Investigating Ecological Disturbance in Streams

Teaching students about ecological disturbance provides them with an understanding of a critical factor that shapes the structure and function of biological communities in environmental systems. This article describes four simple experiments and related curriculum that students can use to conduct inquiry around the theme of disturbance in stream ecosystems: insect drift, colonization, life history, and the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Over five years, our students conducted these experiments 57 times; 79% of the experiments resulted in data that supported students’ hypotheses. Our findings show that the experiments can be used as a framework for inquiry-based learning about important ecological processes such as disturbance, dispersal, colonization, and succession. These experiments meet several of the Next Generation Science Standards, are easily and ethically conducted, and require very little equipment.

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Testing the intermediate disturbance hypothesis on species diversity in herbaceous plant communities along a human trampling gradient using a 4-year experiment in an old-field

Ecological Research ◽

10.1046/j.1440-1703.2003.00546.x ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 185-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

HIROAKI IKEDA

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis ◽

Herbaceous Plant ◽

Old Field ◽

Intermediate Disturbance ◽

Human Trampling ◽

Trampling Gradient ◽

Disturbance Hypothesis

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Diversity–disturbance relationships: frequency and intensity interact

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2012.0282 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 768-771 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Alex R. Hall ◽

Adam D. Miller ◽

Helen C. Leggett ◽

Stephen H. Roxburgh ◽

Angus Buckling ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Ecological Theory ◽

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis ◽

Intermediate Disturbance ◽

Disturbance Frequency ◽

Theoretical Predictions ◽

Experimental Populations ◽

Disturbance Hypothesis

An influential ecological theory, the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH), predicts that intermediate levels of disturbance will maximize species diversity. Empirical studies, however, have described a wide variety of diversity–disturbance relationships (DDRs). Using experimental populations of microbes, we show that the form of the DDR depends on an interaction between disturbance frequency and intensity. We find that diversity shows a monotonically increasing, unimodal or flat relationship with disturbance, depending on the values of the disturbance aspects considered. These results confirm recent theoretical predictions, and potentially reconcile the conflicting body of empirical evidence on DDRs.

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Short-term response of estuarine sandflat trophodynamics to pulse anthropogenic physical disturbance: Support for the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science ◽

10.1016/j.ecss.2011.03.003 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 92 (4) ◽

pp. 639-648 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ka-Man Lee ◽

S.Y. Lee ◽

Rod M. Connolly

Keyword(s):

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis ◽

Physical Disturbance ◽

Short Term ◽

Intermediate Disturbance ◽

Term Response ◽

Disturbance Hypothesis

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The intermediate disturbance hypothesis explains arthropod beta-diversity responses to roads that cut through natural forests

Biological Conservation ◽

10.1016/j.biocon.2019.03.045 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 236 ◽

pp. 243-251 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rudi Crispin Swart ◽

James Stephen Pryke ◽

Francois Roets

Keyword(s):

Beta Diversity ◽

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis ◽

Natural Forests ◽

Intermediate Disturbance ◽

Disturbance Hypothesis

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Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis in Phytoplankton Ecology

10.1007/978-94-017-1919-3 ◽

1993 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Keyword(s):

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis ◽

Intermediate Disturbance ◽

Phytoplankton Ecology ◽

Disturbance Hypothesis

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A phytoplankton community in a temperate reservoir in New South Wales, Australia: relationships between similarity and diversity indices and measures of hydrological disturbance

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf04249 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 56 (2) ◽

pp. 203 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Tsuyoshi Kobayashi ◽

Brian G. Sanderson ◽

Geoff N. G. Gordon

Keyword(s):

Phytoplankton Community ◽

New South ◽

Diversity Indices ◽

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis ◽

Species Number ◽

Intermediate Disturbance ◽

Consecutive Sampling ◽

South Wales ◽

Cell Densities ◽

Disturbance Hypothesis

Temporal changes in diversity and similarity of a phytoplankton community were investigated in relation to external hydrological disturbance in the Ben Chifley reservoir from September 1998 to January 2002. Species richness varied by a factor of 4–5 at each of three sites studied during the period (n = 53 at each site). Species diversity (measured using Simpson’s D and Shannon–Wiener’s H, based on primarily genus or species number and cell densities) varied by a factor of 8–10, whereas similarity between two consecutive sampling dates (measured using Hurlbert’s index and Pinkham and Pearson’s B) varied by a factor of 10–46. When diversity was measured with H, it had an approximate quadratic (convex) relationship with similarity, as measured with Hurlbert’s index. However, diversity was seldom related to external hydrological disturbance (measured as intensity and variability of daily inflow rates between two consecutive sampling dates). Similarity was significantly and negatively related to disturbance variability. These results suggest that the mechanisms that regulate diversity and similarity may differ from each other, and question the usefulness of observed approximate quadratic relationships between similarity and diversity indices when assessing the effect of disturbance on diversity. Such relationships may therefore not provide support for Connell’s (1978) intermediate disturbance hypothesis.

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