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Macrobenthos community structure and its relationships with environmental factors in Weihe River basin, Northwest China.

YIN Xu-wang1,2, XU Zong-xue1, GAO Xin3, BAI Hai-feng2, WU Wei1, SONG Jin-xi4   

  1. (1College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; 2Liaoning Province Key Laboratory for Hydrobiology, College of Fisheries and Life Science, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;  3Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; 4College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University,  Xi’an 710069, China)
  • Online:2013-01-18 Published:2013-01-18

Abstract: In October 2011, an investigation was conducted on the macrobenthos at 45 sampling sites in the Weihe River basin of Northwest China. A total of 116 macrobenthos species were collected, of which, 91 species (78.4%) were aquatic insects, 12 species (10.3%) were mollusks, 9 species (7.8%) were annelids, and 4 species (3.4%) were crustaceans. According to the species composition and relative abundance of macrobenthos, the 45 sampling sites could be divided into three groups by using twoway indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). In the first group, Serratella sp., Hydropsyche sp., and Antocha sp. were the indicator species. In the second group, Tabanus sp., Alotanypus venustus, one species of Pelecorhynchidae, Liodessus sp., and Limnodrilus hoffmeistteri were the indicator species. In the third group, Ephemera nigroptera and Polypylis hemisphaerula were the indicator species. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that ‘cobble + boulder’ type substrate, current velocity, water conductivity, water depth, and water total nitrogen content had significant effects on the spatial distribution of macrobenthos in Weihe River basin.