Influence of drying and organic pollution on macroinvertebrate community composition
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | Stream drying is nowadays a highlighted research topic because more and more streams becoming intermittent globally. Despite it, there is still lack of information about co-influence of drying with other stressors such as organic pollution on instream biota. Benthic invertebrates can reveal different responses (e.g. different resistance to drying and pollution) to these effects depending on their combined or isolated impacts. We tested in laboratory benthic invertebrates from dry riverbed samples from streams with two different combinations of following factors – i) unpolluted intermittent streams (3 sites) and ii) organic polluted intermittent streams (3 sites). Samples of benthic invertebrates were taken during the drying episode and rehydrated for 2 months under laboratory conditions (controlled temperature and aeration). In each stream we taken 10 plots from 10 representative mesohabitats according their proportional representation within reach. We also analysed substrate composition and sediment moisture in each mesohabitat as important factors affecting invertebrate resistance. This experiment can help to understand differences in seedbank composition in unpolluted and organic polluted intermittent streams and differences in species resistance under combination of both stressors. |
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