IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i10p2875-d232883.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dam Removal Effects on Benthic Macroinvertebrate Dynamics: A New England Stream Case Study (Connecticut, USA)

Author

Listed:
  • Helen M. Poulos

    (College of the Environment, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA)

  • Kate E. Miller

    (College of the Environment, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
    Biology and Environmental Science Department, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT 06510, USA)

  • Ross Heinemann

    (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA)

  • Michelle L. Kraczkowski

    (College of the Environment, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
    Department of Biology, University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA)

  • Adam W. Whelchel

    (The Nature Conservancy, New Haven, CT 06510, USA)

  • Barry Chernoff

    (College of the Environment, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
    Department of Biology, University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA
    Department of Biology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA)

Abstract

Dam removal is an increasingly common stream restoration tool. Yet, removing dams from small streams also represents a major disturbance to rivers that can have varied impacts on environmental conditions and aquatic biota. We examined the effects of dam removal on the structure, function, and composition of benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) communities in a temperate New England stream. We examined the effects of dam removal over the dam removal time-series using linear mixed effects models, autoregressive models, non-metric multidimensional scaling, and indicator and similarity analyses. The results indicated that the dam removal stimulated major shifts in BMI community structure and composition above and below the dam, and that the BMI communities are becoming more similar over time. The mixed model analysis revealed that BMI functional groups and diversity were significantly influenced by sample site and several BMI groups also experienced significant interactions between site and dam stage ( P < 0.05), while the multivariate analyses revealed that community structure continues to differ among sites, even three years after dam removal. Our findings indicate that stream restoration through dam removal can have site-specific influences on BMI communities, that interactions among BMI taxa are important determinants of the post-dam removal community, and that the post-dam-removal BMI community continues to be in a state of reorganization.

Suggested Citation

  • Helen M. Poulos & Kate E. Miller & Ross Heinemann & Michelle L. Kraczkowski & Adam W. Whelchel & Barry Chernoff, 2019. "Dam Removal Effects on Benthic Macroinvertebrate Dynamics: A New England Stream Case Study (Connecticut, USA)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-25, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:10:p:2875-:d:232883
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2875/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2875/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:10:p:2875-:d:232883. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.