Poster Presentation Society for Freshwater Science 2025 Annual Meeting

Temperature variability of rural and urban streams: What do INVURTS do? (118895)

Patricia A Saunders 1 , Shannon J O'Leary 2 , Elizabeth Sudduth 3 , Kristin Judd 4 , Darrin Hunt 5 , Jihae Dick 6 , Sandra Cooke 7 , Melissa DeSiervo 8 , Amy B Hill 9 , James March 10 , Sarah J Snyder 11
  1. Department of Biology & Environmental Science Program, Ashland University, Ashland, OH, USA
  2. Department of Biological Sciences , Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, USA
  3. School of Science and Technology, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA, USA
  4. Department of Biology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
  5. Dept. of Biology, University of the Ozarks, Clarksville, AR, USA
  6. Department of Biology & Environmental Science Program, Ashland University, Ashland, OH, USA
  7. Greensboro College, Greensboro, NC, USA
  8. Biology Department, Union College, Schenectady, NY, USA
  9. Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, USA
  10. Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA, USA
  11. Bard College at Simon's Rock, Great Barrington, MA, USA

The INVURTS project is documenting seasonal macroinvertebrate diversity at dozens of wadeable stream sites located across several National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) domains. The INVURTS project expands site diversity beyond NEON sites. INVURTS uses the Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) research model, website, and faculty community from (mostly) PUIs. An important contribution of the project is that it also engages and trains undergraduates. The pilot phase of INVURTS included ~25 sites in addition to NEON sites. In-stream temperature loggers at all sites will allow us to investigate urban-rural differences in annual, seasonal, and average daily variability for specific seasons that may be relevant to macroinvertebrate life cycles. We expect greater variability at urban sites vs. rural, perhaps with regional differences. Due to strong correlation between Family- and Genus-level diversity at NEON sites (R^2=0.82), this pilot study uses Family-level diversity to compare sites. NEON sites are located in basins with little development, while half of INVURTS basins are 20-100% developed, and 30-40% of these sites have >10% impervious surface, a human impact that affects macroinvertebrate communities. For example, 30 and 38% of project sites in Domain 1 and 2 are in basins with >10% impervious surface. Our preliminary analysis of data from NEON sites shows that in addition to latitude, annual and summer temperature variability is also correlated with basin characteristics, e.g. mean precipitation. As the pilot phase ends and INVURTS grows into its mature stage (2025-2028), the project is open to additional participants. A large, diverse dataset will allow us to compare measures of temperature variability along land-use gradients, and “urban” and “rural” sites will allow us to check for gradient and threshold effects in multiple domains. The INVURTS project will evaluate differences in macroinvertebrate richness and composition that may correlate with one or more such indicators of thermal dynamics.