SFS Annual Meeting

5/21/2018  |   11:00 - 11:15   |  330 A

USING DNA-METABARCODING TO LINK BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION ACROSS A LARGE-RIVER FLOODPLAIN DISTURBANCE GRADIENT Floodplains are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, yet they are threatened worldwide by increased urbanization and water management. These disturbances are threatening the connectivity of floodplains that transfer essential sediment and nutrients to wetlands, which themselves are important habitats for diverse benthic communities and provide essential ecosystem services. With up to 90% of floodplains in North America and Europe altered to the point of functional extinction, it is vital to conserve those that remain intact, such as the Lower Saint John River and its associated floodplain, including the Grand Lake Meadows (GLM). At 9000 ha, the GLM is Atlantic Canada’s largest freshwater wetland complex, which contains a mosaic of patches experiencing different combinations of stressors, thus providing a unique opportunity to assess how disturbance and management affect ecosystem health. Using high-throughput genomics sequencing methods that reliably characterize community composition in unprecedented detail, thus study links benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity to measures of ecosystem function, such as decomposition and primary production. Specifically, we ask (1) How does disturbances influence benthic macroinvertebrate communities? (2) What species are driving community responses? (3) How is invertebrate community structure associated with ecosystem function?

Natalie Rideout (Primary Presenter/Author), Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada, nrideout@unb.ca;


Zacchaeus Compson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of North Texas, zacchaeus.compson@unt.edu;


Wendy Monk (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Environment and Climate Change Canada @ Canadian Rivers Institute, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada, wmonk@unb.ca;


Sonja Stefani (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Dresden University of Technology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Dresden, Saxony, Germany, stefani.sonja@googlemail.com;


Mehrdad Hajibabaei (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Centre for Biodiversity Genomics & Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, ON, Canada, hajibabaei@gmail.com;


Donald Baird (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Environment and Climate Change Canada @ Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada, djbaird@unb.ca;


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5/21/2018  |   11:15 - 11:30   |  330 A

RESPONSES OF STREAM FUNCTIONAL PROCESSES TO THE MANIPULATION OF FISH AND AMPHIBIANS Extreme flow events are becoming more common and less predictable, leading to a pronounced pattern of contraction and expansion of the stream network and a change in both habitat availability and density of organisms. Although we start to understand how the structure of the aquatic community responds to droughts and floods, little is known about how these changes cascade into stream functional processes. Here we present results of a multi-year field experiment where we examined the effects of the manipulation of large aquatic consumers’ densities on stream functional processes in streams at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest (Cascades Range, Oregon). During three years, we created a reach with natural, depleted, and elevated densities of fish and amphibians. For 40 days, we measured changes in ecosystem respiration, primary production, and ammonium uptake. In 2015, under extreme drought conditions, we expanded the experiment to three different sites within the stream network. Our findings indicate that large aquatic consumers affect stream functional processes and that the magnitude of change is density-dependent. Net primary production, among all measured functional processes, was the most sensitive to changes in consumer’ densities.

Alba Argerich (Primary Presenter/Author,Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Missouri-Columbia, argericha@missouri.edu;
Assistant Professor Stream Ecology

Brooke Penaluna (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), PNW Research Station, US Forest Service, brooke.penaluna@oregonstate.edu;


Francisco A.T. Pickens (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, andy.pickens@oregonstate.edu;


Emilee Mowlds (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Dept. of Forest Engineering, Resources, and Management, Oregon State University, mowldse@oregonstate.edu;


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5/21/2018  |   11:30 - 11:45   |  330 A

AQUATIC INSECT FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY ALONG CANOPY COVERAGE, ELEVATION AND WATER TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN STREAMS Organismal traits determine how species perform and contribute to ecosystem functioning. Functional diversity indexes quantifies the value and range of these traits, which provides a mechanistic framework to understand community productivity and resilience to perturbations or invasion. We applied a multifaceted framework to quantify three primary components of functional diversity of stream insects along environmental gradients of canopy coverage, water temperature and elevation across the Rocky Mountain Streams of Colorado. We used Functional Richness (FRic), Functional Evenness (FEve) and Functional Divergence (FDiv) indices to test for significant differences in aquatic insect functional diversity in 24 small streams in three adjacent catchments, spanning an elevational range of ca. 2000–3500 m. Our results showed that only FRic differs significantly with elevation, and that the pattern of change remains constant across catchments. Traits related to development, habit, voltinism and adult dispersal ability showed the highest sensibility to changes in the environment, particularly to water temperature changes. Our findings provide independent information concerning position and relative abundances of species in a multidimensional functional space, and allow for inferences on patterns of aquatic insect functional beta diversity in mountain streams.

