Response of Wetland Invertebrate Communities to Local and Landscape Factors in North Central Oklahoma

Invertebrates play an important role influencing wetland functions. Specifically, they provide important food for many waterbirds and other wetland species. To better understand the role environmental factors play in influencing invertebrates, we examined the influence of local and landscape factors on invertebrate communities inhabiting depressional wetlands in Oklahoma. We sampled invertebrates from 58 wetlands during 2009 and 2010. Diversity and taxa richness increased as the season progressed and with vegetation complexity and cover. Diversity and richness decreased as water quality was impacted by nutrient and sediment loading. Local variables occurred more consistently in taxa models than landscape variables. Important local variables included wetland hydrology, vegetation complexity, and water quality, while important landscape variables included density and type of wetlands surrounding wetlands. Land-use practice was the least important landscape variable, but is an important variable due to potential relationships with local variables such as water quality. Low variation (12-26 %) explained by the pCCA suggests other variables may be influencing invertebrate communities, but an alternative explanation is that invertebrates are insensitive to environmental variation. These findings can guide both local management of wetlands and conservation strategies at the watershed or regional scale to benefit not only invertebrates but other wetland dependent species.