Stream mesocosm experiment on benthic macroinvertebrate and algal communities

Two stream mesocosm experiments were conducted in the summer-autumn of 1996 and 1997 to distinguish the influence of fine sediment loads and nutrient concentrations on benthic macroinvertebrate and algal communities (P.E. Davies and L.S.Cook, unpubl. data). 11 biological variables were extracted from the results of this experiment and were standardised for the purpose of training neural networks that could be used to diagnose nutrient and fine sediment impacts in field surveys. The 11 variables were selected according to how well they correlated with the experimental treatment levels (high and low values of both nutrients and fine sediments). The 11 variables were: chlorophyll a (mg/m2), macroinvertebrate familial richness, total abundance, and the abundance of Oligochaeta, Leptoperla varia (Gripopterygidae), Nousia spp. (Leptophlebiidae), Austrophlebioides spp. (Leptophlebiidae), Orthocladiinae, Tanypodinae, Tipulidae and larval Scirtidae. These taxa were abundant within and among the stream mesocosm communities and are common in a wide range of Tasmanian rivers. Values for each of 11 biological response variables were standardised by dividing by their average value observed in the experimental controls mesocosm samples from that year. See Magierowski RH, Read SM, Carter SJB, Warfe DM, Cook LS, Lefroy EC and Davies PE (under review). Inferring landscape-scale land-use impacts on rivers using data from mesocosm experiments and artificial neural networks. PLOS ONE.

Data licence: Australian Creative Commons Attribution Licence - see link for more information https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/