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      Macrophyte architecture affects the abundance and diversity of littoral microfauna

      Lucena-Moya, Paloma; Duggan, Ian C.
      DOI
       10.1007/s10452-011-9353-0
      Link
       www.springerlink.com
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      Citation
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      Lucena-Moya, P. & Duggan, I.C. (2011). Macrophyte architecture affects the abundance and diversity of littoral microfauna. Aquatic Ecology, 45(2), 279-287.
      Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/5190
      Abstract
      We tested the hypothesis that structural complexity is an important factor influencing the abundance and taxon richness of microfauna (e.g., rotifers, copepods, cladocerans) in littoral habitats. Research on littoral microfauna has to date focused mainly on field observations, which commonly show microfauna have preference for some macrophytes over others. However, while such studies commonly conclude that macrophyte architecture is a major determinant of these variations, independent factors may also be responsible (e.g., differences in macrophyte ages, differences in macrophyte bed densities and the depth of the respective macrophyte beds sampled). We used artificial macrophytes with three levels of complexity to keep the surface area and mass of the substrate sampled constant, and to control for confounding factors not related to the complexity of the plants. Our results support the hypothesis that structural complexity is an important factor influencing abundance and taxon richness, independent of other potential confounding factors. Microfaunal (mainly rotifer) abundance and richness were generally greater on more complex artificial macrophytes, likely a result of more complex substrates (1) providing a greater variety of habitat, (2) supporting a greater concentration or variety of food and/or (3) affording greater protection against predators. Less mobile surface-associated (i.e., benthic/periphytic) taxa were found to discriminate among substrates, whereas the abundance and richness of planktonic species were not affected by complexity level. Relatively low abundances and taxon richness of microfauna recorded in control samples, which did not contain artificial macrophytes, supports the contention that vegetated areas sustain a higher abundance and variety of species than non-vegetated areas.
      Date
      2011
      Type
      Journal Article
      Publisher
      Springer
      Collections
      • Science and Engineering Papers [3122]
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