullhead (Ameiurus melas), can indirectly affect macroinvertebrates by physically re-suspending sediment or excreting nutrients (Potthoff et al 2008;Weber and Brown 2009;Maurer et al 2014). This sediment may cover macroinvertebrate gills and eggs, and elevated turbidity from sediment and nutrient-generated phytoplankton blooms prevents light from penetrating the water column, subsequently causing declines in wetland plant abundance (Gleason et al 2003;Riens et al 2013;Maurer et al 2014).…”