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Stream macroinvertebrate response to clearcut logging

Formally Refereed

Abstract

Why study response of stream invertebrates to watershed disturbances such as clearcut logging? Stream invertebrates can be excellent integrators of changes in such ecosystem phenomena as changes in the food base of ecosystems. For example, a number of invertebrate taxa appear to track changes in food resources. Many taxa also exhibit substrate-specific as well as taxon-specific responses to physical alterations, such as sediment addition. Benthic invertebrates can also play important roles in many ecological processes, and in whole ecosystems, benthic invertebrates often display early and dramatic responses to manipulation. Thus, assessment of benthic assemblages can be a valuable means to detect disturbance and long-term recovery from disturbance. Furthermore, knowledge of a change in the community structure of invertebrates offers an additional mechanism for detecting changes in ecological processes through time. Unfortunately, there have been few studies of the response to clearcut logging within the same stream over many years. Rather, such changes are occasionally inferred from examining multiple streams draining catchments that are in different stages of recovery.

Citation

Wallace, J. Bruce; Ely, Damon. 2014. Stream macroinvertebrate response to clearcut logging. In: Swank, Wayne T.; Webster, Jackson R., comps., eds. Long-term response of a forest watershed ecosystem. Clearcutting in the southern Appalachian. Oxford University Press: 177- 193.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/45952