4.2 Article

Diversity patterns in subarctic stream benthic invertebrate assemblages from the Sahtu Settlement Area, Northwest Territories, Canada

Journal

ARCTIC SCIENCE
Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages 9-25

Publisher

CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING, NRC RESEARCH PRESS
DOI: 10.1139/as-2015-0006

Keywords

aquatic diversity; subarctic; Sahtu Settlement Region; benthic invertebrates

Funding

  1. NSERC
  2. Sahtu Renewable Resources Board
  3. Northern Scientific Training Program of the Aboriginal Affairs
  4. Northern Development Canada
  5. W. Garfield Weston Award

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Benthic invertebrate assemblages were studied across four streams in the Sahtu Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories between July 2010 and October 2011 to provide information on biotic composition and associations with habitat and temporal factors. Overall diversity was similar for all streams, although taxonomic composition varied among the streams. Within streams, richness was highest in riffle and snag (woody debris) habitats and lowest in pools and leafpacks. A substantial portion of taxa (similar to 25%) would have been missed if only riffles had been sampled. Nearly 88% of individuals belonged to eight taxa, with >60% of individuals found in only two families (Chironomidae and Baetidae). While high within family diversity was observed, samples were also characterized by large numbers of rare taxa, with large temporal differences in abundances. Future benthic assessments in northern streams would benefit from increased sampling effort to ensure representative samples for comparing streams or sites and approaches that target dominant families in the north (e.g., Chironomidae), which can provide a great deal of information on biodiversity when examined at the generic level. Likewise, further analysis of the seasonal compositional turnover for some assemblages may be necessary to distinguish anthropogenic responses from natural variability.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.2
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available