Reconnecting a stream channel to its floodplain: implications for benthic diatoms and macroinvertebrate trophic structure

Abstract

Streams systems draining upland landscapes provide valuable ecosystem services, but they are vulnerable to incision and channelization caused by anthropogenic disturbance. Restoring a degraded stream to its pre‐disturbance condition by reconnecting the channel to its historical floodplain aims to recover lost hydro‐morphological processes and functions. Seeking evidence to indicate whether that aim is met in practice, we examined diatoms and the stream macroinvertebrate trophic structures in three reaches of Whychus Creek, Oregon, United States. Two reaches were reconnected to their pre‐disturbance floodplains in 2012 and 2016. The third, control reach, was not restored and was selected to represent the degraded stream condition prior to restoration. Ordinations showed that benthic diatom species composition shifted from the control reach to the restored reaches. Compared to the control reach, reconnection decreased the percentages of diatoms with nitrogen (N)‐fixing cyanobacterial endosymbionts in the 2012 restored reach and decreased diatoms tolerant to low N conditions in both the restored reaches. δ15N values in both stream macroinvertebrates and tree leaves in the riparian zone were higher in the restored reaches. These findings suggest that floodplain reconnection may modify hydro‐morphological processes and ecosystem functions in ways that enhance organic matter retention and hyporheic exchange, resulting in increased nutrient availability, improved nutrient cycling, and greater primary productivity. More generally, our results suggest that characterizing diatom species composition and trophic interactions using stable isotopes provides the basis for identifying and evaluating the beneficial effects of stream restoration on ecosystem functions and the food‐web.