PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #13: Success Criteria and Monitoring Restoration.
Presiding: D. Gluesenkamp
Monday, August 5. 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM. Mohave Meeting Room, TCC.

Amphibian and macroinvertebrate monitoring to evaluate restoration success.

Schneider, Thomas^*,1, Bartoszek, Joseph¹, ¹ Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Dayton, Ohio

ABSTRACT- A protocol developed by Ohio EPA utilizes funnel traps to monitor macroinvertebrates and amphibians in wetlands. Ten funnel traps are set three times per year (March, April, June) evenly spaced around the perimeter of a wetland. We used this method to measure success of emergent and ephemeral created wetlands. The wetlands were installed at the U.S. Department of Energy Fernald site in southwest Ohio. The wetland creation projects are part of a larger site-wide natural resource restoration project involving prairie, wetland and forest restorations. Sampling was conducted at baseline, mitigation and reference sites. Although not all species present were sampled, we found that data from the traps were discriminatory between reference, baseline, and mitigated wetlands. Data agreed with other methods of assessment being utilized. Identification to lower taxonomic levels was not needed. It is important to compare the same wetland types, however. Percent model affinity was a better tool for ephemeral wetland comparison than diversity indices, however diversity indices were useful for comparing emergent wetlands.

KEY WORDS: Monitoring, Amphibian, Wetland, Restoration