The change of land use to include more urban areas is considered one of the main threats to biodiversity worldwide. Urban stormwater retention ponds have been built to collect storm runoff intensified by the increase in impervious surfaces. Although subject to environmental pressures like habitat degradation and pollution, these stormwater retention ponds are diversity hotspots by providing habitat for several aquatic and semi-aquatic species, including dragonflies. Previous research in Denton, Texas, has demonstrated that urban stormwater retention ponds support high taxa richness of adult dragonflies, but not for the aquatic nymphs. The current study builds on what we have seen by focusing on the immature aquatic stage as nymphs using secondary production of dominant dragonfly taxa and community structure to compare ecosystem function in three ponds with differing intensities of land use. Comparing communities and secondary production resulted in specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen, complex vegetation, and abundance explaining the differences between dragonfly communities. Secondary production was dependent on abundance which followed the intensity of urban land use surrounding the pond. This study supports that urban land use does have an effect on the functioning of the ponds and shows the importance of studying the communities over a year to get a clearer picture of what is happening in the ponds.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc2179239 |
| Date | 07 1900 |
| Creators | Stallings, Gillian Carol |
| Contributors | Kennedy, James H., Liang, Lu, Banks, Kenneth |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | Public, Stallings, Gillian Carol, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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