Aquatic invertebrate monitoring at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument: 2021 data report
Tronstad LM and Tronstad BP. 2023. Aquatic invertebrate monitoring at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument: 2021 data report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/AGFO/NRDS—2023/1389. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2296753
Monitoring ecosystems is critical to detect changes so that managers can address alterations. Freshwater streams are connected to the surrounding landscape and their health is a measure of the overall watershed integrity. Streams are the culmination of upland processes and inputs. Degradation, restoration and many other changes within the watershed can be detected in streams using biota living in these ecosystems. Aquatic invertebrates are excellent indicators of ecosystem quality because they are relatively long-lived, sessile, diverse, abundant, easy to collect and their tolerance to disturbance differ. Aquatic invertebrates were monitored at three sites along the Niobrara River at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in 2021 completing 25 years of data collection. We collected invertebrates using two methods. Hester-Dendy samplers are artificial multi-plate samplers suspended in the water column to allow invertebrates to colonize and a Hess sampler is a metal tube that surrounds a known area to collect invertebrates on natural substrate and vegetation. We identified 55 invertebrate taxa from four phyla (Annelida, Arthropoda, Molluska, Nematoda) using both samplers in the Niobrara River (Appendix A and B). Hester-Dendy samplers collected one taxon not found in Hess samples and Hess samples collected 32 taxa not collected with Hester-Dendy samplers. Hess samples captured most taxa (98%) compared to Hester-Dendy samples (42%). Insecta, Crustacea, Annelida were the most abundant groups of invertebrates collected in the Niobrara River. The proportion of Insecta, Annelida, Molluska, Coleoptera, Odonata and Hemiptera differed between Hester-Dendy and Hess samples (p 0.10) did not. HBI at the sites ranged from 3.7 to 5.9 (very good to fair from Hilsenhoff 1987) using the Hester-Dendy and 5.2 (good from Hilsenhoff 1987) using the Hess sampler.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Tronstad, Lusha; Tronstad, Bryan
- Date of Issue
- 2023-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2296753
- Units
- AGFO , NGPN , NRSS
- Keywords
- aquatic macroinvertebrates, invertebrates, monitor, water
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Aquatic Macroinvertebrates and Algae