Unregulated river floodplains are dynamic environments, and invertebrates living in these wetlands must be able to respond to fluctuating water levels. As water levels decrease in the floodplain, aquatic and semi-aquatic invertebrates may either move with the receding water or remain and become exposed to drying on non-inundated floodplain soil. Invertebrates inhabiting floodplains may use several strategies to cope with exposed (non-inundated) conditions; they may survive exposure by forming desiccation-resistant stages, emerging as adults (insects only), or living in a non-dormant state in exposed soil. To investigate invertebrate responses to a receding water line, benthic core samples were collected in exposed and inundated floodplain soil at successively lower water levels after a flood in the Sipsey River floodplain, west central Alabama. Insect emergence was also compared on inundated and exposed floodplain. Some invertebrate groups moved with the receding water line (aquatic chironomids, ostracods, cladocerans, copepods, Acari, and stratiomyids), while others did not (semi-aquatic/terrestrial chironomids, collembolans, oligochaetes, nematodes, diplurans, proturans, tenebrionids, and sciarids). Chironomids were the dominant emerging insect (73%), and adults emerged from both inundated (33 individuals m⁻² d⁻¹) and exposed floodplain soil (15 individuals m⁻² d⁻¹). These results document the importance of at least two survival strategies for aquatic invertebrates: moving with decreasing water levels and emerging from exposed floodplain soil (insects only). The semi-aquatic taxa not responding to receding water can survive in both exposed and inundated soil, at least for the short period observed in this study. Thus, many floodplain invertebrates in small-to-medium sized rivers are able to cope with a dynamic and unpredictable inundation pattern, which likely enhances wetland productivity.