2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
6/05/2017 | 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM | EFFECTS OF DAM REMOVAL EXTEND TO TERRESTRIAL FOOD WEBS: EVIDENCE FROM A COMMON RIPARIAN CONSUMER | 301A
EFFECTS OF DAM REMOVAL EXTEND TO TERRESTRIAL FOOD WEBS: EVIDENCE FROM A COMMON RIPARIAN CONSUMER
The longitudinal influences of dam removal on river ecosystem structure and function are increasingly well described, but impacts on lateral connectivity with adjacent terrestrial systems are unknown. We quantified the effects of lowhead dam removal on a model riparian consumer – spiders of the family Tetragnathidae – before and three years following dam removal. We compared spider density, reliance on aquatically-derived energy (i.e., nutritional subsidies originating from benthic algae), and trophic position among four river reaches: three experimental reaches (upstream unrestored, upstream with channel restoration, downstream of former dam) and one control reach above an intact lowhead dam. Spider densities declined after dam removal system-wide (up to 15.5× lower than pre-dam removal), with the sharpest declines at an upstream-restored reach. In the first two years, spiders were 1.6× more reliant on aquatically-derived energy, yet trophic position decreased without corresponding changes in prey abundance, biomass, or body size. Spiders potentially tracked different basal resource use via chironomid prey, which exhibited shifts in isotopic signatures after dam removal. Our study illustrates that dam removal, an increasingly common river-restoration method, can have significant lateral effects on terrestrial consumers and food webs.
- C25 Food Webs
- C28 Land-Water Interfaces
- S14 Stressors in linked aquatic-terrestrial ecosystems: New developments and solutions
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Presenters/Authors
S. Mažeika Patricio Sulliván
(), The Ohio State University, sullivan.191@osu.edu;
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David W. P. Manning
(), The Ohio State University, manning.413@osu.edu;
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Robert P. Davis
(), The Ohio State University, davis.4683@buckeyemail.osu.edu ;
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