Title
Assessment of the Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities of the Upper Main Stem of the Susquehanna River during Summer 2017
Start Date
10-11-2017 8:00 PM
End Date
10-11-2017 9:59 PM
Description
The summer of 2017 was the ninth year in a long term study of the benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) community in the upper main stem of the Susquehanna River. The purpose of this long-term study was to use these taxa to provide a baseline estimate of water quality. A total of five locations in the river were sampled in the transect that straddles Byers Island near the Sunbury Generation LP and below the Adam T. Bower inflatable dam at Sunbury, PA and below the confluence of the West Branch and North Branch of the Susquehanna River. Of these five locations sites 1 and 5 were located inside the west branch plume (WBP) and sites 2, 3, and 4 were inside the north branch plume (NBP). Rock basket passive samplers were deployed at all sites according to EPA guidelines for non-wadeable streams. Preliminary results between site 1 (WBP) and site 2 (NBP) low variability in generated metrics for sites 1 and 2. For example the number of taxa recovered from sites 1 and 2 was 15 and 12, respectively. The Hilsenhoff number generated by preliminary counts in sites 1 and 2 were 3.9-5.0 and 3.8-4.3, respectively. In addition the Shannon Diversity Index (SDI) and the %EPT were similar also. The SDI values were 1.7 for site one and 1.9 for site two while the %EPT was 76 and 78, respectively. During the months of May through July, the time period that had the greatest impact on the BMI community that we collected, average discharge was much higher during 2017 than 2016 (34,823 gps vs . 12,187 gps, respectively). In comparison the 78 year average is 22,300 gps. The %EPT had much more in common with 2015’s (85% for site one and 87% for site 2) than 2016’s (50% for site one and 65% for site 2).This leads us to believe that since 2015 was also high discharge year that this factor could have a large effect on %EPT. They had an average Bray-Curtis similarity of 52% during 2016 and 55% in 2017 according to the preliminary studies. Hester-Dendy Multiplate samplers and the other sites will be discussed in full later.
Keywords
Susquehanna River, benthic macroinvertebrate, discharge
Type
Poster
Session
Poster session
Language
eng
Assessment of the Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities of the Upper Main Stem of the Susquehanna River during Summer 2017
Elaine Langone Center, Terrace Room
The summer of 2017 was the ninth year in a long term study of the benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) community in the upper main stem of the Susquehanna River. The purpose of this long-term study was to use these taxa to provide a baseline estimate of water quality. A total of five locations in the river were sampled in the transect that straddles Byers Island near the Sunbury Generation LP and below the Adam T. Bower inflatable dam at Sunbury, PA and below the confluence of the West Branch and North Branch of the Susquehanna River. Of these five locations sites 1 and 5 were located inside the west branch plume (WBP) and sites 2, 3, and 4 were inside the north branch plume (NBP). Rock basket passive samplers were deployed at all sites according to EPA guidelines for non-wadeable streams. Preliminary results between site 1 (WBP) and site 2 (NBP) low variability in generated metrics for sites 1 and 2. For example the number of taxa recovered from sites 1 and 2 was 15 and 12, respectively. The Hilsenhoff number generated by preliminary counts in sites 1 and 2 were 3.9-5.0 and 3.8-4.3, respectively. In addition the Shannon Diversity Index (SDI) and the %EPT were similar also. The SDI values were 1.7 for site one and 1.9 for site two while the %EPT was 76 and 78, respectively. During the months of May through July, the time period that had the greatest impact on the BMI community that we collected, average discharge was much higher during 2017 than 2016 (34,823 gps vs . 12,187 gps, respectively). In comparison the 78 year average is 22,300 gps. The %EPT had much more in common with 2015’s (85% for site one and 87% for site 2) than 2016’s (50% for site one and 65% for site 2).This leads us to believe that since 2015 was also high discharge year that this factor could have a large effect on %EPT. They had an average Bray-Curtis similarity of 52% during 2016 and 55% in 2017 according to the preliminary studies. Hester-Dendy Multiplate samplers and the other sites will be discussed in full later.