Biology Commons^™

Drivers Of Macroinvertebrate Community Integrity Within Mixed Urban And Agricultural Dominated Mississippi Tributary Watersheds, Matthew R. Straus, Bethany Mabel Lian Schorr, Kevin Geedey, Michael Reisner, Benjamin Ford

Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The “urban stream syndrome” refers to a multitude of impacts caused by urbanization including flashier hydrograph, elevated concentrations of nutrients and contaminants, altered channel morphology and stability, reduced biotic richness, with increased dominance of tolerant species, reduced base flow and increased suspended solids. The drivers of these “symptoms” include impervious surfaces, piping in stormwater drainages, habitat and forest loss, water supply and sewer leaking, and direct alterations to channel morphology and flow. The goal of this study was to assess the integrity of the macroinvertebrate community and determine the most significant drivers of such integrity at the catchment, riparian zone, …

Non-Native Coccinellid Beetles And Land Use Abundance Patterns In The Quad Cities Region, Jack Hughes, Tierney Brosius, Michael Reisner

Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Harmonia axyridis was introduced in 1916. This species of coccinellid beetle is considered a desirable species for agriculture practices because of its ability to control pests. There is increasing evidence that H. axyridis may be outcompeting native species which could be contributing to the decline of some species that are disappearing from the landscape. Harmonia axyridis has a large migration range of 2 Km enabling the species to affect a large area of land. Invasive species often increase in abundance in urban landscapes which may be the case with H. axyridis. During the summer of 2021 we investigated H. axyridis …

Studying Macroinvertebrate Diversity In An Urbanized Watershed Of Rock Island, Illinois., Brittany A. Poynor

Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Urban land-use covers millions of hectares in the United States. Rock Island is an urbanized city in Illinois, U.S.A. that currently has issues with their stormwater system due to being an urban area. For the past few years, the water quality of the streams in this watershed has been examined, but the biodiversity which can also contribute to water quality knowledge, has not been studied in depth.

The study proposed in this paper is based on the amount of biodiversity in the streams at ten sites in the Rock Island watershed and the water quality at those same sites. It …