Urban Development Impacts on Aquatic Benthic Macroinvertebrate Community in a Mixed-Land-Use Watershed

Abigail Clasgens, Joellen Stivala, and Kirsten Stephan
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation Category: Biological Sciences (Poster Presentation)

Student’s Major: Wildlife and Fisheries Resources

As urban development continues in watersheds across central Appalachia, it is imperative to monitor the potential impacts to ensure safe water quality for all living organisms. The use of benthic macroinvertebrates (e.g. aquatic insects) has become the main method for biomonitoring water quality. In this study, benthic macroinvertebrates were used to compare the water quality of a heavily urbanized stream to a highly forested stream in a small catchment area. Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected annually from both sites across a four-year period, identified to genus, and compared using the West Virginia Stream Condition Index (WVSCI), which quantifies stream conditions on a 0-100 scale. The heavily urbanized stream scored between 30.3-52.4 and averaged 43.9, while the more forested stream scored between 42.8-54.1 and averaged 46.9. These values classified both sites as having poor stream conditions which was unexpected as we predicted that the more forested stream would score significantly higher than the developed stream. These results tell us that other factors besides land-use are important to take into consideration when evaluating stream condition.

Funding: Davis College, C100168W

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: a West Virginia SURE program