Benthic Macroinvertebrates Cane Creek NC 55 



Fish collections from Cane Creek (unpublished data on file with 

 N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission) include 25 species. The list appears 

 typical of Piedmont streams in North Carolina. 



The watershed contains both forest and agriculture, principally 

 dairy farming and row crops. According to the water basin plan (N.C. 

 Division Environmental Management 1975), there are no point source 

 discharges in this area, but runoff often causes high turbidity in Cane 

 Creek. In 1978 the Soil Conservation Service (unpubUshed) cited Cane 

 Creek as a high priority area for land treatment to reduce erosion rates. 

 However, little accumulation of coarse bedload sediment was noted in 

 biological surveys, which may be due to local geology. Cane Creek is 

 located in the "slate belt" of North Carolina, a zone of metamorphosed 

 volcanic rock (Simmons and Heath 1979). DEM surveys within this 

 land type (unpublished data) suggests that little "sandy" stream sedi- 

 ment is produced through erosion. 



METHODS 



Several investigators have collected benthic macroinvertebrates from 

 Cane Creek (Smock and Hughes 1975; Mozley 1978; Penrose et al. 

 1980). Extensive collections have also been made by the author and by a 

 limnology class at North Carolina State University. Collection methods 

 included Hester-Dendy muhiple plate samplers (FuUner 1971), "kicks" 

 (Frost et al. 1971), and various qualitative techniques. The most inten- 

 sive collections have been at Station 1 (Lower Cane Creek), but all areas 

 of the Cane Creek watershed have been sampled (see Fig. 1). Areas 

 sampled included temporary streams and stream orders 1 through 3. All 

 records were vertified by the author. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Taxa List 



Table 1 lists 272 taxa collected from Cane Creek. A list of taxo- 

 nomic references used for identification of these organisms is available 

 from the author. This table also contains data on frequency (rare, com- 

 mon, or abundant), a classification that is somewhat subjective since 

 most collections were qualitative. The list contains few species not col- 

 lected in other Piedmont streams (DEM, unpubl. surveys). The most 

 unusual record was Mystacides alafimbriata Hill-Griffin, a common 

 edge species found at several stations in July 1979. This caddisfly had 

 not been collected east of the Mississippi River. Identification was based 

 on young larvae and should be confirmed by collection of adults. 

 Another unusual caddisfly record was Dibusa angata Ross, a species 

 strongly associated with red algae (Wiggins 1977). 



The turbellarian Hydrolimax grisea Haldeman was collected sev- 

 eral times in Cane Creek. Pennak (1978) listed this species as rare and 



