Response of the flora and macroinvertebrate fauna of a chalk stream site to changes in management

Abstract

SUMMARY1. Temporal changes in a series of habitats and their macroinvertebrate assemblages were examined on a 50‐m section of a chalk stream in Berkshire, England between June 1975–79 and June 1997–2001.2. The site was part of a trout fishery in 1975–79, when river management included instream weed cutting together with control of bankside trees and riparian vegetation. Management ceased in the 1980s and by 1997–2001, the site was heavily shaded by trees and riparian vegetation.3. The mean area of instream macrophytes decreased by 50% between the first and second sampling period. In contrast, gravel and silt increased and invading marginal vegetation formed a new habitat.4. Changes in macroinvertebrate family richness between sampling periods were scale dependant. Although there were, on average, significantly more families in individual replicates in 1975–79 than in 1997–2001, total family richness for the site in each year did not differ significantly between sampling periods.5. Sixty families of macroinvertebrates were recorded during the study, 50 in both sampling periods, 53 in 1975–79 and 57 in 1997–2001. This small increase in site family richness may be due to the invading marginal plants.6. Total macroinvertebrate abundance was significantly lower in the second sampling period. A major drought in 1976 resulted in significantly higher densities of macroinvertebrates, partly through the exploitation of epiphytic diatoms by chironomid larvae. A drought in 1997 failed to elicit a similar response because of the limited macrophytes and diatoms under heavy shading by trees and marginal vegetation.7. Significant increases in important shredders and decreases in some scrapers between the early and later sampling years largely reflected changes in available food resources.8. Whereas macroinvertebrate family richness has been conserved under the recent ‘no management’ regime, the site is now less attractive as a fishery because of poor access and lower densities of some macroinvertebrates taken by brown trout.