Benthic invertebrate data collected at new culvert installation locations in the East Gulf Coastal Plain of Alabama

Benthic macroinvertebrate samples to evaluate before- and after-culvert construction phases were collected at seven study sites. Samples were collected in two reaches at each site, one upstream and one downstream of the culvert installation. Biological data for all seven sites (14 sample reaches) are included in this data release.
In the summer of 2011, samples were collected from upstream and downstream reaches at six stream sites. Samples from Oakmulgee Creek, Northington Branch, Lye Branch, Mill Creek, and Kanetuche Creek represented conditions before culvert construction. The samples from the Tributary to Cahaba River represented conditions during construction since the culvert was already constructed and active roadbuilding was still in progress in the summer of 2011. High Log Creek was not sampled in 2011 due to drought-induced zero-flow conditions in the stream. After-construction samples were collected from upstream and downstream reaches at five sites: Tributary to Cahaba, Oakmulgee Creek, Northington Branch, Lye Branch, and High Log Creek. After-construction samples were planned for the summer at least two years after construction to allow the instream habitats and macroinvertebrate communities to stabilize. Due to site-specific construction schedules, after-construction samples were not collected in the same year at all sites.
Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected from one or more of the instream habitats that were present in both the upstream and downstream reaches at the site. Available habitat types varied from site to site and from time period to time period. Woody debris, riffles, roots and undercut banks were the most commonly sampled habitats (Pugh and Gill, 2021). Sample collection and field processing methods generally followed protocols established by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) (Moulton and others, 2002). Woody snags were collected into D-frame or rectangular nets, riffle areas were sampled using a Slack sampler, and root and undercut bank samples were collected by jabbing undercut banks with D-frame nets.
The USGS National Water Quality Laboratory Biological Unit identified and enumerated macroinvertebrates in reach samples, and the identifications and counts were used to calculate community metrics for site comparisons. Metrics were calculated from identification and enumeration data by the Invertebrate Data Analysis System (IDAS; Cuffney and Brightbill, 2010). In Pugh and Gill (2021), benthic macroinvertebrate community metrics were evaluated only for the 5 sites with both before- and after-construction samples.
Benthic macroinvertebrate data collected for this project are presented in six comma-separated values (CSV) files in this data release. Sample dates, locations, and identification and enumeration results for all the reach samples collected during this project are presented in two files. Two additional files are included which contain sample information for only the samples analyzed in the associated Scientific Investigations Report (Pugh and Gill, 2021). Formatted sample data and processing options used by the IDAS to calculate metrics evaluated in the SIR are contained in two files and could be used with an installation of the IDAS to recreate metrics presented in the report.