Aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate community responses to drying in chalk streams
Aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate community responses to drying in chalk streams
Temporary streams are dynamic ecosystems that shift between wet and dry states and include the ‘winterbourne’ chalk streams of south England. Our understanding of temporary stream biodiversity is biased, with most research to date exploring aquatic invertebrate communities in benthic sediments during flowing phases. We surveyed the invertebrate communities of the Candover Brook chalk stream, comparing aquatic (benthic, hyporheic) and terrestrial communities in reaches with different flow permanence regimes. We used kick and Bou–Rouch sampling methods to collect aquatic invertebrates, and compared the terrestrial communities characterised by pitfall traps and ground searches and in different seasons. Although aquatic taxa richness was lower in temporary compared to perennial reaches, the total biodiversity of temporary stream channels was enhanced by contributions from both aquatic and terrestrial species, including several of conservation interest. We recommend that both aquatic and terrestrial communities should be considered in research and monitoring to characterise the biodiversity and ecological quality of temporary streams.
Water Framework Directive, biomonitoring, ecological status assessment, intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), macroinvertebrate, temporary river, temporary stream, winterbourne stream
1-13
Bunting, G.
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England, J.
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Gething, K.
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Sykes, T.
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Webb, J.
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Stubbington, R.
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Bunting, G.
ec701983-40fe-48f3-9daf-cfa599dd5213
England, J.
7fb08139-f99c-408e-bfd5-910a1684b12e
Gething, K.
fc50ca5f-47cd-4235-8421-fc12263d522c
Sykes, T.
e622a522-7490-4fc8-9869-0f376f73561c
Webb, J.
7d2a2c36-ebb8-477e-b08e-e81c49d21532
Stubbington, R.
790ce0d2-5904-4fe9-b024-363ffc522aa4
Bunting, G., England, J., Gething, K., Sykes, T., Webb, J. and Stubbington, R.
(2020)
Aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate community responses to drying in chalk streams.
Water and Environment Journal, .
(doi:10.1111/wej.12621).
Abstract
Temporary streams are dynamic ecosystems that shift between wet and dry states and include the ‘winterbourne’ chalk streams of south England. Our understanding of temporary stream biodiversity is biased, with most research to date exploring aquatic invertebrate communities in benthic sediments during flowing phases. We surveyed the invertebrate communities of the Candover Brook chalk stream, comparing aquatic (benthic, hyporheic) and terrestrial communities in reaches with different flow permanence regimes. We used kick and Bou–Rouch sampling methods to collect aquatic invertebrates, and compared the terrestrial communities characterised by pitfall traps and ground searches and in different seasons. Although aquatic taxa richness was lower in temporary compared to perennial reaches, the total biodiversity of temporary stream channels was enhanced by contributions from both aquatic and terrestrial species, including several of conservation interest. We recommend that both aquatic and terrestrial communities should be considered in research and monitoring to characterise the biodiversity and ecological quality of temporary streams.
Text
wej.12621
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 17 June 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 July 2020
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Water and Environment Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
Keywords:
Water Framework Directive, biomonitoring, ecological status assessment, intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), macroinvertebrate, temporary river, temporary stream, winterbourne stream
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 443000
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/443000
ISSN: 1747-6585
PURE UUID: 11f74fc7-b0d6-4c8c-ad5b-d1c6f1d84ec5
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Date deposited: 05 Aug 2020 16:35
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:58
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Author:
G. Bunting
Author:
J. England
Author:
K. Gething
Author:
J. Webb
Author:
R. Stubbington
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