Abstract
Phytobenthos, the photosynthetic component of benthic ecosystems, plays a fundamental role in lotic food webs. Although the importance of allochthonous energy sources has been established for smaller streams of the first through third orders (Scott, 1958; Hynes, 1963; Cummins, 1975), phytobenthos is of major importance in medium-sized rivers (Blum, 1956, 1957; Cummins, 1975; Pryfogle and Lowe, in press; Reid, 1961; Gale et al., in press). The most important algal members of the phytobenthos are usually from one of three divisions, Bacillariophyta (diatoms), Chlorophyta (green algae), and Cyanophyta (blue-green algae). Mosses and liverworts (Bryophyta) reach maximum importance in small, swift streams having stony substrates (Haslam, 1978). Aquatic vascular plants, often referred to as aquatic macrophytes, will be referred to as higher plants in this paper. They belong to several plant families and their occurrence is usually regulated by such chemical and physical parameters as flow, turbulence, light, substrate, and dissolved chemicals (Haslam, 1978).
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Lowe, R.L. (1979). Phytobenthic Ecology and Regulated Streams. In: Ward, J.V., Stanford, J.A. (eds) The Ecology of Regulated Streams. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8613-1_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8613-1_3
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