Poster Details
COMPARISON OF MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES ACROSS GOLF COURSE AND FOREST PRESERVE LENTIC ECOSYSTEMS
Golf course ecosystems comprise large percentages of areas in suburban and urban dominated landscapes. These habitats could offer important areas for harboring biodiversity of native taxa, but biodiversity on golf course ecosystems is currently understudied. We compared macroinvertebrate abundance, diversity and species richness in 25 golf course permanent, fish-filled lentic ecosystems, 15 lentic permanent, fish-filled ponds, and 15 ephemeral wetlands located within adjacent forest preserves three times between April and August 2017. We hypothesize that abundance, diversity and species richness will differ markedly across months and among habitat types – with the highest richness, diversity and abundance found in ephemeral wetlands during June and lowest in golf course lentic systems in April. These data will provide insights on the importance of golf course lentic ecosystems to local biodiversity in suburban and urban areas.
Isabella Lentini (Primary Presenter/Author), Loyola University Chicago, ilentini@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;