Data and code for: Facilitating the recovery of insect communities in restored streams by increasing oviposition habitat

Recruitment limitation is known to influence species abundances and distributions. Recognition of how and why it occurs both in natural and in designed environments could improve restoration. Aquatic insects, for instance, rarely re-establish in restored streams to levels comparable to reference streams even years after post-restoration. We experimentally increased oviposition habitat in five out of ten restored streams in western North Carolina to test whether insect egg-laying habitat was limiting insect populations in restored streams. A main goal was to test whether adding oviposition habitat in the form of rocks that partially protrude above the water surface could be used to increase the abundance and richness of stream insect eggs and larval insects in restored streams. Adding egg-laying habitat enhanced several response variables (e.g., protruding rocks, number of eggs, egg masses, egg morphotype richness, and oviposition habitat stability) to levels similar to those found in re..., Site selection
We obtained a list of 378 North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality projects that included a stream component. To reduce variability, we selected streams with similar restoration priorities, land-use, and stream bed composition. We selected projects that utilized restoration priority type one or two (RP1 or RP2) of the four Rosgen (1997) developed options for the restoration of incised channels. These project types increased channel sinuosity, stream bed heterogeneity, and either elevated channels to reconnect them to floodplains (RP1) or created floodplains at the current stream elevation (RP2). We also selected projects 7–15 years post-restoration to allow sufficient time for riparian planting to mature, fine sediments to stabilize, detritus to accumulate, biofilms to establish, and some insects to recolonize. Further, we selected streams with similar catchment land-use composition (e.g., impervious surface less than 5 % and developed land less than 20 %). We i..., , This README file was generated on 2023-10-31 by Brad Taylor.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Title of Dataset: Data and code for: Facilitating the recovery of insect communities in restored streams by increasing oviposition habitat.
2. Author Information
A. Principal Investigator Contact Information
Name: Brad Taylor
Institution: North Carolina State University
Address: Raleigh, NC USA
Email: [e-mail]

B. Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information
Name: Samantha Dilworth (formerly Jordt)
Institution: University of Wyoming
Address: Laramie, WY USA
Email: [e-mail]
4. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): 2019-2020
5. Geographic location of data collection: western, North Carolina
6. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality

SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION

1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Univers...