ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Effects of Bridge Abutments on the Benthic Macroinvertebrate Community
Zhengda Yu1, Hui Wang1, Renqing Wang1,2,3, Tongli He2, Qingqing Cao1, Yutao Wang2, Jian Liu1
 
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1Institute of Environmental Research, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
2School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
3Shandong Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Center for Vegetation Ecology, Shandong University,
Jinan 250100, China
 
 
Submission date: 2015-12-28
 
 
Final revision date: 2016-02-20
 
 
Acceptance date: 2016-02-20
 
 
Publication date: 2016-05-25
 
 
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2016;25(3):1331-1337
 
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ABSTRACT
A river ecosystem is a treasure that is home to a wide variety of wetland species. The construction of bridges might have a deep impact on diversity of such an ecosystem. The ecological consequence of bridge abutments was studied by monitoring the benthic macroinvertebrate community at six main bridges on the Tuhai and Majia rivers in eastern China. We collected samples of macroinvertebrates from upstream to downstream during the summer hight-water period, and we monitored water quality at each site. The macroinvertebrate community of under-bridge sites was significantly correlated with that of reference sites in abundance, biomass, and richness. The benthic macroinvertebrate communities were not significantly different between under-bridge sites and reference sites in terms of abundance and biomass, while they were significantly different in terms of richness and the Shannon-Wiener index. This pattern outlined a major impact of bridge abutments on benthic macroinvertebrate communities for the first time, indicating the importance of habitat restoration after river construction was finished. Suitable measures should be taken to minimize the impact of bridge abutments.
eISSN:2083-5906
ISSN:1230-1485
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