Measuring the Impacts of a Man-Made Barrier on the Spatial Distribution of Diatom Genera in a First-Order Stream, Poster 14

Impoundments, the pooling of water behind man-made barriers, inhibit the movement of sediment, altering hydrology and changing flooding regimes, affecting stream-side vegetation communities, altering the processes by which... [ view full abstract ]

Impoundments, the pooling of water behind man-made barriers, inhibit the movement of sediment, altering hydrology and changing flooding regimes, affecting stream-side vegetation communities, altering the processes by which sediments enter and exit the river system. Indicator species of specific taxonomic groups, such as fish and benthic macroinvertebrates, have been used to assess ecological impacts of river impoundments. Diatom collection, using glass as an artificial substrate on which the organisms colonize, requires very little time and can be carried out using commonly-found, low-cost materials, such as glass specimen slides. In this study, I collected diatom colonies at various locations above and below the Breadloaf Reservoir in Ripton, Vermont, located on the Brandy Brook. Because I anecdotally observed differences in sediment size and water velocity above and below the dam, I expect there will be a relationship between slide rack placement and diatom colonization. If the data support this statement, future work would have to be conducted on streams of varying sizes and geographic locations to determine if diatoms can be used as a low-budget indicator species.