Golf Green to Green Stream: Does a Stream Restoration in an Ex-golf Course Impact Terrestrial Invertebrate Community?

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10266/10512-thumbnail.jpgIn recent years, human populations have grown at an astronomical rate. This has led to the loss, degradation, fragmentation, and homogenization of ecosystems across the globe. To try to combat this, restoration efforts are becoming more common throughout the United States as an effort to reclaim unused areas and return them to green space. One such example where restoration efforts are becoming more common are in old golf courses and country clubs throughout the state of Ohio. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of stream restoration on the adjacent terrestrial invertebrate communities in former golf courses in Northeastern Ohio. This study was conducted in two reclaimed golf-courses: Acacia Reservation and Orchard Hills Park. In these parks, both restored and unrestored areas were of interest. Pitfall traps were used to sample the terrestrial insect communities. One was placed in the riparian zone, one in the upland, and one in the ecotone between these sites. A total of 18 traps were placed within each site and were collected after a week. This led to a total of 36 samples collected on one sampling date. It was hypothesized that invertebrate structure would differ between areas adjacent to streams that were restored vs unrestored. It was predicted that stream restoration efforts would increase invertebrate community dynamics such as Shannon’s diversity, richness, and abundance. We found that the insect communities have not truly recovered in the restored areas. The restoration status had no significance on species richness, biodiversity, or abundance.