Functional Analysis of Stream Macroinvertebrates

Abstract

The worldwide study of stream ecosystems remains a topic of great interest, impacting methods and concepts critical to the preservation and management of global freshwater resources. Stream macroinvertebrates, especially aquatic insects, have served as one of the main pillars of inquiry into the structure and function of running water ecosystems. Stream macroinvertebrates have been used so extensively for over 100 years because they are universally present and abundant, can be readily observed with the unaided eye, (unlike algae and microbes) and are much less mobile than fish which can easily move to totally new locations. Although taxonomic identification has been the basis of analysis of stream macroinvertebrates, functional analysis now offers an additional tool that allows much more rapid analysis that can be accomplished in the field using simpler methodology