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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2017, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (9): 3023-3031.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201709.007

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Relationship of river microhabitat heterogeneity and macroinvertebrate spatial distribution.

ZHANG Hai-ping1, ZHANG Yu-hang2, MA Kai3, YU Yang1, QU Xiao-dong1*   

  1. 1Department of Water Environment, China Institute of Water Resource and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China;
    2College of Water Conservancy, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, China;
    3College of Water Resource & Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
  • Received:2017-01-06 Online:2017-09-18 Published:2017-09-18
  • Contact: * E-mail: davidqu0108@126.com
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by theNational Natural Science Foundation of China (41501204, 51479219) and the Research & Development Support Program of China Institute of Water Resource and Hydropower Research (WE0145B062016).

Abstract: As a good indicator, macroinvertebrates are widely adopted in the assessment of river ecological status. Macroinvertebrate distribution is affected by factors of macro-, meso- or micro-scale. The previous research on relationship of macroinvertebrate and habitat factors mainly focused on the meso-scale. Based on surveys of macroinvertebrates and microhabitat factors at a 10 m reach, the spatial distribution characteristics of macroinvertebrates and its relationship with microhabitat heterogeneity were analyzed here to obtain the following results. 1) Macroinvertebrate density, biomass, richness and Shannon index varied with habitat types. The Shannon index values of riffle, pool and run were 2, 1.9, and 1.78, respectively. 2) Spatial autocorrelation existed among the density, biomass, richness index and Shannon index of macroinvertebrate. 3) There were differences in the relationships between microhabitat factors and macroinvertebrate spatial distribution. The fitting degree of flow depth, as well as velocity, and the macrobenthos was weak, while the fitting relationship between composition of sediment and macrobenthos was relatively good. Results demonstrated a positive correlation between macroinvertebrate density and the volume percen-tage of substrate with particle size <4 mm. The biomass, richness index and Shannon index showed a positive spatial correlation with the volume percentage of substrate with particle size >32 mm. The results of this study could provide references for diffusion mechanism research on macroinvertebrates, sample settings and physical habitat restorations.