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

Abstract

A COMPARISON OF AQUATIC INSECT COMMUNITIES BETWEEN MAN-MADE AND NATURAL PONDS by Kristy Kay Whiteson 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 BLMFort Ord public lands for allowing me to study the aquatic insect communities residing their ponds. I am most grateful to Dr. Jeffrey Honda, Dr. Rodney Myatt, and Ms. Susanne Fork for providing me with exceptional advice in the field and lab, as well as, help with aquatic insect identifications and manuscript editing. Many thanks go to Jenny and Sage Lefebvre, Suzanne Worcester, Cammy Cambre, John Haskins, Peter Slatterly, John Oliver, Bruce Delgado, and the BLMFort Ord volunteers for their help in the field. My appreciation goes to the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement team for their assistance with aquatic insect identifications. I'm indebted to Adam Whiteson for helping me dissect the Chao et al. (2005) paper and special thanks to Rena Whiteson for her constructive and helpful reviews of this manuscript. I am very grateful to Yoseif Whiteson for his assistance in database construction, project management, and manuscript review.