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Long-term studies of seasonal variability enable evaluation of macroinvertebrate response to an acute oil spill in an urban Mediterranean-climate stream

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Abstract

Benthic macroinvertebrates show seasonal fluctuations with variability in hydrologic conditions. Coastal northern California (USA) is located in a Mediterranean-climate area, which is characterized by predictable wet and dry seasons, and consequently stream flows. Monthly sampling over multiple years (2004–2005, 2010–2013) was used to examine seasonal variability in taxonomic composition and abundances of benthic macroinvertebrates at three sites in Strawberry Creek, an urban stream on the University of California, Berkeley campus. Although wet and dry seasons at all sites had similar taxa occurrences, seasonal variation in taxa abundances was evident at two sites. The effects of an accidental oil spill in winter 2011 were examined using a Before–After design. Three days post-spill, macroinvertebrate richness and abundances at the impacted site decreased dramatically compared with pre-spill levels; taxonomic composition recovered one year later. Resilience was likely from drift via an unaffected stream fork and the flushing effects of winter stream flows. The combination of monthly sampling over multiple years and the opportunistic evaluation of responses to an acute disturbance enabled us to identify five taxa that are common, abundant, and easily identified, which can be used as a framework for enhancing future volunteer-based biomonitoring research projects.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Mendez for help with collections and information about species life histories, and F. H. Chang for assistance with size spectra comparisons. We also appreciate the assistance of K. Schwab, K. Velasco, and A. Cornejo with sample processing. In addition, we thank T. Pine and the University of California, Berkeley Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) for information regarding the accidental oil spill and hydrocarbons in soil samples. We acknowledge the Margaret C. Walker Fund for graduate research in Systematic Entomology and the Edward A. Colman Fellowship in Watershed Management from the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, for support to the senior author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Michael G. Peterson, Lisa Hunt & Vincent H. Resh

  2. Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Erin E. Donley Marineau

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  1. Michael G. Peterson
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  2. Lisa Hunt
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  3. Erin E. Donley Marineau
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  4. Vincent H. Resh
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Correspondence to Michael G. Peterson.

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Handling editor: Luigi Naselli-Flores

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Peterson, M.G., Hunt, L., Donley Marineau, E.E. et al. Long-term studies of seasonal variability enable evaluation of macroinvertebrate response to an acute oil spill in an urban Mediterranean-climate stream. Hydrobiologia 797, 319–333 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3194-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3194-3

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