Relationships between environmental characteristics and macroinvertebrate communities in seasonal woodland ponds of Minnesota

Abstract

We related macroinvertebrate communities and environmental variables in 66 small seasonal woodland ponds of northern Minnesota, USA. These wetlands were relatively pristine, being embedded in 50- to 100-y-old 2nd-growth forests. Macroinvertebrate taxon richness in ponds increased as hydroperiods lengthened, tree canopies opened, water pH declined, and litter input decreased. Eighteen macroinvertebrate taxa were widespread (occurred in >5O% of ponds), and hydrology water chemistry, geomorphology vegetation, occurrence of other macroinvertebrate taxa, and presence of amphibian larvae each explained some variation in relative abundance of widespread macroinvertebrates. The first 4 axes of a canonical correspondence analysis explained 37% of total variation in relative abundance of widespread macroinvertebrate taxa. Overall, however, macroinvertebrates were remarkably unresponsive to environmental variables. Most relationships between macroinvertebrates and environmental variables were nonsignificant, and the few significant relationships observed were weak (

Citation

Batzer, Darold P.; Palik, Brian J.; Buech, Richard. 2004. Relationships between environmental characteristics and macroinvertebrate communities in seasonal woodland ponds of Minnesota. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 23(1):50-68