Long-term Recovery of a Mountain Stream from Clear-cut Logging: The Effects of Forest Succession on Benthic Invertebrate Community Structure. Stone, M. K. Freshwater Biology, 1998.
Long-term Recovery of a Mountain Stream from Clear-cut Logging: The Effects of Forest Succession on Benthic Invertebrate Community Structure [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Summary 1. Changes in benthic invertebrate community structure following sixteen years of forest succession after logging were examined by estimating benthic invertebrate abundance, biomass and secondary production in streams draining a forested reference and a recovering clear-cut catchment. Benthic invertebrate abundance was three times higher, and invertebrate biomass and production were two times higher in the disturbed stream. 2. Comparison of invertebrate community abundance one, five and sixteen years after clear-cutting indicated that the proportion of scrapers had decreased, whereas shredders had increased. Functional group percent similarity indicated that the invertebrate community in the disturbed stream sixteen years after clear-cutting was more similar to the reference than to that found earlier in the disturbed stream. 3. The five indices calculated from data collected over the past sixteen years, as well as the abundance, biomass and production data collected during this study proved to be of differing value in assessing recovery of the disturbed stream from logging. Percent dominant taxon and EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera) taxon richness failed to show any initial differences between reference and disturbed streams indicating that these indices may not be useful for measuring recovery from logging. The % Baetis and shredder-scraper indices showed significant differences only during the 1977 study and suggest recovery (no difference between reference and disturbed) by 1982. The North Carolina Biotic Index showed continued differences during 1982 in the riffle and depositional habitats and recovery by 1993. Total macroinvertebrate abundance, biomass and production, as well as EPT abundance, indicated continued differences between the reference and disturbed streams in the 1993 study. KEY WORDS: Benthic Invertebrates, Functional Groups, Secondary production, Clear-cutting, Disturbance, Recovery, Forest Succession, Long-term, Biotic Indices

Downloads: 0