French Broad River Macroinvertebrates 



31 



potential pollution sources and were therefore assumed to be relatively 

 undisturbed enough to serve as controls. None produced as many total 

 taxa as our study, and the lower taxa richness (Table 1) is attributable 

 to less frequent sampling and/ or less precise taxonomy. Collection 

 methodology was designed, in each survey, to produce the most diverse 

 fauna. 



Table 2 presents average taxa richness (per collection) for six refer- 

 ence sites on Appalachian mountain rivers. The level of taxonomic reso- 

 lution accounts for at least some variability between surveys. For exam- 

 ple, Starnes (1976) identified chironomids only to family in her survey 

 of the Little Pigeon River, while in our survey we identified 74 taxa 



Table 1. Total taxa richness (S) comparisons for six Appalachian river studies. 

 S # Collections # Station Method Reference 

 4 Kick net This paper 



2 Kick net Lenat et al. 

 (1979) 



2 Kick net Lenat et al. 



(1979) 

 4 Assorted Harned (1977) 



1 Kick net Seagle & Hen- 

 dricks (1978) 

 1 Surber Starnes (1976) 



French Broad 

 River, NC 



221 (177) 1 



7 



Mills River 

 (MR-1, 

 MR-2), NC 



131 



4 



North Toe River 

 (NT-1), NC 



French Broad 

 River (FB), NC 



113 

 106 



6 

 1 



Shenandoah 

 River (SH),VA 



111 



summary 



Little Pigeon 

 River (LPR), TN 



71 



12 



1 Stations FB-1 and FB-2, upper river-montane only. 



Table 2. Average taxa richness comparisons by taxonomic group for four 

 Appalachian river studies. Abbreviations as in Table I. 



Station 



Order FB-1 FB-2 MR-1 MR-2 NT-1 LPR 



Ephemeroptera 



18.4 



15.6 



11.6 



14.2 



10.3 



9.0 



Plecoptera 



7.6 



3.9 



5.8 



7.4 



5.6 



4.3 



Trichoptera 



11.7 



8.1 



9.0 



13.6 



6.3 



6.0 



Diptera 



25.4 



18.7 



15.0 



22.0 



11.6 



5.2' 



Coleoptera 



5.9 



2.6 



3.0 



3.8 



2.1 



1.8 



Other 



4.7 



10.9 



3.1 



5.6 



4.4 



3.2 



Totals 



73.7 



52.3 



47.5 



66.6 



40.3 



29.6 



1 Chironomids identified only to 



family level 











