Widener University Journal of Undergraduate Ecological Research

Widener University Journal of
Undergraduate
Ecological Research

    The research inquiry journal for the course
         Biology 301, Introduction to Ecology.

         Volume 8, Number 1, Fall 2000

         Dr. Bruce W. Grant, Editor
         Department of Biology,
         Widener University , Chester, PA, 19013.
         office Kirk. 200, 610-499-4017.
         grant@pop1.science.widener.edu

Please Read This Comment.

       The abstracts at this site were written by junior or senior undergraduates and are the culmination of semester long ecological research inquiries that are a core component of my ecology course at Widener University. These students are biology, environmental science, or science education majors and minors.

       These abstracts (and the manuscripts to which they refer) have been peer reviewed by other students in the class according to specific guidelines I have generated for format, clarity, and the student reviewers' assessment of the scientific merit of their peer's manuscript.

       It is important for interested visitors of this site to understand that the results of the research inquiries reported in this journal are the results of course projects designed, conducted, and reviewed by undergraduate students in an ecology course.

       You are welcome to download some or all of the material I have posted at this site for your use in your ecology course. This does not include commercial uses for profit. If you do use any lengthy exerpts (more than 2 lines) of the material above, I request that you formally acknowledge this site and/or sites I have acknowledged as the source(s). I also request that you reciprocate and send me a copy of your ecology materials so that I may see what you have put together.

Please send comments to me: grant@pop1.science.widener.edu.

Volume 8, Number 1, Biology 301, Fall 2000.

1. Macro-invertebrate Population and Biodiversity: A Study Based on the Recovery of Macro-Invertebrates One Year After Hurricane Floyd. Jeff Kennedy and Joseph A. Vitello.

2. Trends in Population and Biodiversity of Periphyton Compared with Trends in Macro-invertebrates. Tony Diorisio and Doug Kennedy.

3. The Effects of Urbanization on Water Quality and Aquatic Animal Biodiversity in Chester Creek. Laura Capik, Monica Cardullo, and Karen Skelly.

4. The Effect of Urbanization on Chester Creek: Testing for Coliform Presence from Upstream to Downstream. Jessica Niewodowski and Jennifer Phillips-Barlow.

5. Comparison of Macro-invertebrate Species Biodiversity in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Areas. Kathryn V.Damato, Amanda P. Howell, and John A. Masluk.

Macro-invertebrate Population and Biodiversity: A Study Based on the Recovery of Macro-Invertebrates One Year After Hurricane Floyd. Jeff Kennedy and Joseph A. Vitello.

ABSTRACT:
Violent storms and flooding can greatly affect aquatic macro-invertebrate communities and the riparian food webs of small streams. In the fall of 1999, Hurricane Floyd deposited over a foot of rain on southeastern, PA. Previous research by Biology 301 students showed that Floyd caused dramatic changes in macro-invertebrate diversity and population sizes. Our study is a follow-up to this research , one-year after Hurricane Floyd, for which we document the biodiversity and population recovery of macro-invertebrates in four creeks (Chester, Crum, Darby, and Ridley) Delaware County, PA, at the same sites that were censused previously. Our hypothesis is that the population of macro-invertebrates has increased while the biodiversity remains the same. We found an overall increase in population of macro-invertebrates as compared to 1999. The total number of individuals counted equaled 242 in the fall of 2000 as compared to a 1999 total of 88 organisms. A decrease in biodiversity was also apparent (Shannon Diversity Indices 1999 to 2000: Chester 4.86 to 1.28, Darby 7.21 to 4.00, Crum 10.60 to 1.94, Ridley 1.83 to 2.24). We suggest that the density increases are due simply to the organisms' sheer resilience and population recovery to the ecosystem disturbance caused by the hurricane. However, the decrease in biodiversity is due to the resurgence of a single dominant species (a caddisfly) in 2000. Interestingly, caddisflies are soft bodied herbivores, and we were among the more heavily impacted by the flood of Floyd. Further studies that may be conducted include the same project with samples taken from equivalent sections of each creek (i.e. urban/non-urban areas, upstream/downstream). We can also observe how long it will take for the populations to return to pre-hurricane censuses.

Trends in Population and Biodiversity of Periphyton Compared with Trends in Macro-invertebrates. Tony Diorisio and Doug Kennedy.

ABSTRACT:
Macro-invertebrates that make their home in creeks across Delaware county need some type of food source. That food source is Periphyton. Periphyton is sessile organisms, such as algae and small crustaceans, which live attached to surfaces projecting from the bottom of freshwater aquatic environments. Our study looked at the trends in population of Periphyton compared to the trends in macro-invertebrates. We expected to see Periphyton trends to be directly proportional to macro-invertebrate trends. In other words, high population and low biodiversity. Methods of collecting included three rock scrapings from four creeks. Crum, Chester, Darby, and Ridley creeks. These rock scrapings were then placed on slides to be photographed. We then counted the number of species and individuals at each creek. We compared our results with data taken by Jeff Kennedy and Joe Vitello, who were looking at macro-invertebrates. Our results showed that there where 1074 individuals at Chester creek, 453 at Crum, 402 at Ridley, and 571 individuals at Darby creek. Macro-invertebrates had 98 individuals at Chester, 42 at Crum, 44 at Ridley, and 58 individuals at Darby. The EXP of the Shannon Index for Periphyton showed that there were 4.0 equivalently common species at Chester creek, the macro-invertebrates had 1.3. At Crum creek there were 5.3 common species of Periphyton compared to 1.9 species of macro-invertebrates. Ridley creek showed 7.1 species of Periphyton and 2.2 species of macro-invertebrates. Finally Darby creek showed 6.2 species of Periphyton and 4.0 species of macro-invertebrates. The population of both Periphyton and macro-invertebrates were high which supports our hypothesis in which we expected high trends in population. The biodiversity of both Periphyton and macro-invertebrates showed low numbers compared to the number of individuals counted. This data also supported our hypothesis in which we expected to see low trends in biodiversity.

