2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/21/2019 | 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM | HURRICANE DISTURBANCE AND BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES IN EL YUNQUE NATIONAL FOREST, PUERTO RICO | 254 B
HURRICANE DISTURBANCE AND BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES IN EL YUNQUE NATIONAL FOREST, PUERTO RICO
Hurricanes are recurrent disturbances in the Caribbean. However, climate change models predict an increase in storm frequency for the region. Hurricane winds remove the forest canopy and create high discharge events during the storm. Our main objective is to assess the impacts of hurricanes Irma and Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, on the composition and structure of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in streams draining El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. We sampled riffle and pool habitats in two headwater streams draining tabonuco forest before and after the hurricanes impacted the island. Over 40 macroinvertebrate taxa were found, dominated by Leptophlebiidae (Ephemeroptera), Chironomidae (Diptera), Elmidae (Coleoptera), Hydropsychidae and Calamoceratidae (Trichoptera), and Oligochaeta. Hurricanes resulted in large floods and created debris dams. The storms significantly decreased macroinvertebrate abundance. The magnitude of the impacts were severe, but of similar magnitude of those observed for less intense storms. Frequent floods are common in our study region, thus assemblages are adapted and can recover quickly. We hypothesize that major hurricane impacts are associated with canopy opening and changes to the energy resources for stream food webs and not with flood disturbance.
- ClimateChange
- Tropics
- Invertebrate
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Presenters/Authors
Alonso RamÃrez
(), North Carolina State University, alonso.ramirez@ncsu.edu;
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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Nonfinancial -
Pablo E. Gutiérrez-Fonseca
(), University of Costa Rica, pabloe.gutierrezfonseca@gmail.com;
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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Nonfinancial -