---
title: "Whole-community translocation enables survival of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrates i"
id: "biorxiv-14-whole-community-translocation-shows-high-survival-potential-of-pollution"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-14-whole-community-translocation-shows-high-survival-potential-of-pollution"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "General"
source_name: "bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)"
source_url: "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753605v1?rss=1"
published_at: "2026-09-23T12:00:00.000Z"
evidence_level: "Verified Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# Whole-community translocation enables survival of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrates i
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-14-whole-community-translocation-shows-high-survival-potential-of-pollution
- **Specialty:** [General](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/general.md)
- **Primary Source:** bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753605v1?rss=1)
- **Published At:** 2026-09-23T12:00:00.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Verified Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- Study tested whether restored stream reaches can support **pollution-sensitive** benthic macroinvertebrates when dispersal barriers are removed by moving entire macroinvertebrate communities from reference streams into restored reaches. - Field experiment in the eastern Piedmont region (Maryland, USA) within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed used standardized habitat substrates to translocate communities from three reference streams into three restored streams. - Translocated communities were monitored for short-term survival over a 28-day period. - Overall survival across sites was 77% of translocated individuals, indicating high short-term persistence under restored-stream conditions. - Of 22 taxa classified as pollution-sensitive or moderately sensitive, 16 persisted after translocation, showing restored reaches can support many sensitive taxa that often fail to recover naturally. - The experiment compared two substrate types: **leaf packs** and rock substrates. Leaf packs accumulated higher macroinvertebrate abundances. - Both substrate types accumulated similar taxa richness, EPT richness (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera), and Shannon Diversity after deployment. - Authors conclude that **dispersal limitation**, rather than strictly inadequate habitat, may often limit macroinvertebrate recovery in restored streams. - The findings question the assumption that habitat restoration alone is sufficient for biological recovery and suggest whole-community translocations could accelerate ecological recovery when connectivity restoration is infeasible. - Practical implication: restoration planning should consider habitat connectivity and dispersal pathways; where connectivity cannot be restored, intentional translocation may be a viable restoration tool.
## Clinical Analysis & Structured Key Points
Whole-community translocation shows high survival potential of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate taxa in restored streams. | bioRxiv Skip to main content New Results Whole-community translocation shows high survival potential of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate taxa in restored streams. View ORCID Profile Ibrahim R Fagbohun , View ORCID Profile Daniel C Allen , View ORCID Profile Jon N Sweetman , View ORCID Profile Robert H Hilderbrand doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.22.753605 Ibrahim R Fagbohun 1 Pennsylvania State University; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site ORCID record for Ibrahim R Fagbohun For correspondence: irf5076{at}psu.edu Daniel C Allen 2 The Pennsylvania State University; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site ORCID record for Daniel C Allen Jon N Sweetman 2 The Pennsylvania State University; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site ORCID record for Jon N Sweetman Robert H Hilderbrand 3 University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site ORCID record for Robert H Hilderbrand Abstract Info/History Metrics Supplementary material Data/Code Preview PDF Abstract Introduction: Despite decades of investment, stream restoration often fails to recover diverse benthic macroinvertebrate communities, as restored reaches tend to remain dominated by pollution-tolerant taxa. This shortfall in recovery is commonly attributed to either poor habitat quality or dispersal limitation of aquatic macroinvertebrate taxa, yet these hypotheses are rarely tested directly. Objectives: We conducted a manipulative field experiment in the eastern Piedmont region (Maryland, USA) within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to evaluate whether restored streams can support pollution-sensitive taxa when dispersal barriers are removed. Methods: We translocated whole macroinvertebrate communities from three nearby reference streams into three restored streams using standardized habitat substrates and quantified macroinvertebrate survival after 28 days. We also assessed how effective leaf vs rock substrates were for accumulating diverse and abundant macroinvertebrate communities for translocation. Results: Across all sites, 77% of translocated individuals and 16 of 22 taxa sensitive and moderately sensitive to pollution persisted under restored stream conditions, demonstrating that restored reaches can support short-term survival of pollution-sensitive taxa that typically fail to recover. Substrate comparisons revealed that leaf packs accumulated higher macroinvertebrate abundances, whereas both substrates accumulated macroinvertebrate communities with similar taxa richness, EPT richness, and Shannon Diversity. Conclusions: This work suggests that dispersal limitation, rather than unsuitable habitat, may be an underappreciated constraint limiting macroinvertebrate recovery in restored streams. These findings challenge the assumption that habitat restoration alone is sufficient for biological recovery and highlight the potential for whole-community translocations to accelerate recovery and ecological uplift as part of stream restoration practices. Implication for Practice: Our study highlights the need to consider habitat connectivity and dispersal pathways during stream restoration designs. Restoring streams to meet habitat requirements of pollution-sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa may not be sufficient for their populations to recover if these taxa are unable to reach the restored stream. In scenarios where restoring connectivity to source populations is infeasible, whole community translocations may offer a novel restoration tool to overcome dispersal barriers and accelerate biological recovery in restored streams. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes https://github.com/Ibrahim-Fagbohun/Survival_Experiment Funder Information Declared Chesapeake Bay Trust, https://ror.org/03sps3687 , 22062 Copyright The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license . Back to top Previous Next Posted September 23, 2026. Download PDF Supplementary Material Data/Code Email Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv. NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article. Your Email * Your Name * Send To * Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas. You are going to email the following Whole-community translocation shows high survival potential of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate taxa in restored streams. Message Subject (Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv Message Body (Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website. Your Personal Message CAPTCHA This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Share Whole-community translocation shows high survival potential of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate taxa in restored streams. Ibrahim R Fagbohun , Daniel C Allen , Jon N Sweetman , Robert H Hilderbrand bioRxiv 2026.09.22.753605; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.22.753605 Share This Article: Copy Citation Tools Whole-community translocation shows high survival potential of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate taxa in restored streams. Ibrahim R Fagbohun , Daniel C Allen , Jon N Sweetman , Robert H Hilderbrand bioRxiv 2026.09.22.753605; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.22.753605 Citation Manager Formats BibTeX Bookends EasyBib EndNote (tagged) EndNote 8 (xml) Medlars Mendeley Papers RefWorks Tagged Ref Manager RIS Zotero Tweet Widget Facebook Like Google Plus One Subject Areas All Articles Animal Behavior and Cognition (8021) Biochemistry (18781) Bioengineering (14921) Bioinformatics (44492) Biophysics (22625) Cancer Biology (19761) Cell Biology (26945) Clinical Trials (138) Developmental Biology (13993) Ecology (21037) Epidemiology (2067) Evolutionary Biology (25473) Genetics (16185) Genomics (23535) Immunology (18725) Microbiology (42548) Molecular Biology (18095) Neuroscience (93601) Paleontology (701) Pathology (2987) Pharmacology and Toxicology (5104) Physiology (8127) Plant Biology (16020) Scientific Communication and Education (2097) Synthetic Biology (4572) Systems Biology (10251) Zoology (2393)
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