University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2003 The benthic macrofauna of pool habitats in temperate coastal streams of the Illawarra, New South Wales: community ecology and response to natural and human induced disturbance Glenn James Johnstone University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Johnstone, Glenn James, The benthic macrofauna of pool habitats in temperate coastal streams of the Illawarra, New South Wales: community ecology and response to natural and human induced disturbance, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, 2003. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1058 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] The benthic macrofauna of pool habitats in temperate coastal streams of the Illawarra, New South Wales: Community ecology and response to natural and human induced disturbance A thesis submitted in (partial) fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG By Glenn James Johnstone, Bachelor of Environmental Science (Hons) DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 2003 CERTIFICATION I, Glenn James Johnstone, declare that this thesis, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Glenn James Johnstone 4tn August 2003 DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my mother and friend, Barbara Brien. Thank you for a lifetime of love, support, and friendship. Marshall Mount Creek, Illawarra, New South Wales Table of Contents Table of Contents Page Table of Contents I List of Figures VI List of Tables IX List of Plates XII Abstract XIII Acknowledgments XVI Chapter 1 - General Introduction 1 1.1: Common features of stream macrofaunal assemblages 2 1.2: Spatial and temporal variability in the composition of macrofaunal assemblages 3 1.3: Factors influencing the distribution and structure of benthic macrofaunal assemblages 4 1.3.1: Water flow and the structure of benthic macrofauna assemblages 6 1.3.2: Flooding and the structure of macrofaunal assemblages 8 1.3.3: The affect of drying on benthic macrofauna 9 1.3.4: Urbanisation and human impacts on freshwater ecosystems.... 11 1.3.5: Substratum heterogeneity, benthic macrofaunal distribution, and disturbance 13 1.4: Accessing human impacts on the macrofauna of streams 14 1.5: Spatial independence in running waters: Unique issues for liner systems 15 1.6: Beyond-BACI impact assessment 16 1.7: Describing ecological assemblages: Univariate verses multivariate techniques 19 1.8: The West Dapto Monitoring Program 21 1.9: Aims and objectives 23 I Table of Contents Chapter 2 - Regional setting, sampling design and methodology, and general characteristics of the fauna 28 2.1: Introduction 29 2.2: Regional Setting 30 2.2.1: Substratum variation and channel size 32 2.2.2: Climate, rainfall, and stream discharge 35 2.2.3: Drying events and definition as intermittent streams 38 2.2.4: Past and present landuse 40 2.2.5: Non-invertebrate fauna of the Ulawarra's streams 41 2.2.6: Freshwater invertebrate fauna of the Ulawarra's streams 42 2.3: Sampling Design and Methodology 43 2.3.1: Sampling design 43 2.3.2: Field Procedure 45 2.3.3: Sorting and Identification 47 2.4: General characteristics and distribution of the fauna 50 2.4.1: General description of the fauna 52 2.4.2: Global biogeographical distribution of collected families 59 2.4.3: Distribution within Australia 62 2.4.4: Distribution in New South Wales 64 2.4.5: Taxa collected in low numbers 63 2.4.6: Relatively abundant taxa 66 Chapter 3 - Spatial variability in the benthic macrofaunal assemblages in three coastal streams of the Illawarra 75 3.1: Introduction 76 3.2: Methods 78 3.2.1: Level of taxonomic resolution used in Chapters 3,4, and 6 78 3.2.2: Separation of analyses for control and putatively impacted streams in Chapter 3, 4, and 6 81 3.2.3: Tests for spatial variability in Chapter 3 82 3.2.4: Core and rare taxa in Chapter 3 84 3.2.5: Tests among substrate groups in the control streams in Chapter 3 84 II Table of Contents 3.2.6: Partitioning of variability among the control streams in Chapter 3 86 3.3: Results 87 3.3.1: The macrofaunal assemblages of Duck Creek 87 3.3.2: The macrofaunal assemblages of Mullet Creek 88 3.3.3: The macrofaunal assemblages of Marshall Mount Creek..... ...93 3.3.4: Among site differences for each sampling occasion 96 3.3.5: Core and rare taxa in the control streams 96 3.3.6: Within and among creek similarity in the composition of macrofaunal assemblages 98 3.3.7: Differences among streams 98 3.3.8: Substrate Comparisons 101 3.4: Discussion 102 Chapter 4 — Temporal variability in the benthic macrofaunal assemblages of three temperate coastal streams in the Illawarra 108 4.1: Introduction 109 4.2: Methods 112 4.2.1: Long-term changes in assemblage composition 112 4.2.2: Seasonal variability in assemblage composition 113 4.2.3: The effect of flow cessation and drying on assemblage composition. 