A comparison of aquatic insect communities between man-made and natural ponds

Abstract

Throughout history ponds have been created for a variety of reasons. A current goal in pond creation is to increase and maintain biodiversity. Until recently, reserve managers were unaware of how these man-made ponds compared to natural ponds in respect to their aquatic insect diversity. This study serves as the first comparison of aquatic insect communities between the man-made and natural ponds located at ESNERR, MLML, and BLM-Fort Ord public lands in Monterey County, California, USA. Environmental factors (pond size, age, hydroperiod, plant cover, and water chemistry) were evaluated to determine if they had an effect on aquatic insect diversity. Simpson's Diversity Index and similarity indices (Jaccard and Sorensen) were used to compare aquatic insect communities between different ponds. The environmental factors assessed in this study did not significantly affect aquatic insect diversity. However, the Simpson's Diversity Index revealed that the man-made ponds had a similar amount of aquatic insect diversity compared to the nearby natural ponds. In addition, the similarity indices showed that the man-made and natural study ponds were comparable in aquatic insect species richness and abundance. Specifically, there was a 90% similarity in aquatic insect diversity between the wildlife enhancement and nearby natural ponds. This study demonstrated that these man-made ponds are quite similar to natural ponds and serve as important habitats in conserving biodiversity. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I appreciate ESNERR, MLML, and BLM-Fort Ord public lands for allowing me to study the aquatic insect communities residing their ponds. I am most grateful to Dr.