Distribution and ecological preferences of the species of the family Athericidae in three hydrobiological ecoregions of Central Europe

Abstract

From the family Athericidae, only three species (Atherix ibis, Ibisia marginata, Atrichops crassipes) are widespread in Central and Western Europe. Although predatory larvae of these species are an important component of many benthic communities, little is known about their distribution and ecological preferences. Aiming to fill these gaps, the distribution and ecological preferences of these species were studied in three ecoregions of central Europe (Central highlands, The Carpathians, Hungarian lowlands). We found that A. ibis was present in the most streams in all of the studied ecoregions. I marginata clearly preferred the streams of the Carpathians ecoregion, whilst A. crassipes was more frequent in the Central highlands and Hungarian lowlands and it occasionally inhabited streams in the Carpathian ecoregion. The occurrence of the species was explained by the physico-chemical parameters of water (explained variability = 18.6%), site characteristics (3.8%), as well as catchment characteristics (3.3%). Four environmental variables (temperature, conductivity, percentage of agricultural land, catchment area) from three defined groups represented significant gradients, which explained species distribution in running waters of Central Europe. For the Central European streams, a correction of the saprobic index of the species was made, and the altitudinal, temperature, current and pH preferences for each species were also calculated. These values can be used for completion of the “freshwaterecology.info” database, which includes several biological and ecological traits of most European benthic species.