Potential effects of a warmer and drier climate in the Great Lakes region on seasonal woodland pool invertebrate communities.

Abstract

Seasonal woodland pools are an important wetland that may be affected by increased evaporation and periods of drought predicted by climate change models. Small, artificial pools were used to model the effect of reduced hydroperiods on seasonal woodland pool invertebrate communities. The artificial pools were seeded with leaf litter from local natural seasonal woodland pools. Hydroperiods were manipulated by manually pumping the water out and refilling the pools. The control pools experienced two two day draw-down events and the experimental pools experienced two eight day draw-down events. The total abundance of invertebrates was significantly fewer in the pools with reduced hydroperiod (p = .025). Individual taxa abundance, species richness, and community diversity decreased insignificantly in the pools with reduced hydroperiod. Encouragingly, many of the invertebrates’ adaptations allowed them to survive the reduced hydroperiods. However, even with a dry down period of only a week, and with conditions never truly drying out, the invertebrate community was affected. Climate change may intensify these dry periods much more severely and therefore have an even greater impact on seasonal woodland pool invertebrate communities than seen in this investigation.