Abstract
Results of a comparison of the functional organization of macroinvertebrate communities in four Hong Kong streams with different riparian vegetation showed only weak agreement with the predictions of the River Continuum Concept (RCC). Shredders were relatively abundant at shaded sites with high detrital standing stocks, while scrapers and piercers (of plant cells) were more numerous in unshaded streams with an autochthonous food base. Abundance of predators and filter-feeders differed little between sites. Collectors were most numerous in the least shaded stream, but their representation was not clearly related to riparian conditions. Even at shaded sites, shredders were never very numerous, nor did scraper relative abundance (% of total population density) vary significantly among streams.
Multiple regression models indicated that the abundance of shredders and piercers could be explained by the standing stocks of detritus and chlorophylls, and predator abundance was related to the densities of potential prey. Notwithstanding, there was little evidence that interactions between functional groups determined community organization, and trophic structure did not seem to be closely related to the efficiency of energy utilization in the study streams.
A comparison of the results of discriminant function analysis, using morphospecies abundance or functional group representation as predictors of site identity, indicated that morphospecies could serve to assign correctly all samples to their stream of origin. However, functional group abundance gave an overall 80–90% correct classification indicating that simplified community structural data can give a good indication of habitat parameters.
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Dudgeon, D. The influence of riparian vegetation on the functional organization of four Hong Kong stream communities. Hydrobiologia 179, 183–194 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00006631
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00006631