LargeScale Effects of Timber Harvesting on Stream

Authors: Lance R Williams Christopher M Taylor Melvin L Warren Jr J Alan Clingenpeel

Publish Date: 2014/02/11

Volume: 29, Issue: 1, Pages: 76-87

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Abstract

Using Basin Area Stream Survey BASS data from the United States Forest Service we evaluated how timber harvesting influenced patterns of variation in physical stream features and regional fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages Data were collected for three years 1990–1992 from six hydrologically variable streams in the Ouachita Mountains Arkansas USA that were paired by management regime within three drainage basins Specifically we used multivariate techniques to partition variability in assemblage structure taxonomic and trophic that could be explained by timber harvesting drainage basin differences yeartoyear variability and their shared variance components Most of the variation in fish assemblages was explained by drainage basin differences and both basin and yearofsampling influenced macroinvertebrate assemblages All three factors modeled including interactions between drainage basins and timber harvesting influenced variability in physical stream features Interactions between timber harvesting and drainage basins indicated that differences in physical stream features were important in determining the effects of logging within a basin The lack of a logging effect on the biota contradicts predictions for these small hydrologically variable streams We believe this pattern is related to the large scale of this study and the high levels of natural variability in the streams Alternatively there may be timespecific effects we were unable to detect with our sampling design and analyses

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