Benthic Macroinvertebrates of Cane Creek, North Carolina, 

 and Comparisons with Other Southeastern Streams 



David R. Lenat 



Biological Monitoring Group, 



N.C. Division of Environmental Management, 



Archdale Building, Raleigh, North Carolina 27611 



ABSTRACT.— The macrobenthos of Cane Creek, in the Piedmont 

 Plateau of North Carolina, have been sampled by several investigators. 

 This information was combined to generate a list of 272 invertebrate 

 taxa. Cane Creek is compared to other unstressed Piedmont streams to 

 define characteristics of a "normal" stream in this geographic area. If 

 used cautiously, this data set can provide control information for bio- 

 logical monitoring. Average taxa richness appears to be the best tool 

 for environmental assessment work. It shows little variability across a 

 wide range of North Carolina streams, even outside the Piedmont. 

 Such a pattern suggests a constant number of niches in stream ecosys- 

 tems. 



INTRODUCTION 



The study of pollution in freshwater ecosystems is a complex prob- 

 lem. Water quality degradation may be caused by an immense number 

 of pollutants, many of which have an alarming degree of temporal 

 and/ or spatial variability. To deal with this variability, water quality 

 monitoring often includes some biological sampling. 



The North Carolina Division of Environmental Management 

 (DEM) has used biological monitoring to analyze a wide variety of 

 water quality problems (Penrose et al. 1980). Specifically, the Division's 

 biologists use the structure of the benthic macroinvertebrate community 

 to detect stress in aquatic systems. There are many ways to examine 

 such data (Lenat et al. 1980), but all are based on comparisons of actual 

 data with some expected pattern. The expected pattern is often derived 

 from a control area, but in many situations it may be difficult to locate 

 good control stations. This difficulty can often be overcome by using 

 control data sets. The Division's Biological Monitoring Group has 

 attempted to generate control data sets by compiling information from 

 many unpolluted North Carolina streams and rivers. An earlier contri- 

 bution examined the benthos of a Mountain river system (Penrose et al. 

 1982). This paper describes the benthic macroinvertebrates of a typical 

 Piedmont stream. 



Brimleyana No.9:53-68. June 1983. 53 



