Skip to main content
Log in

Impact of urban development on aquatic macroinvertebrates in south eastern Australia: degradation of in-stream habitats and comparison with non-urban streams

Aquatic Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Internationally, waterways within urban areas are subject to broad-scale environmental impairment from urban land uses. In this study, we used in-stream macroinvertebrates as surrogates to measure the aquatic health of urban streams in the established suburbs of northern Sydney, in temperate south eastern Australia. We compared these with samples collected from streams flowing in adjacent naturally vegetated catchments. Macroinvertebrates were collected over a 30-month period from riffle, edge and pool rock habitats and were identified to the family level. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were assessed against the influence of imperviousness and other catchment and water quality variables. The study revealed that urban streams were significantly impaired compared with those that flowed through naturally vegetated non-urban catchments. Urban streams had consistently lower family richness, and sensitive guilds were rare or missing. We found that variation in community assemblages among the in-stream habitats (pool edges, riffles and pool rocks) were more pronounced within streams in naturally vegetated catchments than in urban waterways.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2004) Population estimates by age and sex. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • APHA (American Public Health Association) (1998) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Aplin G, Beggs P, Brierley G, Cleugh H, Curson P, Mitchell P, Pitman A, Rich D (1999) Global environmental crises: an Australian perspective, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold CL, Gibbons CJ (1996) Impervious surface coverage: the emergence of a key environmental indicator. J Am Plan Assoc 62:243–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthington AH, Conrick DL, Connell DW, Outridge PM (1982) The ecology of a polluted urban creek. Australian Water Resources Council, Technical Paper No. 68, Australian Government Printing Service, Canberra

  • Beavan L, Sadler J, Pinder C (2001) The invertebrate fauna of a physically modified urban river. Hydrobiologia 445:97–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair RB (1996) Land use and avian species diversity along an urban gradient. Ecol Appl 6:506–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BoM (Bureau of Meteorology) (2007) Special climate statement 14. Six years of widespread drought in southern and eastern Australia November 2001 to October 2007. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs14.pdf. Accessed 6 December 2009

  • BoM (Bureau of Meteorology) (2009) Summary statistics riverview observatory, http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_066131.shtml. Accessed 6 December 2009

  • Booth DB, Jackson CR (1997) Urbanization of aquatic systems—degradation thresholds, stormwater detention, and the limits of mitigation. J Am Water Resour Assoc 33:1077–1090

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cairns J Jr, Pratt JR (1993) A history of biological monitoring using benthic macroinvertebrates. In: Rosenberg DM, Resh VH (eds) Freshwater biomonitoring and benthic macroinvertebrates. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 10–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell IC (1978) A biological investigation of an organically polluted urban stream in Victoria. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 29:275–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Center for Watershed Protection (2003) Impacts of impervious cover on aquatic ecosystems. Center for Watershed Protection, Ellicott City

    Google Scholar 

  • Chessman BC (1995) Rapid assessment of rivers using macroinvertebrates: a procedure based on habitat-specific sampling, family level identification and a biotic index. Aust J Ecol 20:122–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chessman BC (2003) New sensitivity grades for Australian river macroinvertebrates. Mar Freshw Res 54:95–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chessman BC, Williams SA (1999) Biodiversity and conservation of river macroinvertebrates. Pac Conserv Biol 5:36–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke KR (1993) Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Aust J Ecol 18:117–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke KR, Ainsworth M (1993) A method of linking multivariate community structure to environmental variables. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 92:205–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen JE (2003) Human population: the next century. Science 302:1172–1175

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corkum LD (1989) Patterns of benthic invertebrate assemblages in rivers of northwestern North America. Freshw Biol 21:191–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins KW, Klug MJ (1979) Feeding ecology of stream invertebrates. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 10:147–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curby P, Macleod V (2006) Under the canopy: a centenary history of ku-ring-gai council. Ku-ring-gai Council, Gordon

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies PJ, Wright IA, Jonasson OJ, Findlay SJ (2009) Effects of concrete and PVC pipes on water chemistry, presented at 6th international water sensitive urban design conference and Hydropolis, 5–8 May 2009, Perth, Western Australia

  • Department of Planning (2007) North sub-region: draft subregional strategy. New South Wales Department of Planning, Newcastle, NSW

  • DEST, EPA, and WRDC (1994) River bioassessment manual, Version 1.0, National river processes and management program, monitoring river health initiative. Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, Environment Protection Agency, and Land and Water Research and Development Corporation, Canberra, ACT

  • DMR (1983) Sydney Australia 1:100 000: Geological Series Sheet 9130, 1st edn, Geological Survey of New South Wales, Department of Mineral Resources, Maitland, NSW

  • Dunn T, Leopold LB (1978) Water in environmental planning. WH Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairweather PG (1990) Sewage and the biota on seashores: assessment of impact in relation to natural variability. Environ Monit Assess 14:197–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fanelli G, Testi A (2008) Detecting large and fine scale patterns of abundance in towns by means of plant species inventories: maps of Memeroby in the town of Rome. In: Wagner LN (ed) Urbanization: 21st century issues and challenges. Nova Science, New York, pp 197–211

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregory KJ, Davis RJ, Downs PW (1992) Identification of river channel change due to urbanization. Appl Geogr 12:299–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gresens SE, Belt KT, Tang JA, Gwinn DC, Banks PA (2007) Temporal and spatial responses of Chironomidae (Diptera) and other benthic invertebrates to urban stormwater runoff. Hydrobiologia 575:173–190

