Abstract
We used aquatic invertebrates to assess environmental impacts of timber harvest on a bottomland hardwood wetland in the Coosawhatchie River floodplain, Jasper County, SC. Two years (1998, 1999) of preharvest baseline data were collected during winter floods in three ll-13-ha tracts of wetland forest. The following autumn of 1999 one tract was completely clearcut. In a second tract the majority of the area was also clearcut, but three 0.2-0.6-ha islands of intact forest were retained (i.e., patch-retention treatment). The third tract remained intact and served as the control. We continued to sample invertebrates in the three tracts for another 2 years (2000, 2001) after harvests. Invertebrate communities in the clearcut tract differed significantly from previous baseline conditions in that habitat and also from the nearby control tract. The patch-retention tract induced a lesser response than the clearcut, suggesting that retention islands helped mitigate impacts. Timber harvest caused a decline in some invertebrate populations (
Asellidae, Crangonyctidae, Planorbidae), but an increase in others (
Culicidae). Overall invertebrate abundance and family richness was not affected by harvest, only community composition. Invertebrate change probably reflected a conversion of a fauna typical of forested wetland to one typical of herbaceous wetland.
Keywords
Bioassessment,
clearcut,
logging,
mosquito,
swamp
Citation
Batzer, Darold P.; George, Bagie M.; Braccia, Amy. 2005. Aquatic invertenrate responses to timber harvest in a bottomland hardwood wetland of South Carolina. Forest Science, Vol. 51(4): 284-291