Aquatic macroinvertebrate and physical habitat monitoring for Capulin Creek and Rito de los Frijoles in Bandelier National Monument: 2015 summary report

Stumpf, Stacy

This report presents data from SCPN’s eighth year of monitoring aquatic macroinvertebrates and physical habitat at Capulin Creek, as well as data from our sixth year of monitoring aquatic macroinvertebrates and physical habitat at the Rito de los Frijoles in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. We stress that any differences between sampling years and locations should not to be interpreted as an ecologically significant trend, as trends cannot be determined with confidence by a few years of sampling data. Differences may be attributed to multiple factors, including ecological variability, sampling error, and observer bias. SCPN attempts to minimize sampling error and observer bias by thoroughly training crew members in the proper field techniques prior to each sampling season. The effects of the Las Conchas Fire and subsequent flood events continue to impact the physical habitat and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in Capulin Creek and Rito de los Frijoles. This was the first year since Los Conchas that riffle habitat was present at Capulin Creek, allowing us to collect quantitative samples from both sites. Abundance values for taxa at Capulin sites were among the largest that we have seen in the history of our sampling program at Capulin Creek. The presence of taxa diversity still hasn’t returned to pre-fire numbers. Plecopterans, trichopterans, coleopterans, and odonates have yet to recover to pre-fire abundances, and in some cases, have not been present in samples since the fire. This year marked the largest total abundance values we have seen postfire at RIT02, which are approaching pre-fire totals. However, similarly to samples collected from Capulin Creek, recovery of plecopterans, coleopterans, and odonates has not yet occurred. Interestingly, total abundance values declined downstream at RIT01 com-pared to 2014 values. While these differences are likely attributable to the annual variation common in aquatic macroinvertebrate populations, it should be noted that SCPN did sample the site while a large construction project was occurring along the Frijoles. From August 2015 to April 2016 a replacement motor vehicle bridge was placed directly over our monitoring reach (pers comm. Jeremy Sweat 04 January 2017). This project resulted in disturbance to the floodplain, stream bank and instream habitat along our monitoring reach. Future years of data collection will be needed to determine if this action has had any impact of the aquatic community at RIT01. The data in this report should be viewed as a snapshot of conditions existing within the aquatic community at the time of our visit. Data and analyses in this report are provisional and are subject to change. When sufficient data are available, SCPN plans to produce an interpretive report including trend analysis of aquatic macroinvertebrate metrics and physical habitat data for both Capulin Creek and the Rito de los Frijoles.

Aquatic macroinvertebrate and physical habitat monitoring for Capulin Creek and Rito de los Frijoles in Bandelier National Monument: 2015 summary report

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