Macroinvertebrates have long been used as indicators of water quality, and more recently to evaluate the impact of adjacent land use practices. However, most of the recent research has focused on high gradient or higher order streams. Our research examines the effects of adjacent land use practices on macroinvertebrate communities in three low gradient, headwater streams in the Prairie Region of Missouri. We sampled 17 sites in fall 1999, spring 2000, and summer 2000. Each site was surrounded by forest, pasture, or row crops. ANCOVA, using distance from stream head as a covariate, did not reveal significant differences in species richness, abundance, Fisher's log series alpha, or evenness based on adjacent land use, regardless of season. Discriminant function analysis successfully grouped sites surrounded by different land uses based on species composition. Cluster analysis revealed groupings of the sites, but these groupings differed for each sampling period. In summary, we found differences in richness, abundance, diversity, and evenness of macroinvertebrate communities at sites surrounded by different land uses but these communities are greatly influenced by distance of the site from the stream head.
Keywords: land use, headwater streams
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