The Effects of Urbanization on Water Quality and Aquatic Animal Biodiversity in Chester Creek. Laura Capik, Monica Cardullo, and Karen Skelly.

ABSTRACT:
As residents of Chester, it is important to know how our environment is affected by urbanization. We studied the effects of urbanization on water quality, which in turn affects aquatic life, at three sites along Chester Creek, Delaware Co., in southeastern PA. We hypothesized that the downstream, more degraded urban sites, will have lower water quality and lower macroinvertebrate biodiversity than at more upstream less impacted sites. We used chemical tests to determine water quality since as the carbon dioxide level increases, the pH and the dissolved oxygen level decrease making it harder for the aquatic animals to respire. Therefore, creeks with higher water quality demonstrate lower levels of carbon dioxide and higher levels of dissolved oxygen. Water velocity, depth, and temperature tests established the physical characteristics of each site. We sampled aquatic animal biodiversity using kick nets and we identified organisms back in lab using a dissecting microscope. The intermediate site, was found to be twice as diverse with a Shannon Index of 2.649, while the furthest upstream site was an index of 1.212 and the furthest downstream site was 1.168. According to our results, we concluded that our hypothesis was partially correct. The urban site, Upland, supported our hypothesis illustrating lower water quality and depleted animal diversity. Our rural site did not exhibit the highest water quality and animal biodiversity, instead our intermediate site, Knowlton, presented the highest water quality and the most biodiversity. Comparisons between our results and others from Chester Creek in previous years reveal that the Knowlton site has significantly decreased in water quality and biodiversity. The causes of this decline are not presently known but could reflect anthropogenic disturbance upstream.

The Effect of Urbanization on Chester Creek: Testing for Coliform Presence from Upstream to Downstream. Jessica Niewodowski and Jennifer Phillips-Barlow.

ABSTRACT:
Coliform bacteria are microorganisms that naturally occur in all aquatic ecosystems including streams and the intestines of animals. Most coliforms are benign if not beneficial to the ecosystem services upon which we depend. However, many coliform species are disease-causing and if contaminated water is ingested, extreme illness and even death can result. Contamination of urban waterways could occur from cracked sewage piping in combination with fertilizer runoff from our pavement of lawn grass and ornamental plants in urban and suburban neighborhoods. In this study, we tested for fecal coliforms (Escherichia coli) at five sites along Chester Creek along an urban-suburban gradient in southeastern, PA, to determine the effect of urbanization on coliform counts. Our hypothesis is that at further downstream/urban locations, the coliform counts will be higher than at upstream/rural locations. Our data on the most probable numbers (MPNs) of fecal coliforms per milliliter showed that all sites were contaminated (range0.04 to 11.2 colonies per milliliter), but that there was no association between urbanization and coliform counts. To our surprise, one of the more rural sites, Cheyney, showed the highest concentration of coliforms at levels that are classified as unsafe by the EPA. This contamination could be due to a poor sewage piping systems, agricultural nutrient runoff, avian coliform runoff (migrating Canada Geese), and/or sewage releases from the public sewage treatment plant that lies about 4 miles upstream from our sample site. Further study would be important to determine the persistence of this pattern and possibly to identify its causes.

Comparison of Macro-invertebrate Species Biodiversity in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Areas. Kathryn V.Damato, Amanda P. Howell, and John A. Masluk.

ABSTRACT:
Soil is a living resource that supports plants and animals, providing a chemical environment, physical matrix, and biological setting for life on Earth. Biodiversity of soil macroinvertebrates can prove beneficial to the surrounding environment. Likewise, the surrounding environment can prove detrimental to the soil quality. Thus, our study focuses on the effects urbanization has had on soil quality and biodiversity. To study this, we compared the macroinvertebrate species biodiversity in rural, suburban, and urban areas. We chose three regions to represent rural, suburban, and urban areas. These were Ridley Park, Duer Track, and Schwartz Athletic Center. Three samples were taken from each location. A combination of Berlaise Traps and hand sifting was used to extract macroinvertebrates from our samples, and data was collected and categorized. Following data collection, we calculated the Shannon Diversity Index. This enabled us to determine species diversity in each sample area. Our numerical values of H' for the urban, suburban, and rural areas were 2.18, 2.05, and 1.35, respectively. We then used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to statistically determine the validity of our results. The test would show us if the data on the three graphs were statistically different by comparing the frequency (F) of species in the different areas. Our values were as follows: for urban vs. suburban, D was 0.045 and Dx was 0.236; for suburban vs. rural, D was 0.317 and Dx was 0.258; and for rural vs. urban, D was 0.362 and Dx was 0.285. (see Table 2a, b, and c) In addition to diversity statistical analyses, we also conducted chemical tests of each of our three samples. We tested pH, Nitrogen, Iron, and Aluminum levels of soil in each area. Overall, statistical analysis showed that the rural soil had the least macroinvertebrate biodiversity, while the urban and suburban soils contained the most. Our data seems to indicate that urbanization appears to increase biodiversity rather than decrease it. Soil quality is of vast importance to life on planet Earth. As humans, we have the power to affect the health of our soil resources. Thus, studies involving soil biodiversity help us to understand the impact of urbanization on our environment.