Macrophyte diversity and composition in relation to substratum characteristics in regulated and unregulated Danish streams

Abstract

1. The objective of the present study was to examine how the physical stream environment in regulated and unregulated lowland streams affects the diversity and distribution of macrophyte communities. We analysed the abundance, distribution and composition of macrophytes, together with physical parameters, in seven regulated and seven unregulated unshaded Danish stream reaches.2. Total macrophyte coverage was similar in the regulated and unregulated streams, but species richness and Shannon diversity were higher in the unregulated streams. Overall, we found fifty‐two different species in the regulated stream reaches and sixty‐two in the unregulated stream reaches. The spatial distribution of macrophytes on the stream bottom was more heterogeneous in the unregulated streams.3. We found positive correlations between the coverage and diversity of macrophytes and the coverage of coarse‐textured substratum types on the stream bottom, as well as between macrophyte coverage and diversity and substratum heterogeneity. We also found that the macrophytes were more heterogeneously distributed where substratum heterogeneity was greater.4. The species growing both submerged and emergent were more abundant in the regulated streams, whereas species growing only submerged were more abundant in the unregulated streams. Species growing submerged, species growing both submerged and emergent, and species only growing emergent segregated differently in a canonical correspondence analysis ordination. The submerged species were primarily associated with coarser‐textured substrata, whereas species growing both submerged and emergent, and species growing only emergent were associated with finer‐textured substrata.5. The most abundant species in the regulated streams, Sparganium emersum, accounting for almost one‐third of the total macrophyte coverage, was primarily associated with clay and sandy bottom substrata, whereas the most abundant species in the unregulated streams, Batrachium peltatum, was primarily associated with gravel and stony substrata.