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Investigating Salinity Intrusion Effects On Sapelo Island, Georgia Using Benthic Macroinvertebrate Bioindicators, Raymond Paul Kidder Ii
Investigating Salinity Intrusion Effects On Sapelo Island, Georgia Using Benthic Macroinvertebrate Bioindicators, Raymond Paul Kidder Ii
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Coastal wetlands are threatened by the compounding effects of sea level rise and historical land modification. Historically, much of Sapelo Island, Georgia was deforested and drained using a series of ditches and canals to create arable land fit for agriculture and to provide drainage to the inhabited parts of the island. Today, this network of artificial channels is believed to be facilitating the movement of saltwater from the nearby estuary into freshwater areas on the interior of the island. This study aimed to better understand the frequency and magnitude of salinity intrusion events along with their resulting impacts to the …
Macroinvertebrate Responses To Hydrological Variation In Experimental Wetlands., Sergio A. Sabat-Bonilla
Macroinvertebrate Responses To Hydrological Variation In Experimental Wetlands., Sergio A. Sabat-Bonilla
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Predicted increases in the frequency of intense storms and periods of severe drought due to climate change represent a threat to wetland macroinvertebrate communities through alterations to the hydrological regime. I used experimental ponds to assess the effects of water permanence (i.e., duration of flooding) on the communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates. I predicted that permanent ponds would harbor higher diversity of longer-lived taxa whereas temporary ones will favor colonization by quick turnover, short-lived taxa and support lower consumer diversity. Results show differences in macroinvertebrate communities between permanent and temporary ponds can be mostly explained by hydrology and the amount of …
Inferring Food Web Structure To Identify Seasonal And Longitudinal Patterns In Ogeechee River Invertebrate Communities, Julien Marc Buchbinder
Inferring Food Web Structure To Identify Seasonal And Longitudinal Patterns In Ogeechee River Invertebrate Communities, Julien Marc Buchbinder
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Understanding how the structure and function of aquatic communities vary across space and time is essential for proper management of freshwater ecosystems. Current management relies on rapid biomonitoring using metrics of community structure, but metrics that incorporate ecosystem processes and functions are only just beginning to see use in assessment and management. Food webs inferred from known species interactions have been proposed as a method of incorporating function into bioassessment without expending extra effort or sacrificing the cost-effectiveness of current monitoring schemes. To apply food webs in biomonitoring, it is first necessary to understand how communities and food webs vary …
Effects Of Climate Variability: A Long-Term Perspective On Leaf Litter Processing In The Ogeechee River, Jose A. Sanchez
Effects Of Climate Variability: A Long-Term Perspective On Leaf Litter Processing In The Ogeechee River, Jose A. Sanchez
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) predicts a rise in temperatures and changes to precipitation patterns for the 21st century. These changes are expected to lead to a higher frequency of extreme events such as drought and floods which lead to the alteration of the hydrology, communities, and processes of freshwater ecosystems. Leaf litter decomposition in stream ecosystems is an important component of the energy and nutrient cycle representing a food source for aquatic organisms. This has made it a tool for assessing long term responses to disturbance due to changes in the assemblage of macroinvertebrates that …
Comparison Of Three Benthic Macroinvertebrate Passive Sampling Devices For Non-Wadeable Streams, Kelsey A. Laymon
Comparison Of Three Benthic Macroinvertebrate Passive Sampling Devices For Non-Wadeable Streams, Kelsey A. Laymon
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Rivers and streams provide essential ecosystem services to the degree that the monitoring and maintenance of these systems becomes imperative. Biomonitoring provides managers and policymakers with the tools to make informed decisions, and macroinvertebrates are often the object of biomonitoring because they are ubiquitous in most systems and are known to be good indicators of water quality. However, methods for sampling macroinvertebrates in non-wadeable streams (i.e., large rivers) have not been standardized across states and regions and an established method for macroinvertebrate biomonitoring in large rivers of Georgia is not currently available. My study compared macroinvertebrates collected with three types …
Connecting The Dots: A Food Web Of The Lower Ogeechee River, Allison K. Lutz
Connecting The Dots: A Food Web Of The Lower Ogeechee River, Allison K. Lutz
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Ogeechee is a fifth order river that originates in the Georgia Piedmont region and flows through the Coastal Plain region in the Southeastern portion of the state. The Ogeechee is one of the last unregulated rivers in Georgia; allowing for studies to occur under a natural flow regime. To my knowledge, studies that incorporate fish into ecological networks (e.g., food webs) are yet to be developed for the Ogeechee River, thus, one of the main objectives of this research was to address this knowledge gap. Five fish species were collected from June 2016 to October 2016 in order to …
Assemblage Structure, Production, And Food Web Dynamics Of Macroinvertebrates In Tropical Island Headwater Streams, Keysa G. Rosas-Rodriguez
Assemblage Structure, Production, And Food Web Dynamics Of Macroinvertebrates In Tropical Island Headwater Streams, Keysa G. Rosas-Rodriguez
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Variation in long-term temperature and precipitation patterns will likely influence the decomposition and export of benthic organic matter and influence aquatic macroinvertebrate consumer communities. Tropical systems are relatively understudied; therefore basal information is urgently needed. As part of an ongoing long-term study, we monitored macroinvertebrates in two shrimp-dominated and fishless headwater streams within the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico from 2009-2010. We combined growth rates with yearly biomass data to calculate secondary production and examined gut contents to develop quantitative food webs. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were dominated by a few insect taxa, with similar biotic composition across streams and habitats, …
Microbial Communities Colonizing Leaves During Early Decomposition Stages, Stephanie Harper
Microbial Communities Colonizing Leaves During Early Decomposition Stages, Stephanie Harper
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Microbial communities associated with decaying leaves play an important role in the cycling of nutrients in stream ecosystems. In headwater streams that are deemed as heterotrophic, bacteria and fungi are main drivers of organic matter decomposition and thus partly responsible for facilitating the cycling of nutrients from leaves that fall into the stream. The main objective of this study was to compare microbial community composition between different leaf types during breakdown in stream ecosystems. To achieve this objective, I used a combination of field and laboratory trials. Field experiments were performed at the Luquillo Experimental Forest using Dacryodes excelsa and …