Community structure of aquatic insects in the karstic Jadro River in Croatia.
This study focused on the aquatic insect community in the longitudinal gradient and temporal scales of the Jadro River. The river was sampled for a period of ten years (2000- 2010), four times per year through the various seasons, along the river course. Sampling stations were selected in the upper, middle, and downstream parts of the river. A total of 21,852 specimens of aquatic insects belonging to six orders were obtained. The species determination confirmed 27 different species in the river. The data were analyzed by the multivariate methodologies of correspondence analysis and cluster analysis (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean) using the similarity index of Morosita for all ten years. Canonical correspondence analysis was applied to the data to check which of the mesured physicochemical variables significantly explained community variation. According to those data, significant variables for the upper station were water temperature and dissolved oxygen, and chlorides was the significant variable for the lower stations.
University of Split, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Teslina 12/III, 21000 Split, Croatia radja@pmfst.hr.
Biljana
B
Rađa
University of Split, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Teslina 12/III, 21000 Split, Croatia msantic@pmfst.hr.
Mate
M
Santić
D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017523:Croatia; D007313:Insecta / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology; D045483:Rivers; D013997:Time Factors
longitudinal gradient; multivariate analysis.