COMPARISON OF FOUR ARTIFICIAL SUBSTRATES AND THE PONAR GRAB FOR BENTHIC INVERTEBRATE COLLECTION¹

Abstract

Four different bottom‐placed artificial substrates were compared with the Ponar grab for collecting benthic invertebrates. Artificial substrate samples of organisms were larger and more diverse than those of the grab. Barbeque Basket samplers caught the most taxa and individuals and Beak Trays caught the least. Chironomids and crustaceans were dominant in artificial substrate samples. Exposure habitat (left or right bank) determined taxa availability, whereas sampler design determined suitability for colonization by the taxa. Diversity for Beak Tray samples was lower than that for other artificial substrates but higher than for Ponar samples. The Barbeque Basket, Bull Basket, and Multiple Plate samples were taxonomically similar. Ponar samples were different, and Beak Trays were of intermediate similarity. As qualitative samplers, Barbeque Baskets were 63 percent efficient, followed by Bull Baskets (55 percent), Multiple Plates (48 percent), Beak Trays (38 percent), and Ponar Grabs (6–10 percent). Bull Baskets required the least and Beak Trays the most replicates to be within a preselected percentage error of the mean at the 95 percent probability level for numbers of taxa and individuals, and for diversity. Under conditions of the study, Bull Baskets ranked highest, followed by Barbeque Baskets and Multiple Plates, in selected performance criteria. Differences between grab and artificial substrate samples are explainable in terms of major riverine habitats and characteristics of the collection methods.

Monitoring Changes in Freshwater Macroinvertebrate Communities Along a Salinity Gradient Using Artificial Substrates

“…Thus, they facilitate comparison of environmental effects along watercourses where the macrohabitat is not constant. Slack et al (1986) concluded that artificial substrates can also dramatically reduce the sampling efforts necessary to produce given, precise results. In our case, we were able to establish significant salinity gradient results after sampling only two artificial substrates at each site on each date, as compared to the 335 Surber samples required.…”

EFFECTS OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER DISCHARGES ON AQUATIC COMMUNITIES, BOISE RWER, IDAHO1

“…However, to assess water pollution, exact duplication of natural conditions is less important than the ability to obtain replicate samples at different times and different locations (Beak et al, 1973;Slack et al, 1986). Substrates consisted of baskets 30.5 cm by 30.5 cm by 15.2 cm made of 1.6-cm mesh wire cloth filled with 7.6 to 15.2-cm diameter cleaned river rock.…”

EFFECTS OF SPATIAL ORIENTATION OF MULTIPLE PLATE ARTIFICIAL SUBSTRATES ON INVERTEBRATE COLONIZATION1

“…For example, orientation is not included in a review of features involved in artificial substrate replication (Rosenberg and Resh, 1982). Some investigators hold the plates rigidly horizontal by mounting the samplers on a bar attached to a stake driven into the riverbed (Arthur and Horning, 1969), on basal plates (Mathers and Martin, 1969;Slack, et aL, 1986), on bricks (Parsons and Tatum, 1974;Cover and Harrel, 1978). or by driving the axial rod into the substratum (Meier, Penrose, and Polak, 1979).…”

“…Other investigators have suspended samplers from nonrigid wires or cords (Hester and Dendy, 1962;Fuilner, 1971;Wefring and Teed, 1980). Artificial substrates for collecting riverine benthic invertebrates may be placed on the riverbed (Beak, et aL, 1973; Gale and Thompson, 1974;Slack, et aL, 1986) or suspended in the water column (Mason, et aL, 1967;Anderson and Mason, 1968;Arthur and Horning, 1969;Fuilner, 1971;Mason, et al, 1973). Mason, et aL (1973), reported that bottom-placed limestone-filled baskets accumulate more sediment and generally are more variable within pairs than are baskets exposed near the water surface.…”

“…They conclude (p. 423) that the bottom placement of artificial substrates results in loss of control of substrate composition esssential for comparing communities at stations with different water quality. Another reason for off-bottom exposure of artificial substrate samplers stems from the importance of nonchannel habitats in rivers (Benke, et aL, 1985;Slack, et aL, 1986). Different assemblages of benthic organisms occur on stable and unstable habitats in a variety of rivers (Berner, 1951;Morris, et aL, 1968;Pearson and Franklin, 1968;Braatz and Curtis, 1978;Wright, 1982;Benke, Ct aL, 1984).…”