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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2007

  • Title: Using Freshwater Macroinvertebrates for Assessment and Long-term Monitoring of Lakes and Ponds at the Cape Cod National Seashore.
  • Primary Author: Betsy Colburn (Harvard Forest)
  • Abstract:

    As part of the US National Park Service’s mandate to manage natural resources for present and future generations, we developed a long-term monitoring protocol for lakes and ponds in the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts, USA. These waters are a few 100s to > 10,000 years old and from 1-2 m to >20 m deep, oligotrophic to mesotrophic, acidic, and with low buffering capacity. Recreation, abutting development, and increases in groundwater withdrawals threaten water quality and aquatic life. We sampled littoral and deepwater benthos with dipnets and Ekman dredges, processed the samples through various-sized sieves, and developed data sets on shallow and deepwater aquatic communities. We are using ordination and logistic regression to explore patterns in physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the ponds and variables associated with species’ distributions. Few trends in physical and chemical habitat characteristics are evident. Ponds connected to the sea have higher pH and nutrients than isolated waters, and shallow, colored ponds differ from deep, clear lakes. Preliminary analysis of the aquatic biota indicates some patterns in aquatic community composition, with water mites (Hydracarina), cladocerans (Anomola), caddisflies (Trichoptera), phantom midges (Diptera: Chaoboridae) and midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) showing the greatest promise as indicators of differences between water bodies. Multi-year littoral sampling in two ponds revealed distinct aquatic communities, but substantial between-year variation within ponds.



    Acknowledgements: This research is supported by an Inventory and Monitoring grant from the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore.



  • Research Category: Conservation and Management
    Watershed Ecology