College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Term of Award

Summer 2026

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Biology

Committee Chair

J. Checo Colón-Gaud

Committee Member 1

Dmitry Apanaskevich

Committee Member 2

Daniel Hanks

Abstract

Forestry operations can alter riparian vegetation and increase sediment and nutrient inputs to streams, affecting water quality and aquatic biota. Forestry best management practices (BMPs) including streamside management zones (SMZs) are designed to mitigate those effects by reducing sediment delivery and moderating temperature, flow, and nutrient regimes. We assessed ecological integrity at 24 intermittent stream sites with SMZs in private, working forests across the Piedmont and Southeastern plains of Georgia. At each site, we conducted physical habitat evaluations and characterized benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages. Sites represented a gradient of habitat conditions, SMZ widths, and pine stand ages, allowing for comparisons of biological and physical indicators across varying forest management conditions. Comparisons were made across three spatial scales to isolate scale-dependent ecoregional drivers; (1) instream and aquatic habitat characteristics, (2) stand characteristics, and (3) watershed landcover. Univariate, multivariate, and correlation analyses were used to identify the drivers most strongly associated with macroinvertebrate community composition within each ecoregion. Macroinvertebrate communities differed significantly between ecoregions. Instream and aquatic habitat characteristics were the strongest drivers of macroinvertebrate communities in the Southeastern plains. In the Piedmont region, stand characteristics and watershed landcover had the strongest relationships with community composition. These findings suggest that larger spatial scales had more a role shaping macroinvertebrate communities in the Piedmont region now the local habitat conditions were more influential in the Southeastern plains. This could be reflective of the natural geomorphological characteristics of the regions, and long terms land use effects like legacy sediments that helped form these freshwater streams. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that the drivers of stream condition vary by region, highlighting the importance of region-specific management approaches that may improve SMZ effectiveness in Georgia. Giving us a better understanding of what drives aquatic communities to support the long-term maintenance of aquatic integrity in private, working forests.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

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