Integrating species diversity and function into restoration monitoring: What we’ve learned from the Reedy Creek Restoration Project
Sandra M. Clinton
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, NC
Authors: Clinton, S.M., S.K. McMillan, and D.V. Vinson
Restoration is used to mitigate urban impacts on stream ecosystems. Due to multiple constraints, these projects are often conducted at small scales and not tied to watershed improvements such as stormwater management from impervious surfaces. The Reedy Creek Restoration Project in Charlotte, NC addresses these issues as a watershed level restoration of headwater streams located in an urban forested preserve. Our overall goal is to determine the effect of watershed scale restoration on macroinvertebrate recovery in urban streams. We asked: 1) What is the impact of construction activities on macroinvertebrates and 2) What is the trajectory for macroinvertebrate communities following restoration. We hypothesized that that newly restored sites closer to refugia (identified as “good” or higher biotic index scores) will recolonize faster than sites located farther away.
We established 11 sampling sites across the headwaters with most sites being located at tributary-trunk confluences and the sites were further characterized by the surrounding land use or their position on the mainstem (development, agriculture, conservation, and mainstem). We have been seasonally sampling since fall 2012 for pre and post-restoration macroinvertebrate diversity and function. Restoration began in late 2017 with land clearing and all sites were fully restored in February 2019. Pre-restoration we identified 123 species across 41 families including 40 EPT species which represented greater diversity than other headwater sites with percent higher impervious cover land use. Pre-restoration we found higher EPT diversity in the agricultural and conservation sub watersheds compared to other Reedy sites such as those on the mainstem. We hypothesize that these differences were due to lack of habitat in the mainstem which most primarily sand. Initial post-restoration samples had high numbers of rarely seen macroinvertebrates, such as snails, that most likely responded to the new riffle substrate and high biomass of green algae growing during the first summer. We are currently analyzing our 2 years post-restoration data to determine changes in both diversity and function with both restoration and land use. The lessons learned from this unique headwater restoration provide a valuable comparison to other urban restoration projects and critical information for future watershed planning.
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