Poster Details
Threshold analysis of macroinvertebrate communities relative to restoration activities in the Delaware River Watershed Initiative
Research is being conducted to measure the success of agricultural restoration activities as part of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI), a large-scale, collaborative research and implementation project. Our goal is to project potential improvements in stream quality to aquatic macroinvertebrates in first- to third-order streams. Data were analyzed using Threshold Indicator Taxa ANalysis (TITAN), an R-based package used to detect taxa distribution changes along an environmental gradient. We analyzed threshold responses of macroinvertebrates at family-, genus-, and species-level to environmental gradients comprising land use, habitat quality, and water chemistry variables. Results elucidated the need for at least genus-level identification to pinpoint the relationships between taxa and a gradient of parameters found within regions dominated by forested and agricultural land use. These analyses can be used tto define states of ecosystem recovery after restoration.
Meghan O'Donnell (Primary Presenter/Author), Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, mjo63@drexel.edu;