Evidence on Night Movements of  Macroinvertebrates to Macrophytes in a Pampean Stream

doi:10.4236/ojmh.2014.43009

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OJMH> Vol.4 No.3, July 2014

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Evidence on Night Movements of Macroinvertebrates to Macrophytes in a Pampean Stream

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DOI: 10.4236/ojmh.2014.43009 1,251 Downloads 1,845 Views Citations

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Nicolás Ferreiro

Affiliation(s)

Instituto de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentables (INEDES) and Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Luján, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ABSTRACT

Nocturnal invertebrate abundance peaks in lotic systems are usually associated to drift, however, diel migrations other than drift may be important in slow-flowing systems. Then, macroinvertebrate distribution on macrophytes may change along the day as result of vertical or horizontal migration from sediments or the water column. My objective was to determine whether macroinvertebrate abundance on macrophytes changes along 24 h. Three Ceratophyllum demersum patches were sampled in late spring from the Las Flores stream (Central Argentina) at 11:20 h, 17:10 h, 23:00 h and 5:00 h. Macroinvertebrates were counted and identified, and relative abundances were estimated for each sampling time. The dominant groups of macroinvertebrates sampled were Oligochaeta, Amphipoda and Cladocera. The relative abundance of macroinvertebrates on macrophytes was the highest at 5:00 h, when dissolved oxygen in water reached its minimum. In conclusion, the abundance of macroinvertebrates on macrophytes in Pampean streams may increase at night, probably as result of nocturnal migration driven by changes in predation risk or dissolved oxygen.

KEYWORDS

Night Movements, Oligochaeta, Aquatic Plants, Lotic Ecosystem, Dissolved Oxygen

Cite this paper

Ferreiro, N. (2014) Evidence on Night Movements of Macroinvertebrates to Macrophytes in a Pampean Stream. Open Journal of Modern Hydrology, 4, 95-100. doi: 10.4236/ojmh.2014.43009.

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