Poster Presentation Society for Freshwater Science 2026 Annual Meeting

INVURTS + NEON: temperature variability measures for rural and urban streams of the eastern U.S. (135997)

Patricia A Saunders 1 , James March 2 , Shannon J O'Leary 3 , Elizabeth Sudduth 4 , Melissa DeSiervo 5 , Jihae A Dick 1 , Amy Hill 6 , Darrin Hunt 7 , Sabrina Moore 8 , Sarah J Snyder 9
  1. Dept. of Biology & Environmental Science Program, Ashland University, Ashland, OH, USA
  2. Dept. of Biology, Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA, USA
  3. Dept. of Biological Sciences, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, USA
  4. School of Science and Technology, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA, USA
  5. Dept. of Biology, Union College, Schenectady, NY, USA
  6. Dept. of Biology, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, USA
  7. Dept. of Public Health and Environmental Policy & Environmental Studies Program, Shenandoah University, Winchester, VA, USA
  8. Dept. of Biology, Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC, USA
  9. Dept. of Biology, Bard College at Simon's Rock, Great Barrington, MA, USA

Urban streams promote many ecosystem services in towns and cities, yet these sites are often overlooked in ecological research. This leaves a gap in our understanding about how important processes may vary across streams with different levels of urbanization. Thermal regimes play a central role in shaping stream communities and urbanization is known to impose characteristic thermal signatures on streams (urban stream syndrome). However, the ecological consequences of thermal variability remain poorly understood. Additionally, climate change is increasing variability and potentially reshaping thermal dynamics. Potential changes add urgency to the question of how important processes such as thermal variability may vary across streams with different levels of urbanization. The INVURTS project (Investigations with NEON: variability of macroinvertebrates versus urban and rural temperature dynamics) aims to represent temperature regimes and macroinvertebrate diversity at wadeable stream sites in National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) domains (1-2, 5-8). NEON project sites are in basins with relatively little development (0-22%) or impervious surface (<1%), while half of INVURTS pilot-project basins are 20-100% developed and 30-40% of these INVURTS sites are urban (>10% impervious surface). This analysis used data from 18-22 sites with in-stream temperature loggers, plus model estimates of climate and land use variables for each basin above the site. We investigated urban-rural differences in annual, seasonal, and average daily temperature variability for specific seasons. We ranked sites and compared streams in basins with >10% versus <10% development using Mann-Whitney U tests. This study’s rural NEON sites and rural and urban INVURTS sites represented similar ranges and median values for latitude, mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature and average stream order. However, average daily temperature range in summer was marginally higher at less developed sites. Also, while annual temperature range (Aug-Feb) was not different between site groups, this pilot study found that more developed sites were significantly warmer in August and marginally warmer in February. The differences observed are consistent with predictions for urban streams. Ultimately, we will identify if measures of temperature dynamics at different time scales affect macroinvertebrate richness and community composition.