Assessment of Two Methods for Sampling Invertebrates in Shallow Vegetated Wetlands

• Published in: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) N.C.), 2013-12, Vol.33 (6), p.1063-1073
• Main Authors: Meyer, Micah D., Davis, Craig A., Bidwell, Joseph R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquatic birds; Biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Birds; Coastal Sciences; Community structure; Density; Ecology; Environmental Management; Environmental quality; Estimates; Ethanol; Floods; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Hydrogeology; Invertebrates; Landscape Ecology; Life Sciences; Loam soils; Methods; Precipitation; Sampling; Sampling methods; Taxa; Vegetation; Waterfowl; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0277-5212; 1943-6246
• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-013-0462-5

Invertebrates are often used as indicators of wetland health and habitat quality for species such as waterbirds. However, the sampling method may influence the characterization of wetland invertebrate populations. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two sampling methods, the aquatic D-frame net and Quadrat-Column-Core (QCC) method, in determining invertebrate population metrics in vegetated depressional wetlands of north central Oklahoma. As compared to the D-frame net, use of the QCC method resulted in higher estimates of both total microcrustacean and nonmicrocrustacean density and biomass. Additionally, the QCC method had higher estimates of density and biomass for seven of the eight functional feeding groups and nearly half of the 49 taxa collected from the wetlands. The D-frame net method produced higher estimates of taxa richness and the Shannon index as well as higher densities and biomasses than the QCC method for five taxa. Overall, invertebrate community structure was different between the two sampling methods. In light of differences in the metrics determined for the two sampling methods, the ultimate choice of a sampling method for wetland invertebrates should be based on study objectives.