Date of Award
12-31-2025
Document Type
Campus Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Biology/Environmental Biology
Abstract
This dissertation evaluates ecological responses to process-based restoration in a historically altered coastal headwater system in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Using two years of pre-restoration data and two years of post-restoration data, the research integrates analyses of habitat structure, fish community composition, functional traits, and morphological variation in the fourspine stickleback, Apeltes quadracus. Results show that physical habitat complexity increased briefly but did not persist, reflecting slow geomorphic adjustment in legacy-impacted streams. In contrast, functional trait structure and organismal morphology exhibited post-restoration shifts, indicating earlier biological responses to restored hydrologic and habitat processes than are detectable through taxonomic composition alone. Collectively, the findings demonstrate that ecological recovery proceeds at different rates across structural, functional, and phenotypic dimensions, and underscore the value of multi-scale indicators for evaluating early outcomes of stream restoration.
Recommended Citation
Dimino, Thomas F. Jr, "Evaluating Fish Biodiversity in Response to Headwater Stream Restoration in Coastal Massachusetts: A Case Study at Tidmarsh Farms in Plymouth, MA" (2025). Graduate Doctoral Dissertations. 1132.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/doctoral_dissertations/1132
Comments
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