Litter input from riparian tree cover brings organic matter and nutrients to streams and is a driving factor of stream communities and food webs. In particular, changes in the composition and cover of riparian forests could affect stream light conditions as well as the amount and quality of terrestrial litter inputs. In northern Swedish landscapes, riparian zones of headwater streams are dominated by coniferous species, and current forest management guidelines suggest that we should prioritize greater deciduous cover in streamside forests to promote the ecological condition of streams. In this study, I investigated how deciduous forest cover in riparian zones may influence the composition and diversity of macroinvertebrate communities in boreal headwater streams. Macroinvertebrates from samples collected at eight streams ranging from spruce- to birch-dominated riparian zones were sorted, identified to family, and used to generate metrics describing taxonomic richness, community composition, and functional feeding groups. Correlation analysis showed no statistical relationship between riparian deciduousness and macroinvertebrate richness across sites, although evenness decreased with deciduous cover. Indeed, variation in some community metrics (e.g., the % herbivores) were more closely linked to water chemistry (e.g., pH) than to local riparian composition. While this study is limited by the low statistical power and lack of seasonal resolution, results suggest that other catchment properties may influence how boreal stream communities respond to local riparian cover.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-221692 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Källberg, Sara |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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