Poster Details
URBANIZATION IN SMALLER CITIES: HOW HETEROGENEITY IN URBAN LANDUSE ACROSS A MEDIUM-SIZED CITY AFFECTS INSECT COMMUNITIES IN HEADWATER STREAMS
While it is clear that urbanization fundamentally changes stream ecosystem functioning and community dynamics, much of the landmark work in urban ecology has been done in large cities. Information about how urbanization affects headwater streams in smaller cities, where urban land cover is less and more heterogeneous, may help provide insight into the progression of urbanization. We studied aquatic insect communities in five urban headwater streams in Greater Binghamton, NY, a medium-sized metropolitan area with a population of approximately 272,000 people. Aquatic insects were collected monthly from downstream urban (7.47-42.99% developed) and upstream rural (0.73-16.17% developed) reaches in each stream from April-September 2014 and 2015. We found that aquatic insect taxonomic and functional feeding group richness and abundance was significantly degraded in the urban sites. However, we also found surprisingly similar regional gamma-diversity between urban and rural sites, which corresponded to a higher among-site beta-diversity in the urban sites. While urbanization had an overall negative impact on aquatic insect communities in our streams, the heterogeneity of the urban landuse throughout this medium-sized city allowed for the harboring of surprising high biodiversity in our urban streams.
Weixing Zhu (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Binghamton University, wxzhu@binghamton.edu;
Matthew Lundquist (Primary Presenter/Author), Bingahmton University, mlundqu1@binghamton.edu;