Publication details
The distribution of chironomid larvae and oligochaetes within a stony-bottomed river stretch: the role of substrate and hydraulic characteristics
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Fundamental and Applied Limnology, Archiv für Hydrobiologie |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Ecology |
| Keywords | chironomidae;oligochaeta;distribution;subtrate;hydraulic condition;stream |
| Description | Combined oligochaete and chironomid data were analyzed to search for main gradients and the separate data sets were analyzed to identify the most important variables determining the structure of the communities. Preferences for particular hydraulic conditions, expressed as Froude number, were calculated for 29 most abundant taxa. The results of Correspondence Analysis (CA) indicated that the main gradient in the data could be explained by hydraulic conditions and, inversely, by the amount of sedimented particulate organic matter (POM). The second CA axis probably reflected the quantity of the available food and space resources. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed the amount of sedimented POM as the most important variable explaining 21 and 24 % of the variance in the oligochaete and chironomid data respectively. Among the other variables, the occurrence of aquatic vegetation, variability of nearbottom current velocity and substrate roughness were the most important. |
| Related projects: |