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Species assemblages as descriptors of mesohabitats

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Abstract

Eight mesohabitats, visually distinct units of habitat withinthestream, were sampled seasonally in a lowland chalkstreamreach. Theaim of the study was to test if mesohabitats defined asstructuralunits were inhabited by particular species assemblages and howthese varied with season. Classification (Bray-Curtisdissimilarityindex and UPGMA) and ordination analyses (DCA) of thedistributionof 258 species in 230 samples, were first used to check theagreement between the subjectively-selected mesohabitat andtheirassociated faunal assemblages. There was a goodcorrespondence, andmesohabitat samples were grouped into 5 major groups (Ranunculusin spring, silt, sand, gravel and macrophytes)whichwere further sub-divided to give a total of 11 groups whenseasonaldifferences were considered. Spearman rank correlation betweenthespatial distribution of mesohabitat groups with environmentalvariables revealed that water velocity and flow dynamicstogetherwith the nature of the substratum, influenced the distributionofthe benthic communities. To evaluate qualitative andquantitativedifferences in taxa composition among mesohabitats,informationstatistics tests and analyses of variance were used incombinationwith the Tukey honestly significant difference test. The 11groupswere characterised by abundance and frequency indicatorspecies.Inverse analysis of dominant species of the community showed agoodequivalence with mesohabitat groups and their indicatorspeciesobtained by direct analysis. The resulting species assemblagesrepresent faunal adaptation to the particular mesohabitats inrelation to natural environmental fluctuations. Themesohabitatscale provides a convenient structural ecological unit toexaminethe functional dynamics of faunal communities inrivers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Freshwater Ecology, East Stoke, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 6BB, England

    Isabel Pardo & Patrick D. Armitage

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  1. Isabel Pardo
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  2. Patrick D. Armitage
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Pardo, I., Armitage, P.D. Species assemblages as descriptors of mesohabitats. Hydrobiologia 344, 111–128 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002958412237

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