2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
6/07/2017 | 9:15 AM - 9:30 AM | TESTING THE MIGHTY HEADWATER HYPOTHESIS USING UPLAND STREAM ASSEMBLAGES OF ALABAMA, USA | 302C
TESTING THE MIGHTY HEADWATER HYPOTHESIS USING UPLAND STREAM ASSEMBLAGES OF ALABAMA, USA
The Mighty Headwater Hypothesis (MHH) suggests that compositional differences among stream assemblages (beta-diversity) are highest in headwater streams and decline with increasing stream-size. Thus, the MHH would imply that these unique small-stream assemblages may need higher conservation priority than they currently receive. We tested the hypothesis that there is a significant negative relationship between stream-size and beta-diversity of aquatic assemblages. We collected fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages from upland streams of varying sizes (0.14 – 290.1 km2) in the Black Warrior (n = 17, Appalachian Plateau ecoregion) and Tallapoosa River (n = 16, Piedmont ecoregion) watersheds of Alabama. We calculated dissimilarity values via 2 methods to evaluate beta-diversity; a null model derived Raup-Crick (R-C) and Sorenson’s. Sorenson’s beta-diversity for Tallapoosa River fish assemblages was negatively related to stream-size (R2 = 0.28, p = 0.02), but no other relationships with Sorenson’s or R-C indices were significant. These results show little support for the MHH and suggest that its predictions do not best describe watershed-level biodiversity patterns in upland-streams of the southeastern US, possibly due to lack of environmental heterogeneity at this scale.
- C03 Invertebrates
- C02 Fish and Other Aquatic Vertebrates
- C11 Community Ecology
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Presenters/Authors
Eric Bauer
(), Auburn University, efb0005@tigermail.auburn.edu;
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Brian Helms
(), Troy University, helmsb@troy.edu;
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Jack Feminella
(), Auburn University, feminjw@auburn.edu;
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