摘要：We compared the water and sediment composition of two ephemeral pools located in forested settings in a developed suburban area with two similar pools located in extensive forest in Massachusetts. We also compared the macroinvertebrate communities. The sediments of the forest pools were 100% organic material, while those of the urban pools were predominantly silt. The sediments of the urban pools were contaminated with elevated levels of barium, chromium, and lead. The water of the urban pools had higher pH, conductivity, and alkalinity and less dissolved oxygen than did the forest pools. Both urban and forest pool macroinvertebrate communities were dominated by Oligochaeta and Chironomidae, and while we expected to find differences in the macroinvertebrate communities, no commonly used metric or index clearly indicated differences. More extensive surveys of urban and reference pools may lead to the development of invertebrate biomonitoring protocols for ephemeral forest pools.
