2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
5/24/2021 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | EFFECTS OF BEAVER ACTIVITY AND BEAVER DAM ANALOGS ON WATER QUALITY AND MACROINVERTEBRATE DIVERSITY IN URBAN STREAMS | Virtual Platform
EFFECTS OF BEAVER ACTIVITY AND BEAVER DAM ANALOGS ON WATER QUALITY AND MACROINVERTEBRATE DIVERSITY IN URBAN STREAMS
Beaver populations are rebounding throughout the US and seem well adapted to living in urban streams. By retaining stormwater and sediment, increasing microbial processing, and returning stream channels towards pre-colonial geomorphology, beaver dams could improve water quality and habitat in impacted urban streams. Beaver dam analogs (BDAs) are a process-based restoration technique used in locations not currently colonized by beavers, potentially more effective and less expensive than traditional form-based restoration. In Atlanta, GA, USA, we sampled stream macroinvertebrates in 2018 and 2021 upstream and downstream of urban beaver dams and BDAs, which were installed in 2020. We also sampled stream water chemistry monthly 2017-2021 upstream and downstream at the same sites and additional beaver sites. We found some positive changes in the macroinvertebrate community following the BDA installation, but the beaver dam site had declined in both abundance and diversity. The water quality trends at all sites were complicated, with some indications of improved downstream water quality, in particular nitrogen retention, but these trends were also affected by hydrology, in particular large, dam-removing storm events, a common occurrence for urban beavers that decreases the benefits seen in less impacted systems.
- Restoration
- Nutrients
- Monitoring
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Presenters/Authors
Elizabeth Sudduth
(), Georgia Gwinnett College, esudduth@ggc.edu;
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Hannah Talbert
(), Georgia Gwinnett College, htalbert@ggc.edu;
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Alanna James
(), Georgia Gwinnett College, ajames13@ggc.edu;
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Paul Hebert
(), Georgia Gwinnett College, phebert@ggc.edu;
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