Macroinvertebrate communities along a third-order Iberian stream

Abstract

The macroinvertebrate community was studied in 3 reaches along a north-Iberian stream that differ in the amount and nature of food resources. Regardless of shading and water quality, both invertebrate density and biomass were higher at the 2 downstream sites than at the headwater site. The taxonomic composition and functional organization of the faunal assemblages showed clear differences among sites: shredders and gatherers dominated the headwater site, and scrapers or gatherers, depending on the degree of shading and organic pollution, dominated the downtream sites. Macroinvertebrates responded roughly to inter-site differences in food resources, but poor relationships between temporal dynamics of shredder or scraper abundance and that of their food were found. Likewise, no clear effect of floods on invertebrate density and biomass was observed.