The influence of partial timber harvesting in riparian buffers on macroinvertebrate and fish communities in small streams in Minnesota, USA

Authors

Christopher J. Chizinski, University of MinnesotaFollow
Bruce Vondracek, University of MinnesotaFollow
Charles R. Blinn, University of Minnesota
Raymond M. Newman, University of Minnesota
Dickson M. Atuke, University of Minnesota
Keith Fredricks, University of Minnesota
Nathaniel A. Hemstad, University of Minnesota
Eric Merten, University of Minnesota
Nicholas Schlesser, University of Minnesota

Date of this Version

2-2010

Citation

Chizinski, C. J., B. Vondracek, C.R. Blinn, R.M. Newman, D. Atuke, K. Fredricks, N. Hemstad, E. Merten, and N. Schlesser. 2010. The influence of partial timber harvesting in riparian buffers on macroinvertebrate and fish communities in small streams in Minnesota, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 259:1946-1958.

Comments

US government work.

Abstract

Relatively few evaluations of aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish communities have been published in peer-reviewed literature detailing the effect of varying residual basal area (RBA) after timber harvesting in riparian buffers. Our analysis investigated the effects of partial harvesting within riparian buffers on aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish communities in small streams from two experiments in northern Minnesota northern hardwood-aspen forests. Each experiment evaluated partial harvesting within riparian buffers. In both experiments, benthic macroinvertebrates and fish were collected 1 year prior to harvest and in each of 3 years after harvest. We observed interannual variation for the macroinvertebrate abundance, diversity and taxon richness in the single-basin study and abundance and diversity in the multiple-basin study, but few effects related to harvest treatments in either study. However, interannual variation was not evident in the fish communities and we detected no significant changes in the stream fish communities associated with partially harvested riparian buffers in either study. This would suggest that timber harvesting in riparian management zones along reaches ≤200m in length on both sides of the stream that retains RBA≥12.4±1.3m² ha⁻¹ or on a single side of the stream that retains RBA≥8.7±1.6m² ha⁻¹ may be adequate to protect macroinvertebrate and fish communities in our Minnesota study systems given these specific timber harvesting techniques.