| Urban streams are greatly impacted by runoff, construction, and the loss of riparian buffers. Past studies have shown the importance of terrestrial subsidies to aquatic communities in pristine, non-urban systems. During the summer of 2004, I examined how urban stream fish communities are impacted by the degradation of streamside vegetation, which typically would provide allochthonous input into their diets. North and South Buffalo Creeks in Greensboro, NC, and Little Sugar Creek in Charlotte, NC, were used in this study. Natural abundance of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen for periphyton, CPOM, benthic and terrestrial macroinvertebrates, seston, FBOM, and fish were examined in restored, unrestored, and forested sites on each stream. Fish and macroinvertebrate communities and fish gut contents were also assessed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
