River channel habitat diversity (RCHD) and macroinvertebrate community

Abstract

Correspondence of habitat and macroinvertebrate diversity was investigated in twenty Czech rivers. With regard to the importance of river characteristics (depth, current velocity and substratum) River Channel Habitat Diversity method was developed within this paper. The method is focused directly on the stream wetted channel and it assesses habitat diversity and richness computed as Shannon-Wiener’s index. Macroinvertebrate samples were taken by the national PERLA method at each study site, diversity index was also calculated and compared with habitat and substrate diversity. Habitat diversity was important for macroinvertebrate communities according to multivariate assessment, but contrary to the hypothesis it was not significantly correlated with macroinvertebrate diversity. Based on the results, broader rivers had lower habitat diversity than smaller streams, and were more influenced by human activities (lower habitat diversity, higher pollution). Results obtained by the RCHD and RHS methods were not significantly correlated.