114 4.2.5: The effect of flood events on assemblage composition 115 4.3: Results 116 4.3.1: Overview 116 4.3.2: The effect of flow cessation and drying on assemblage composition 117 4.3.3: The effect of flood events on assemblage composition 129 4.3.4: Long-term changes in assemblage composition 132 4.3.5: Among season variability in assemblage composition 134 4.3.6: Tests among reallocated temporal periods for Marshall Mount Creek 136 4.4: Discussion 139 III Table of Contents AAA: Overview 139 4.4.2: The lack of distinct seasonal variability 139 4.4.3: The influence of flow 142 4.4.4: The affect of drying 145 4.4.5: Independence, Type I errors, and the limitations of multivariate analysis of complex designs 150 Chapter 5 - Do rare taxa alter the interpretation of multivariate hypothesis tests of community structure? 152 5.1: Introduction 153 5.2: Methods 157 5.3: Results 158 5.3.1: Tests for Spatial and Temporal differences - rare taxa included 158 5.3.2: Elimination of Rare Taxa 160 5.4: Discussion 162 Chapter 6 - Impact Assessment - Univariate and multivariate approaches 167 6.1: Introduction 168 6.2: Methods I72 6.2.1: Description of the macrofaunal assemblages of Robin's and Reid Park Creeks I72 6.2.2: Univariate impact assessment 173 6.2.3: Multivariate impact assessment 176 6.3: Results I78 6.3.1: Composition and structure of the macrofaunal assemblages of Robin's and Reid Park Creeks 178 6.3.2: Temporal variability in the composition of the macrofaunal assemblages of Robin's and Reid Park Creeks 182 6.3.3: Univariate impact assessment - REML analysis 195 6.3.4: Multivariate impact assessment 199 6.4: Discussion 204 6.4.1: Overview 204 6.4.2: Univariate impact assessment 204 IV Table of Contents 6.4.3: Multivariate impact assessment 205 6.4.4: Assessing impacts using the proposed multivariate methodology 207 Chapter 7- General Discussion 212 7.1: Overview 213 7.2: Scale and the factors influencing the stream macrofauna of the Illawarra 215 7.3: The affect of drying 217 7.4: Impact Assessment 219 7.5: Conservation Implications 221 References 225 Appendix A 255 Appendix B 258 Appendix C 260 Appendix D 262 Appendix E 265 V List of Figures List of Figures Page Chapter 2 Figure 2.1: Location of study area in Australia and study streams in the Illawarra. ..31 Figure 2.2: Generalised profile, plan view, and general information regarding the coastal streams of the Illawarra, New South Wales, and their surrounds 33 Figure 2.3: Mean monthly rainfall for a) Albion Park and, b) Dapto, Illawarra, New South Wales 36 Figure 2.4: Total monthly rainfall recorded at Albion Park between March 1997 and February 1999 39 Figure 2.5: Hierarchical design used to sample benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages from five streams in the Illawarra, New South Wales 44 Figure 2.6: Broad geographic zones used to describe generalised distributional patterns of macroinvertebrates families in New South Wales 52 Figure 2.7: The mean number of macroinvertebrate a) individuals and b) taxa collected from five temperate coastal streams of the Illawarra, New South Wales, between 1997 and 1999 58 Figure 2.8: Frequency histogram of the number of taxa collected from five temperate coastal streams of the Illawarra, New South Wales, between 1997 and 1999 64 Chapter 3 Figure 3.1: Mean number of a) rare and, b) core taxa collected per sampling event from sites on Mullet, Duck and Marshall Mount Creeks between February 1997 and February 1999 97 VI List of Figures Chapter 4 Figure 4.1: The total number of each of 19 core taxa collected from three sites on Mullet Creek, Duck Creek, and Marshall Mount Creek between 1997 and 1999.. ..118 Figure 4.2: The total number of individual a) Chironominae, b) Triplectides, c) Tasmanocoenis, d) Atalophlebia, e) Centroptilium, f) Jappa, g) Ceratopogonidae, h) Orthocladinae, i) Tanypodinae, j) Hellythira, k) Ecnomus, /) Micronecta, m) Berosus adults, n) Berosus larvae, o) Paratya, p) Necterosoma adults, q) Necterosoma larvae, collected from Mullet Creek, Duck Creek, and Marshall Mount Creek in the Illawarra region of New South Wales 122 Figure 4.3: non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling plots of benthic macrofauna samples collected a) pre-drying and b) post-drying