Poster Details
COMPARISONS OF ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITIES ACROSS GOLF COURSE AND FOREST PRESERVE LENTIC ECOSYSTEMS
Golf courses are often one of the dominant green space habitats in suburban and urban landscapes. However, their role in contributing to local biodiversity is unknown. In particular, little information exists on differences of microinvertebrates, such as zooplankton, among lentic systems on golf courses and adjacent green spaces areas. Our objective was to characterize differences in abundance, diversity and species richness of zooplankton across lentic ecosystems in the Chicago Metropolitan area. We compared zooplankton communities across 55 lentic ecosystems ranging from permanent, fish-filled golf course ponds to permanent, fish-filled ponds within nature preserves to ephemeral, fishless natural wetlands between April to August 2017. We expect marked differences in zooplankton communities in lentic systems among these habitat types. For example, we hypothesize zooplankton communities (abundance, diversity and species richness) will differ across months and among habitat types. We suspect the highest abundance, diversity and richness will be seen in ephemeral wetlands in August and lowest in golf course systems in April. These data will help elucidate the degree to which golf course ponds harbor biodiversity compared to more natural adjacent systems.
Sarah Crites (Primary Presenter/Author), Loyola University Chicago, scrites@luc.edu;
Joseph Milanovich (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Loyola University Chicago, jmilanovich@luc.edu;
Jennifer Piacente (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Loyola University Chicago , jpiacente@luc.edu;
Michael Vosburgh (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Loyola University Chicago, mvosburgh@luc.edu;
Martin B. Berg (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Loyola University Chicago, mberg@luc.edu;