Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Characterizing Community-Level Size Spectra In Piedmont Streams Of Virginia (Usa), Giancarlo Racanelli

Theses and Dissertations

Many aquatic communities demonstrate an inverse scaling relationship between average body mass and density. Using quantitative samples of macroinvertebrates and fishes, we modeled this relationship in three Piedmont streams where little empirical research has been conducted. The size spectra (SS) method, in which individuals are identified by size, not taxonomic identity, was used with linear regression to model density as a function of mass. Fish and benthic invertebrate samples were collected on simultaneous days during September, then used to develop community-level SS models (combined fish and invertebrate data) for each stream. Invertebrate samples were also collected from each stream in …