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Structural and functional composition of invertebrate communities associated with leaf patches in forest streams: a comparison between mesohabitats and catchments

2017; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 800; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s10750-017-3249-5

1573-5117

Flávio Mendes, Walace P. Kiffer, Marcelo S. Moretti,

Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics

We evaluated the influence of mesohabitats and catchments on the structural and functional composition of invertebrate communities associated with leaf patches in Atlantic Forest streams. We hypothesized that invertebrate communities would be more influenced by inter-habitat than inter-catchment variation, i.e., invertebrate taxonomic and trophic composition would differ more between pools and riffles than among catchments. Invertebrate richness differed among catchments only, while values of total abundance and biomass were higher in pools. The influence of mesohabitats on the structure of invertebrate communities was high, and most taxa had specificities with one mesohabitat. Among insect shredders, Grypopterigidae (Plecoptera) and Blattodea occurred more in riffles; Phylloicus, Nectopsyche, and Triplectides (Trichoptera) occurred more in pools. The biomass of omnivorous macroconsumers (Trichodactylus fluviatilis and Macrobrachium potiuna) was higher in pools and also differed among catchments. Except gathering-collectors, the taxonomic composition of functional feeding groups differed between pools and riffles. The obtained results corroborated the hypothesis that the structural and functional composition of invertebrate communities is more influenced by inter-habitat than by inter-catchment variation, and reinforced the importance of maintaining the biological and geomorphological characteristics of streams to allow the accumulation of leaves in different mesohabitats and preserve the aquatic biodiversity.