Southern Research Station

Title: Role of Podostemum certaphyllum Michx. in structuring benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in southern Appalachian river

Author: Hutchens, John J., Jr.; Wallance, J. Bruce

Date: 2004

Source: J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., Vol. 23(4): 713-727

Description: Podostemum ceratophyllum Michx. has been associated with extremely high secondary production of benthic macroinvertebrates in open-canopy rapids. We conducted an experiment in the 7^th-order Little Tennessee River, North Carolina, to test whether varying amounts of Podostemum influenced macroinvertebrate abundance, biomass, community composition, and functional feeding group structure. The experiment consisted of 3 treatments in which P. ceratophyllum was completely, partially, or not removed from portions of 4 bedrock outcrops at 2 sites. Macroinvertebrates were sampled at 0,3, and 6 wk post treatment. Complete removal of I! ceratop@llum greatly reduced overall macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass and altered assemblage structure, but had relatively little effect on functional structure. The lack of change in functional feeding group structure was probably a result of the importance of P. ceratophyllum as a substrate for epiphytic algae, and the availability of nearby colonists in undisturbed habitats. We found a strong positive relationship between surface area of Podostemum and total macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass. We estimated that P. ceratophyllum increased surface area by 3 to 4 times over bare bedrock. Podostemum ceratophyllum in the Little Tennessee River serves as an important habitat supporting high abundance and biomass of macroinvertebrates.`

Keywords: macrophytes, productivity, habitat, surface area, functional feeding groups, filterers, gatherers, scrapers

View and Print this Publication (1.06 MB)

Pristine Version:  An uncaptured or "pristine" version of this publication is available. It has not been subjected to OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and therefore does not have any errors in the text. However it is a larger file size and some people may experience long download times. The "pristine" version of this publication is available here:

View and Print the PRISTINE copy of this Publication (1.28 MB)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Hutchens, John J., Jr.; Wallance, J. Bruce  2004.  Role of Podostemum certaphyllum Michx. in structuring benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in southern Appalachian river.   J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., Vol. 23(4): 713-727