Impact of season-long water abstraction on invertebrate drift composition and concentration
2016
Wooster, David | Miller, Scott W. | DeBano, Sandra J.
Surface water abstraction from rivers for irrigated agriculture is one of the largest uses of freshwater resources in the world. Water abstraction has important impacts on the structure of riverine assemblages. However, little work has examined the chronic, season-long impacts on ecosystem functions. Invertebrate drift is an important ecosystem function of river systems influencing nutrient cycling, food webs, and invertebrate population dynamics. We examined the season-long impact of reduced discharge resulting from multiple points of abstraction on drift assemblage composition, concentration, and total drift load. Early in the season, water abstraction had little impact on drift assemblage composition. However, later in the irrigation season, the drift assemblage at sites impacted by water abstraction diverged from upstream, control sites. The degree of change in assemblage composition at impacted sites was related to the amount of water abstracted such that sites with the lowest discharge also had assemblages that differed most strongly from control sites. Drift assemblages at impacted sites became dominated by tolerant microcrustaceans. In addition, water abstraction resulted in an increase in drift concentration (ind./m³). However, despite this increase in concentration at impacted sites, total drift load (# of invertebrates drifting in the river) decreased with decreasing discharge.
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