The Moose River Basin in northern Ontario is an important large river system, however very little is known about its aquatic invertebrate community. As macro invertebrates are an integral part of river ecosystems, I conducted an initial assessment of the aquatic invertebrate community structure in the Moose River Basin, at both a fine, and a basin-wide, scale. The fine scale study used invertebrate data collected at five reaches within a 30km stretch of the Groundhog River. The examination of the invertebrate community at a basin-wide scale was accomplished using meta-analysis techniques on twenty-two studies conducted on various rivers within the Basin. The effect of the following factors on community structure were examined: i) the use of different sampling devices, ii) water depth, iii) substrate type, iv) sampling in two consecutive years, and v) spatial scale. I found that the use of various sampling devices resulted in significantly different estimates of community structure. This strongly suggests that consistent sampling protocols are necessary to effectively compare results within, and among, studies. The effect of water depth on community structure was inconclusive, as too few samples were collected to overcome the confounding effects of substrate type. Substrate type had a significant effect on community structure, with greater invertebrate richness and diversity found in fine substrate in the Groundhog River study, but with no consistent patterns at the basin-wide scale. Invertebrate richness and diversity did not differ significantly in the Groundhog River between two consecutive years. In both the fine-scale and the basin-wide studies, the distribution of aquatic invertebrates varied among sites within a river reach, and among reaches within a river. To further examine the biological and physical processes affecting community structure at the fine-scale, consistent sampling protocols should be employed, which may also allow basin-wide trends to emerge. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

<p>The Long Rapids Formation in the Moose River Basin of northern Ontario is Upper Devonian in age and can be correlated with similar shale deposits in the Michigan, Appalachian, and Illinois Basins . The southern Ontario equivalent to the Long Rapids Formation is the Kettle Point Formation. </p> <p> The Long Rapids Formation is a marine black shale deposited predominantly under depleted oxygen conditions. Large amounts of marine organic matter from the water column and from terrestrial sources accumulated in reducing bottom waters with little recycling to produce brown to black, organic-rich sediments . The depositional basin was stratified, and anoxic bottom waters and oxic surface waters were separated by a pycnocline. The position of the pycnocline (or the absence of it) dictated the type of sediment deposited, and the relative depth of the pycnocline to the sediment-water interface was more important than the absolute depth of the water column. The Moose River Basin in Late Devonian times was located on the Laurasian Continent in an area experiencing tropical conditions and was affected by a period of transgression following the Acadian Orogeny. The black shales in the Long Rapids Formation represent a period of transgression of the large epicontinental Catskill Sea, whereas the green-grey mudstones and carbonates represent periods of minor eustatic changes. </p> <p> Dark-coloured facies with abundant bioturbation are overlain by lighter-coloured facies. Bioturbation is variable in the less abundant green-grey mudstone and carbonate facies, and were also low in organic matter. The ichnofauna suite Chondrites-Planolites-Zoophycos-Alcyonidiopsis-(?Teichichnus) represents an oxygen-minimum ichnofacies found predominantly in dark shale facies. As more oxygen was introduced to the sediment-water interface, more permanent burrow structures were constructed such as Teichichnus, Terebellina, ?Cylindrichnus, Skolithos, and Ichnogenus "A" in the green-grey mudstones and carbonates. As well, body fossils were more commonly found in those facies. The Leiorhynchus brachiopod fauna in the dark-coloured shales probably represents a sparse epifauna living in poorly oxygenated or temporarily oxic conditions in a basinal or open-shelf environment. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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