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hatt BE, Fletcher TD, Walsh CJ, Taylor SL (2004) The influence of urban density and drainage infrastructure on the concentrations and loads of pollutants in small streams. Environ Manag 34:112–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawking JH (1994) A preliminary guide to keys and zoological information to identify invertebrates from Australian freshwaters. Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology Identification Guide No. 2. Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Albury, NSW

  • Jenkins RA, Wade KR, Pugh E (1984) Macroinvertebrate-habitat relationships in the River Teifi catchment and the significance to conservation. Freshw Biol 14:23–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jolly VH, Chapman MA (1966) A preliminary biological study of the effects of pollution on Farmers’s Creek and Cox’s River, New South Wales. Hydrobiologia 27:160–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein RD (1979) Urbanization and stream quality impairment. Water Resour Bull 15:948–963

    Google Scholar 

  • Ladson AR (2004) Optimising urban stream rehabilitation planning and execution. Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology, Technical Report 04/7. Melbourne, Australia

  • Lake JC, Leishman MR (2004) Invasion success of exotic plants in natural ecosystems: the role of disturbance, plant attributes and freedom from herbivores. Biol Conserv 117:215–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenat DR, Penrose DL (1996) History of the EPT taxa richness metric. Bull N Am Benthol Soc 13:305–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Leopold LB (1968) Hydrology for urban land planning: a guidebook on the hydrological effects of urban land. US Circular 554, US Geological Survey, Washington DC

  • Marchant R, Barmutta LA, Chessman BC (1994) Preliminary study of the ordination and classification of macroinvertebrate communities from running waters in Victoria, Australia. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 45:945–962

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer JL, Paul MJ, Taulbee WK (2005) Stream ecosystem function in urbanizing landscapes. J N Am Benthol Soc 24:602–612

    Google Scholar 

  • Moerke AH, Lamberti GA (2004) Restoring stream ecosystems: lessons from a Mid Western State. Restor Ecol 12:327–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norris RH, Lake PS, Swain R (1982) Ecological effects of mine effluents on the South Esk River, north- eastern Tasmania (III). Benthic macroinvertebrates. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 33:789–809

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons M, Norris RH (1996) The effect of habitat-specific sampling on biological assessment of water quality using a predictive model. Freshw Biol 36:419–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul MJ, Meyer JL (2001) Streams in the urban landscape. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 32:333–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen ER, Perkins MA (1986) The use of benthic macroinvertebrate data for evaluating impacts of urban runoff. Hydrobiologia 139:13–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Resh VH, Jackson JK (1993) Rapid assessment approaches to biomonitoring using benthic macroinvertebrates. In: Rosenberg DM, Resh VH (eds) Freshwater biomonitoring and benthic macroinvertebrates. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp 195–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg DM, Resh VH (1993) Freshwater biomonitoring and benthic macroinvertebrates. Chapman and Hall, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy AH, Rosemond AD, Paul MJ, Leigh DS, Wallace JB (2003) Stream macroinvertebrate response to catchment urbanisation (Georgia U.S.A.). Freshw Biol 48:329–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutt GP, Weatherly NS, Ormerod SJ (1989) Microhabitat availability in Welsh moorland and forest streams as a determinant of macroinvertebrate distribution. Freshw Biol 22:247–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suren AM (2000) Effects of urbanisation. In: Collie KJ, Winterbourne MJ (eds) New Zealand stream invertebrates: ecology and implications for management. New Zealand Limnological Society, Christchurch, pp 260–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Underwood AJ (1991) Beyond BACI: experimental designs for detecting human environmental impacts on temporal variations in natural populations. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 42:569–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Der Hammen H, Smit H (1996) The water mites (Acari : Hydrachnidia) of streams in the Netherlands: distribution and ecological aspects on a regional scale. Neth J Aquat Ecol 30:175–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh CJ (2006) Biological indicators of stream health using macroinvertebrate assemblage composition: a comparison of sensitivity to an urban gradient. Mar Freshw Res 57:37–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh CJ, Breen PF (2001) A biological approach to assessing the potential success of habitat restoration in urban streams. Verh Internat Verein Limnol 27:3654–3658

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh CJ, Sharpe AK, Breen PF, Sonneman JA (2001) Effects of urbanisation on streams of the Melbourne region, Victoria, Australia. I. Benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Freshw Biol 46:535–551

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh CJ, Sim PT, Yoo J (2002) Methods for the determination of catchment imperviousness and drainage connection. Project 210. Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Clayton

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh CJ, Fletcher TD, Ladson AR (2005) Stream restoration in urban catchments through re-design stormwater systems: looking to the catchment to save the stream. J N Am Benthol Soc 24:690–750

    Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM (1993) Environmental impact studies on marine communities: pragmatical considerations. Aust J Ecol 18:63–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright IA, Burgin S (2009) Comparison of sewage and coal mine drainage impacts on stream macroinvertebrates within an otherwise clean upland catchment, south-eastern Australia. Water Air Soil Poll 204:227–241

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wright IA, Chessman BC, Fairweather PG, Benson LJ (1995) Measuring the impact of sewage effluent of an upland stream: the effect of different levels of taxonomic resolution and quantification. Aust J Ecol 20:142–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright JF, Sutcliffe DW, Furse M (eds) (2000) Assessing the biological quality of fresh waters: RIVPACS and other techniques. Freshwater Biological Association, Ambleside

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by Ku-ring-gai Council. We also wish to acknowledge Dr. Chris Walsh, Melbourne University, for his comments on an earlier draft of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ian A. Wright.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Davies, P.J., Wright, I.A., Findlay, S.J. et al. Impact of urban development on aquatic macroinvertebrates in south eastern Australia: degradation of in-stream habitats and comparison with non-urban streams. Aquat Ecol 44, 685–700 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-009-9307-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-009-9307-y

Keywords

Navigation