Benthic macroinvertebrates are common, long鄄lived, sensitive to disturbance, and cost鄄effective to sample, which make them ideal biological indicators of aquatic system degradation, and they are used in stream biomonitoring worldwide. As biological indicators, macroinvertebrates can provide insight into the current and past conditions of waterbodies and they integrate the effects of cumulative stressors. However, patterns in stream macroinvertebrate assemblages are the result of a combination of processes acting at different spatial scales. Understanding the relative influence of environmental variables at different spatial scales can increase our ability to detect anthropogenic influences on stream integrity, as well as to assess and manage aquatic resources. In this study, we used Qiantang River basin as an example of a human disturbed watershed. Based on environmental and biotic data of 60 sites located in the middle section of Qiantang River basin, the specific aims of our study were: (1) to analyze the stream macroinvertebrate assemblages; (2) to identify the key environmental factors that are linked to variation in macroinvertebrate assemblages; and (3) to partition
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