Abstract
ABSTRACT. Springs located on the Colorado Plateau are highly threatened and represent a small percentage of the landscape; yet they are disproportionately important to diverse native flora and fauna. The relationships between anthropogenic disturbance, aquatic macroinvertebrate species composition, and environmental variables at these springs have received little study. We selectively visited 40 sandstone springs in southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado to span a range of impacts. We classified the springs into impact categories based on a spring impact score, and we measured biodiversity (aquatic macroinvertebrates), water chemistry (nutrients, dissolved O2, pH, specific conductivity, temperature, turbidity, coliform bacteria [Escherichia coli]), physical characters (solar radiation, substrate, vegetation cover, bank stability, discharge), and presence of anthropogenic disturbance. Escherichia coli abundance was higher in high impact categories, and turbidity increased with increasing disturbance. ...
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