Benthic Invertebrates in Karst Springs: Does Substratum or Location Define Communities?

Abstract

Only a few studies to-date have dealt with the habitat preferences of the fauna of springs. The main objective of our study was to fill this gap. The research was carried out in springs situated in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland. The benthic fauna was collected from fine and coarse substrata using a typical hydrobiological approach. Forty-nine families or subfamilies and four higher taxa (Hydrozoa, Turbellaria, Nematoda, Hydracarina) were found in the springs studied. Invertebrates collected in springs were successfully classified into groups and, using the Analysis of Discriminant Function, were found to diverge in terms of substratum type. This prediction was 96% accurate for samples collected from fine sediments and 91% for samples collected from coarse sediments; the differences were higher in springs located in the southern part of the study area. Substratum type was found to be the main discriminatory factor with regard to the fauna density while faunal composition was related to the geographical position of springs. Our results emphasise that, even in very small habitats such as springs, all major substratum types should be considered for sampling.

Formation of groupings of mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera) in the area of small hydrological structures, in the streams of the Kamienica Nawojowska river basin (the Sądeckie Beskids, Poland)

“…According to Wyżga et al (2002), the presence of rocky material of high granulity, as well as wood debris favours the accumulation of muddy sediments, fallen leaves and thus creates favourable living conditions for many species. This was also confirmed by research done by Dumnicka et al (2007). Only at the bottom of evorsion potholes, directly downstream from the hydrological structures, rock material was sorted out and small, which reflected negatively on habitat conditions, making them unfavourable for the development of benthic forms.…”

“…Changes in abiotic and anthropogenic factors, caused by the presence of hydrological structures, affect in various ways individual hydrobiont groupings. Hydromorphological changes in a regulated watercourse usually cause species depletion in a particular biocenose (Dukowska, Grzybkowska, 2007;Kukuła, Bylak, 2011). The presence of lateral hydrological structures, even those of relatively small sizes, is important in the context of some benthic invertebrates travelling upstream (Błachuta et al, 2011).…”

Ecological patterns of Odonata assemblages in karst springs in central Montenegro

“…The landscape factors most used in similar studies of macroinvertebrate fauna in springs were altitude, the type and the structure of the landscape, and how it is used, and the proximity of nearby water bodies (Křoupalová et al, 2011;Dumnicka et al, 2007;Martin and Brunke, 2012;Pakulnicka et al, 2016;Stryjecki et al, 2016).…”

Effects of flow events and nutrient addition on stream periphyton and macroinvertebrates: an experimental study using flumes

“…However, a longer preexposure in the stream was undesired because the leaf litter would have been degraded already before the bags were exposed in the flumes. (iii) Leaf litter bags may not be colonized by taxa which prefer hard substrates; the importance of substratum type on macroinvertebrate density and composition has for example been highlighted by Dumnicka et al (2007). Many of these effects may possibly have been avoided by assisting the colonization of the flumes by adding a standard load of invertebrates obtained from the stream by kick-net sampling (as e.g.…”