Invertebrate drift in the regulated River Tees, and an unregulated tributary Maize Beck, below Cow Green dam

Abstract

SUMMARY. The Cow Green dam was completed in the summer of 1970 and invertebrate drift was sampled below the dam and in an adjacent tributary, Maize Beck, on thirty‐one occasions between July 1970 and September 1973.Drift was sampled by pumping river water through a filter. The intake was placed in Maize Beck for the first sample and in the Tees for the second, and so on alternately for the rest of the sampling period. Nets were used on ten occasions, nine of these in winter months and once when the pump broke down.A total of ninety‐five taxa were recognized, of which eighty‐six occurred in Maize Beck and seventy‐one in the Tees. The Tees fauna was dominated numerically and in terms of biomass by a large population of micro‐crustaceans originating in the reservoir. Hydra and Naididae also formed a large proportion of the Tees drift but contributed little to the biomass. Ephemeroptera were most abundant in Maize Beck samples. Diptera were abundant in drift catches in both streams with simuliid larvae most numerous in Maize Beck and chironomid larvae most numerous in the Tees.The greatest drift densities of the benthic fauna were observed between April and October; the mean number of organisms per 10 m3 were seventy‐three in Maize Beck and 144 in the Tees. The mean densities in winter were very low, respectively two and seventeen per 10 m3 in the two rivers. There was no significant difference between the mean levels of the total bottom fauna (numbers and biomass) in the drift in the two rivers during the period April‐October, but vrtnter biomass was significantly greater in the Tees.In July 1970 micro‐crustaceans represented 29% (14 per 10 m3) of total drift numbers and 3% (0.7 mg wet‐weight per 10 m3) of the biomass, whereas in 1973 they represented 99% of both the numbers (37 670 per 10 m3) and weight (2.2 g wet‐weight per 10 m3).The relation between benthos and drift was examined. In the drift Plecoptera and Baetidae were more abundant in Maize Beck than in the Tees. Only Chironomidae and Nais spp. were more abundant in the Tees, In the benthos the density of Plecoptera and Baetidae was not significantly different in the two rivers, but all other groups with the exception of Simuliidae occurred at greater densities in the Tees. The proportion of baetids present in the drift was greatest in Maize Beck. No such difference was demonstrated for total fauna.Diel rhythms were observed in baetids and simuhids with densities greater in night catches. Nocturnal peaks of these organisms were less pronounced in the Tees. Chironomid larvae showed no diel changes in abundance. Significant diel changes in the mean weights of individual animals were not detected in baetid nymphs or chironomids. Micro‐crustaceans showed no nocturnal peaks of abundance.Preliminary observations on the quality and quantity of seston caught in drift samples between April and October showed great differences between the rivers. In the Tees the bulk ofeach sample consisted of algal filaments derived from the river and micro‐crustaceans from the reservoir. In Maize Beck algae were un‐common and the sample was composed of peat and mineral particles. Data are presented on seston output at different discharges.