Stream Macroinvertebrate Response to Forest Harvesting in North Carolina Piedmont

Benthic species data from a five-year study in central North Carolina assesses the impact of clearcut harvesting on stream ecosystems. The dataset, published by Zanethia C. Barnett, uses a paired watershed approach to link macroinvertebrate community changes to hydrologic and water quality parameters. Sampling occurred one year pre-harvest (2010) and for four years post-harvest (2011-2014) in first-order streams.

Use Cases

• Modeling relationships between macroinvertebrate communities and specific hydrologic parameters mentioned in the description
• Quantifying the multi-year ecological response of watersheds to timber harvest using the described paired watershed approach
• Characterizing macroinvertebrate communities in Piedmont headwater streams to inform regional aquatic resource protection

Strengths

• Data collection spans a five-year period (2010-2014), capturing pre- and post-harvest conditions.
• Study design employs a paired watershed approach, which can help isolate the effects of the timber harvest.
• Dataset is published under a CC0-1.0 license, allowing for unrestricted reuse.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset size is listed as 0.0 B, indicating a limited scope or potential metadata issue.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Field sampling of macroinvertebrates in first-order streams within riparian zones.

Time Range

2010 to 2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-22 05:45:27; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Hill Demonstration Forest and Umstead Research Farm in the Piedmont region of central North Carolina, USA