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Ecological factors influencing macroinvertebrate standing crop distribution

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Abstract

Influence of substrate, macrophyte growth and detritus on macroinvertebrate standing crop (numbers and biomass) as well as seasonal variations in standing crop were investigated in a trout stream.

Ephemeropterans showed no consistent relationship to substrate type, either in numbers or biomass. Numbers of dipteran larvae (primarily chironomids and simuliids) did not show a definite relationship to substrate size. But a larger biomass was associated with larger substrates. Higher numbers and biomass of trichopterans (including Helicopsyche borealis) were associated with larger substrates. Numbers of coleopteran larvae showed no relation to substrate size, but biomass was greater in large substrates. Biomass and numbers of water mites were generally associated with larger substrates, whereas no relationship was observed in plectopterans.

Larger numbers and biomass of ephemeropterans, dipterans (chironomids and simuliids but no other dipterans) and trichopterans are associated with macrophyte beds; this is attributed to drifting species and those that have summer generations. Macrophyte growth reduced numbers and biomass of H. borealis, but no differences were observed in coleopterans or plecopterans.

A substrate/detritus substitution study was done under natural stream conditions. An area of relatively constant current and depth was selected from which eighteen sites were randomly selected. Gravel and detritus were removed and replaced with two distinct sizes of substrate and three different levels of detritus. This was a 2 × 3 factorial analysis design. Ephemeropteran numbers were significantly related to substrate type and detritus level, whereas biomass was only related significantly to substrate. Numbers of chironomids and other dipterans responded significantly to substrate manipulation. Biomass of dipterans other than chironomids was significantly related to substrate type but not detritus level and chironomid biomass did not respond to either manipulations.

Trichopteran numbers responded significantly to substrate and detritus manipulations, whereas biomass was significantly related only to substrate type. Analysis of variance showed that coleopteran numbers did not respond significantly to either manipulation; however, orthogonal contrasts showed that, within large substrate, medium detritus level was significantly different from high detritus level. Oligochaetes did not respond to either substrate or detritus manipulation. The responses of the organisms to manipulations are explained in relation to interstitial spaces and oxygen as well as the interaction between substrate type and amount of detritus.

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Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Article No. 5734.

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Barber, W.E., Kevern, N.R. Ecological factors influencing macroinvertebrate standing crop distribution. Hydrobiologia 43, 53–75 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00014257

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