Analysis of Hydric Pine Flatwood Ephemeral Pool Macroinvertebrate and Crustacean Assemblages Along a Temporal and Spatial Gradient From a Hypothesized Colonial Source

364 Pages·1998·10 MB·English

by  Griffith, Henry Leon, III

;
ColumbusStateUniversity
TheCollegeofScience
TheGraduatePrograminEnvironmentalScience
AnalysisofHydricPineFlatwoodEphemeralPoolMacroinvertebrateand
CrustaceanAssemblagesalongaTemporalandSpatialGradientfroma
HypothesizedColonialSource.
AThesisin
EnvironmentalScience
by
HenryLeonGriffithIII
SubmittedinPartialFulfillment
oftheRequirements
fortheDegreeof
MasterofScience
June1998
©1998byHenryLeonGriffithIII
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation
http://archive.org/details/analysisofhydricOOgrif
II
Ihavesubmittedthisthesisinpartialfulfillmentoftherequirementsofthedegreeof
MasterofScience.
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Date HenryL.GriffithIII
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az /9&
mDate JamesA.Gore.Professorof
EnvironmentalScience,ThesisAdvisor
Date GeorgeE.Stanton,ProfessorofBiology
WilliamJ.Frazier.ProfessorofGeology
Date WilliamS.Birkhead,ProfessorofBiology

Abstract
Asurveyofthemacroinvertebrateandcrustaceanassemblagesinhydricpineflatwood
wetlandsduringfillanddrawdownperiodswasconductedfromSeptembertoNovember
1998,inLeeCounty,Florida. Physicalandchemicalinformation,relationshipsbetween
community composition and physical and chemical conditions were analyzed and a
monitoringplanfordetectingimpactsofdecliningwatersupplyinhydricpineflatwood
communitieswas proposed. In addition, possible sources ofcolonists and patterns of
communityassemblagewereinvestigated. Twelveephemeralpoolsandthreeassociated
intermittentlyexposedcypressheadsweresampledmonthly,overthreemonths,using 1
D-ringbenthicsweep,2Hester-Dendymultipleplateartificial substrates,2bottlebrush
artificialsubstrates,and1funneltrappersite. Bray-Curtisbasedordinationsandcluster
analysis revealed significant dissimilarity between and among macroinvertebrate,
chironomid, and crustaceanassemblages in ephemeral pool and intermittently exposed
cypressheadhabitatsatdistanceswithin200meters. APrincipleComponentsAnalysis
(PCA)ofnon-chironomidmacroinvertebrateassemblagesandthephysicalandchemical
parameters measured revealed that the distribution ofthe taxa collected could not be
significantlycorrelated withany ofthe physical orchemical criteria. Thepattern of
colonizationofthetemporarywetlandswithintheFlintPenStrandhydricpineflatwoods
mimicsthoseforinvasionofisolatedislandsintheworld'soceans. Speciesinvasionis
rapid by active dispersers and slightly slowerby passive dispersers. Colonization is
dependentupondistancetotherecipientislands,bothspatiallyandtemporally,andthe
numberofintervening"stepping-stoneislands"actingastemporaryrefugia. Theisolated