Rachel Harrington (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8, harrington.rachel@epa.gov;


Boris Kondratieff (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Colorado State University, Boris.Kondratieff@ColoState.edu;


Colleen Webb (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Colorado State University, Colleen.Webb@colostate.edu;


Cameron Ghalambor (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Colorado State University, cameron.ghalambor@colostate.edu;


Carolina Gutierrez (Primary Presenter/Author), Colorado State University, cgcol@rams.colostate.edu;


LeRoy Poff (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Colorado State University, n.poff@rams.colostate.edu;


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5/21/2018  |   11:45 - 12:00   |  330 A

POLLUTING A STREAM FOR THE SAKE OF SCIENCE: A BACI EXPERIMENT ON THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF WWTP EFFLUENTS Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) greatly reduce point-source pollution from urban and industrial sources, thus contributing to improve the status of the receiving river ecosystems. Nevertheless, their effluents still consist of complex cocktails whose ecological effects are far from clear. We performed a BACI (Before-After, Control-Impact) experiment to assess their ecological effects in real conditions. We diverted part of the effluent of a large, urban WWTP into the lowermost 100 m of a small, unpolluted tributary stream. A 100-m long reach upstream from the diversion point was used as a control, and both reaches were studied for a year prior and a year after the diversion. Laboratory experiments showed the effluent to promote microbial activity and not to reduce gammarid survival. In the field, microbial activity was also promoted, nutrient uptake was reduced, whereas neither metabolism nor litter breakdown did change. The results point to a weak effect of this effluent on the receiving river ecosystems. How other systems are affected will depend on the quality of the WWTP effluent and its degree of dilution in stream water.

Miren Atristain (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of the Basque Country, miren.atristain@ehu.eus;


Miren Barrado (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of the Basque Country, mbarrado004@gmail.com;


Ioar de Guzman (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of the Basque Country, mirenioar.deguzman@ehu.eus;


Jose Manuel González (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, jmgonzalez@escet.urjc.es;


Aitor Larrañaga (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), aitor.larranagaa@ehu.eus;


Olatz Pereda (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of the Basque Country, olatz.pereda@ehu.eus;


Vicky Perez-Calpe (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of the Basque Country, anavictoria.perez@ehu.eus;


Libe Solagaistua (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), libe.solagaistua@ehu.eus;


Daniel von Schiller (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Barcelona, d.vonschiller@ub.edu;


Arturo Elosegi (Primary Presenter/Author), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), arturo.elosegi@ehu.eus;


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5/21/2018  |   12:00 - 12:15   |  330 A

USING ECOLOGICAL EXPERTISE AND ASSESSMENT DATA TO INFORM FUNCTIONAL IMPROVEMENT IN STREAM RESTORATIONS Data from Fairfax County’s (VA) biological monitoring program are used to evaluate the in-stream community as surrogates for water quality through the use of a locally-derived Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (B-IBI). Recent changes to the monitoring program include investigations into the benthic community as indicators of local scale factors, such as allochthonous organic inputs, drainage area, landscape slope, percentage of impervious area and habitat quality. In addition, assemblage data were compared among the level IV ecoregions found in Fairfax County. Local landscape variability is highly influential in benthic community structure and function. As Fairfax County undertakes stream restoration projects, these factors will likely contribute to challenges to achieve regulatory goals for benthic recovery. In an effort to improve the biological outcomes of stream restorations, County ecologists and urban foresters are consulted regarding community habitat requirements, are incorporated into project teams, and assist with the implementation of stream restorations. This discussion summarizes the above factors using Fairfax County stream monitoring data (2004-2016) and highlights lessons learned through the incorporation of ecologists in the stream restoration process.

Chris Ruck (Primary Presenter/Author), Fairfax County (VA), Watershed Assessment Branch, christopher.ruck@fairfaxcounty.gov;


LeAnne Astin (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Fairfax County Stormwater Planning, leanne.astin@fairfaxcounty.gov;


Jonathan Witt (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Fairfax County Division of Stormwater Planning, jonathan.witt@fairfaxcounty.gov;


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