Structure and composition of benthic macroinvertebrates of a tropical forest stream, River Nyamweru, western Uganda
Benthic invertebrates from River Nyamweru, a tropical forest stream in western Uganda were sampled bimonthly between April and December 1997 using a modified Hess Sampler. A total of 3708 benthic fauna from thirteen taxonomic orders were collected. Benthic samples were dominated by Diptera (mainly C...
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Published in | African journal of ecology Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 72 - 77 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK
Blackwell Science Ltd
01.03.2000
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Benthic invertebrates from River Nyamweru, a tropical forest stream in western Uganda were sampled bimonthly between April and December 1997 using a modified Hess Sampler. A total of 3708 benthic fauna from thirteen taxonomic orders were collected. Benthic samples were dominated by Diptera (mainly Chironomidae) representing over 60% of all the organisms, followed by Ephemeroptera. Benthic invertebrate densities ranged from 63 ± 9.03 organisms/m2 to 300 ± 33.36 organisms/m2, with higher densities occurring during the dry season and lower densities during the wet season. The benthic community structure in River Nyamweru reflected mainly collectors and scrapers as the most important groups (83%), while predators were very rare (3.1%). River discharge influenced benthic abundance, with more invertebrates at lower discharge and fewer invertebrates at higher discharge. The applicability of the River Continuum Concept to tropical forest stream situation is discussed. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-QTV0V3TP-C istex:9C5D2D49454500FD49580A4C168443376858D62E ArticleID:AJE212 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0141-6707 1365-2028 |
DOI: | 10.1046/j.1365-2028.2000.00212.x |