Poster Details
A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES WITHIN STREAMS OF THE MILL CREEK WATERSHED, CINCINNATI, OHIO
Similar to other urbanized watersheds, the Mill Creek Watershed, Cincinnati, Ohio, has been historically degraded by human activities resulting in pollution, sewage overflows and channelization. There have been numerous efforts to improve ecosystem health throughout the watershed; however, more baseline data is needed to better understand the impact of current and future management practices. Numerous assessment methods focusing on macroinvertebrate communities are in use today, including the analysis of functional feeding groups (FFGs). This approach analyses macroinvertebrates by groups based on mode of food acquisition. The main objective of this study was to conduct a functional analysis of macroinvertebrate communities across the Mill Creek Watershed. Individual rapid biological assessments were conducted at a total of nine sites within four streams of the watershed from 2014-2018. Standardized macroinvertebrate samples were collected from multiple habitats, all macroinvertebrates were identified to family level and FFGs assigned. Numerical data were then used to calculate common functional metrics, including ecosystem parameter estimates (e.g., P/R, channel stability). Preliminary analyses indicate that gathering collectors dominate at most sites throughout the watershed; however, some variation does exist among sites overtime.
Sophie Racey (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Georgia, sir74000@uga.edu;
Rachel Neff (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Xavier University, neffr1@xavier.edu;
Mollie McIntosh (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Xavier University, mcintoshm2@xavier.edu;