French Broad River Macroinvertebrates 



33 



caddisflies, as are many other riverine systems with large watersheds 

 (Ross 1944; Rhame and Stewart 1976). Anderson (1976) said that 

 hydropsychids are "particularly" characteristic of large rivers. 



Taxa Richness: Streams 



The total number of taxa for the two French Broad tributaries (5 

 stations) was 199 (Table 4). Surveys conducted by the Division of 

 Environmental Management in the seven other Appalachian streams 

 shown in Table 4 did not record as many taxa, but this may simply 

 reflect the far fewer samples collected. It has long been known that taxa 

 richness is a logarithmic function of collection area (Gleason 1922). A 

 larger number of samples increases collection efficiency, hence produces 

 greater taxa richness. 



Average taxa richness per collection for the taxonomic orders is 

 presented in Table 5. This table also includes information from the 

 seven other mountain stream surveys listed in Table 4. 



Abundance (percent of total abundance): Streams 



Table 6 gives abundance (as a percent of total abundance) for tax- 

 onomic orders. As before, we include comparisons from other presuma- 

 bly unstressed Appalachian streams. We have also been able to include 

 data from Tebo and Hassler (1961), Talak (1977), and Dysart et al. 



Table 4. Total taxa 



richness (S) comparisons for 



nine Appalachian stream 



studies. 













Stream 



S 



# Collections # Stations Methods 



Reference 



Cherryfield (CF) 



199 



90 



5 



Kick net 



This paper 



and Morgan Mill 













(MM) Creeks 













Dark Ridge Creek 



152 



30 



3 



Kick net 



Penrose et al. 



(DR-1) 











(1980) 



Threemile 



103 



12 



1 



Kick net 



Lenat et al. 



Creek (TM-1) 











(1979) 



Brushy Creek 



102 



12 



1 



Kick net 



Lenat et al. 



(BR-1) 











(1979) 



Cox Creek 



124 



9 



3 



Kick net 



Penrose et al. 



(Cox-1) 











(1980) 



Tributary to Beech 



68 



8 



1 



Kick net 



Lenat et al. 



Creek (BC-1) 











(1979) 



Prices Creek 



81 



8 



1 



Kick net 



Penrose et al. 



(PC-1) 











(1980) 



Blankenship Creek 



91 



8 



1 



Kick net 



Penrose et al. 



(BL-1) 











(1980) 



Sweeten Creek 



73 



8 



1 



Kick net 



Lenat et al. 



(SW-1) 











(1979) 



