Cma naiurally impoverished boreal Ephemeropterz, Plecoptera. and Trichoptara (EPT) fauna serve as an indicator of water quality? by Tamrny M. Lornond, BSc., B.Sc.(Hons.) A thesis subrnitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial'fulfilment of the requirements for the degres of Master of Science Department of Biology Mernorial University of Newfoundland St. John's Newfoundland National Library Bibliothèque nationale If of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Seivices services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Otmwa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your tris votre rëIër~clce Our Ne Notre rëffBm The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, disbibuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/fï.lm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni fa thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. .- II ABSTRACT Biomonitoring of srnall boreal water-catchments has become increasingly important fer small human communities in Newfoundland, Canada. Benthic macroinvertebrate fauna are commonly usec! to assess conditions of water- catchments. However, Newfoundland has a very impoverished freshwater fauna due to isolation of the island from the mainland (faunal source), reduced habitat diversity and recent glaciation of the island. Questions addressed by the study were: now sensitive is this fauna to different environmental gradients, and will the fauna be useful in biomonitoring prograrns on the island? The study examined the relative diversity and abundance of the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) cornponent of the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna in 23 lake-outlets in six water-catchments of northeastern Newfoundland. Faunal composition and structure were related to gradients of natural and human impacted environmental variables of the sites sampled. Sixteen environmental variables were measured during May and July 1995, and May and July 1996 collection trips. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of the environmental data indicated that the 23 sites represented a broad range of stream and drainage basin characteristics. This was expected from sites that ranged from highly urbanized sites to sites with little human disturbance. Concentrations of several chemicals, .-- III conductivity, and pH were correlated with disturbance on axis one. Analysis of the EPT data showed shifts in community structure related to chernical variables, disturbance level, and study area. Generally, EPT diversity and abundance were lower in the physically disturbed and polluted urban sites, and were highest in physically disturbed b~itrelatively unpolluted rural sites. Principle Components Analysis also showed trends in taxa diversity and abundance. Taxa correlated with presence-absence PC-I included B. pygmaeus, B. macdunnoughi, E. prudentalis, Paraleptophlebia spp., S. vicanum, Leuctra spp., Polycentropus spp. and Platycentropus sp., which occur in a wide variety of running water habitats, but have low tolerances of disturbance (Edmunds et al. 1976; Larson and Coibo 1983; Lenat 1993; Lang and Reymond 1995). These taxa tended to be absent from the highly disturbed St. John's sites, but present at most remaining sites. Taxa correlated with relative abundance PC-II were H. sparna and Chimarra sp., which have low tolerances to pollution (Bargos et ai. 1990; Lenat 1993). These taxa had low abundances ai St- John's sites. Therefore, it was concluded that the impoverished EPT fauna of Newfoundland can serve as an indicator of water quality. i v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to oxtend sincere gratitude to my suparvisor, Dr. Murray H. Colbo, for his insight and guidance, and for always being available for help. I'd also like to thank Murray for help with the site descriptions, particularly for his knowiedge of the vegetation at the sites and history of human disturbances- 1 would also like to thank the rnembers of rny supêrvisory committee, Drs. Lawrence Felt, Roger Pickavance and David Schneider, for helpful suggestions and constructive cornments on the thesis. Special thanks to my very good friend and lab-mate José M. Perez whos~ help with every aspect of this project is sincerely appreciated. Funding for this research was received from the Tri Council Eco-Research Program, a federally-funded program administered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page .. Abstract ....................................................... II Acknowledgernents .............................................. iv ListofTaDIes .................................................. vii List of Figures .................................................. xiv Prefice ........................................................ 1 1. 0 Overview of study .......................................... 3 1.1 History of biomonitoring .................................. 3 1.2 The present study ....................................... 7 Location and description of study areas and sites ................. 10 2.1 Study location ......................................... 10 2.2 Materials and methods .................................. 13 2.3 Site descriptions ....................................... 15 3.0 Comparison of 23 lake outlet sites of four study areas in northeastern Newfoundland based on chemical/physical characteristics and human disturbances ............................................. 42 3.1 Introduction ............................ 3.2 Materials and methods .................................. 45 3.3 Results .............................................. 48 3.4 Discussion ........................................... 51 4.0 Comparison of the benthic Ephemeroptera. Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) fauna of 23 lake outlet sites with different chemical and physical characteristics and Ievels of human disturbance .................. 64 4-1 Introduction ........................................... 64 4.2 Materials and methods .................................. 75 4.3 Results .............................................. 87 4.4 Discussion .......................................... 102 4-5 Conclusions ......................................... 1-15 5.0 Conciuding remarks ....................................... 169 Literature Cited ................................................ 172 Appendix 1 VI1 LIST OF TABLES Table Page Chemical and physical characteristics measured at 23 lake out!ets, their codes, and notes on measurement ............................ 33 Classification of streambed particles (adapted from McCreadie (1991 )) 34 Chernical characteristics of 23 lake outlets in Bonavista, Random Island, Corne-by-Chance and St. John's, NF, recorded during May and July 1995, and May and July 1996 (mean values of 4 sampling dates) ......... 35 Physical characteristics of 23 Iake outlets in Bonavista, Random Island, Corne-by-Chance and St. John's, NF, recorded during May and July 1995, andMayandJulyi996 ..................................... 37 Results of ANOVA (using GLM command) to test for significant differences in chemical variables with respect ta various physical environmental variables for 23 lake outiet sites. Values in bold indicate tests for which the residuals met the assumptions of the ANOVA model. Values underlined indicate those tests re-run using randornization. Remaining p-values were accepted as they would not change significantly after randomization . 56 Results of randornizations (using Mean Square of Error) to test for significant differences in chemical variables with respect to various physical environmental variables for 23 lake outiet sites. Randomization tests were carried out only for those tests for which the residuals did not meet the assumptions of the ANOVA mode1 ............................. 57 Results of Fisher's pairwise comparisons for those chemical environmental variables that were significantly different between study areas (B = Bonavista, R = Random Island, C = Corne-by-Chance, S = St. John's). Areas with same letters are not significantly different .............. 58 Results of Fisher's pairwise comparisons for those chemical environmental variables that were significantly difierent between levels of disturbance (1 = low, 5 = high). Disturbance levels with same Ietters are not are significantly different ................................................. 59 Principal components analysis of the mean chemical and physical characteristics of 23 iâke outlet sites in Bonavista, Random Island, Come-by- Chance, and St. John's, NF. during May and July 1995, and May and Juiy 1996. Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients (r,) were used to assess the relationship among the PC-scores and environmental variables ... 60 lnterpretation of the principa! components analysis of the mean chemical and physical characteristics of 23 lake outlet sites in Bonavista