Recovery of three New Zealand rural streams as they pass through native forest remnants 

Storey, R. G.; Cowley, D. R. 

1997 

 

 

Article in journal 

Three small second order streams draining pastoral farming catchments in the Kaipara region northwest of Auckland City, New Zealand, were chosen to investigate whether native forest remnants can restore forest-stream characteristics to streams in open pasture, and to determine what length the remnants must be for this to occur. Changes in physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the streams, in particular the benthic macroinvertebrate community, were measured over distances of up to 600 m from the point each stream entered a remnant of native forest, and the results compared with those of an undisturbed forested stream. Over 600 m the benthic macroinvertebrate community changed from a more enrichment-tolerant to a more clean-water fauna and became similar to the Control stream in terms of taxonomic richness and Macroinvertebrate Community Index (MCI). However it still showed minor effects of enrichment, in particular elevated overall densities of invertebrates. Temperature and dissolved oxygen returned rapidly (within 300 m) to forest-stream levels on entering the forest remnant. Nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and suspended solids produced variable results but there was some evidence of significant instream processing over 600 m. 

 

D 04315 Riverbasins; Forests; Macrofauna; Enrichment; Catchment Areas; Ecosystem resilience; Nutrient enrichment; Article Geographic Terms: New Zealand; New Zealand, Kaipara; Pastures; Agricultural land; benthos; community studies; Physicochemical Properties; SW 3070 Water quality control; Water Quality; Species richness; Article Subject Terms: Streams; community composition; Zoobenthos; Biogeophysical; Q1 01463 Habitat; Pollution control; Ecosystem disturbance; Dissolved oxygen; species diversity; Z 05210 Aquatic entomology; Vegetation cover; Rural Areas; Macroinvertebrates; New Zealand