Aquatic Invertebrate Monitoring at Wilson Creek National Battlefield: 1996-2010 Status and Trend Report.

摘要

In the late 1980s, the National Park Service (NPS) began an program to monitor water quality and aquatic invertebrate community structure in prairie streams at several midwestern parks. Included in this baseline study were streams within Wilsons Creek National Battlefield (WICR). Preliminary monitoring was conducted at WICR from 1988 to 1990 at Wilsons Creek and a tributary, Skeggs Branch. Following theses baseline years, monitoring was not conducted again until 1996, from which date it was conducted annually through 2007. Since 2007, monitoring was conducted every 3 years. An additional tributary, Terrell Creek, was included for monitoring beginning in 2006. Since 2006, monitoring at WICR has been based on a monitoring protocol developed by the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network using revised methodology from previous protocols. The objectives of current monitoring are to: (1) determine the status and trends of invertebrate species diversity, abundance, and community metrics, and (2) relate invertebrate community composition, as quantified by metrics related to species richness, abundance, diversity, and region-specific multimetric indices that function as indicators of water quality and habitat condition, to overall water quality within the study area.