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Variability of Lotic Macroinvertebrate Assemblages and Stream Habitat Characteristics Across Hierarchical Landscape Classifications

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Abstract

Streams are naturally hierarchical systems, and their biota are affected by factors effective at regional to local scales. However, there have been only a few attempts to quantify variation in ecological attributes across multiple spatial scales. We examined the variation in several macroinvertebrate metrics and environmental variables at three hierarchical scales (ecoregions, drainage systems, streams) in boreal headwater streams. In nested analyses of variance, significant spatial variability was observed for most of the macroinvertebrate metrics and environmental variables examined. For most metrics, ecoregions explained more variation than did drainage systems. There was, however, much variation attributable to residuals, suggesting high among-stream variation in macroinvertebrate assemblage characteristics. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and multiresponse permutation procedure (MRPP) showed that assemblage composition differed significantly among both drainage systems and ecoregions. The associated R-statistics were, however, very low, indicating wide variation among sites within the defined landscape classifications. Regional delineations explained most of the variation in stream water chemistry, ecoregions being clearly more influential than drainage systems. For physical habitat characteristics, by contrast, the among-stream component was the major source of variation. Distinct differences attributable to stream size were observed for several metrics, especially total number of taxa and abundance of algae-scraping invertebrates. Although ecoregions clearly account for a considerable amount of variation in macroinvertebrate assemblage characteristics, we suggest that a three-tiered classification system (stratification through ecoregion and habitat type, followed by assemblage prediction within these ecologically meaningful units) will be needed for effective bioassessment of boreal running waters.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the constructive comments by J. Perry, V. Vosjem and two anonymous reviewers on a previous draft of the manuscript. Water samples were analyzed by the Regional Environment Centres of Lapland, Ostrobothnia, and West Finland and Oulanka Research Station. This study was funded by the Academy of Finland, as part of the Finnish Biodiversity Research Program (FIBRE), and Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation.

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  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Heikki Mykrä

  2. Finnish Environment Institute, Research Department Helsinki, Finland and Department of Biology University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Jani Heino & Timo Muotka

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  1. Heikki Mykrä
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Correspondence to Heikki Mykrä.

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Mykrä, H., Heino, J. & Muotka, T. Variability of Lotic Macroinvertebrate Assemblages and Stream Habitat Characteristics Across Hierarchical Landscape Classifications. Environmental Management 34, 341–352 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0236-1

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