Poster Details
BIOMONITORING AT THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: THE USE OF CHIRONOMIDAE (DIPTERA) LARVAE IN DETECTING ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN URBAN STREAMS
The Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW) Airport is in a densely-urbanized area with one of the fastest growing populations in the U.S.A. The airport property includes a large tract of riparian forest that is unique to the urban surroundings. Urban streams surrounding the airport were assessed by the University of North Texas (UNT) Benthic Ecology Lab via a multi-year biomonitoring study funded by the DFW Airport. The objective of these studies was to identify the major human activities, within the airport watershed, that could potentially affect water quality.
Freshwater environments support a diversity of larvae of the Dipteran family Chironomidae. Chironomidae are the most prevalent taxa in this study, making up 20-50% of the benthic macroinvertebrates. Despite the knowledge that this family contains representatives with a wide range of tolerances to ecological conditions, larva are often only identified to the family level. As part of the biomonitoring study, larvae were identified to the lowest feasible taxonomic level, usually genus, and their distributions evaluated based on responses to land use. Identification of Chironomidae genera improved our ability to detect environmental changes in the urban streams surrounding the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Kaitlynn Davis (Primary Presenter/Author,Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of North Texas, KaitlynnDavis@my.unt.edu;
Megann Harlow (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Univeristy of North Texas, megannharlow@my.unt.edu;
James Kennedy (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of North Texas, james.kennedy@unt.edu;