Abstract
The process of macroinvertebrate drift in freshwater lowland streams is characterized by dislodgement, drift distance and subsequent return to the bottom. Refuges are important to all drift phases, since they may help larvae to avoid dislodgement and to escape from drift, even more so if the refuge structure is complex and heterogeneous. The aim of the present study was therefore to determine the influence of refuge heterogeneity on the ability of caddisfly larvae to return to the bottom from drift and to avoid secondary dislodgement. To this purpose a series of indoor flume experiments were undertaken, testing six Limnephilidae (Trichoptera) species, that occur on a gradient from lotic to lentic environments. Bed morphology (plain, refuges with or without leaf patches) and flow velocity (low (0.1 m/s), intermediate (0.3 m/s) and high (0.5 m/s) were manipulated. We showed that all species were favoured by refuges and that especially for species on the lentic end of the gradient (L. lunatus, L. rhombicus and A. nervosa), the ability to escape from drift and to avoid secondary dislodgement was increased. Moreover, we showed that all species spent more time in refuges than in open channel parts and more time in heterogeneous refuges (leaf patches) than in bare refuges, the latter being especially the case for larvae of the lotic species. For lentic species, not well adapted to high flow velocity, refuges are thus crucial to escape from drift, while for the lotic species, better adapted to high flow velocity, the structure of the refuge becomes increasingly important. It is concluded that refuges may play a crucial role in restoring and maintaining biodiversity in widened, channelized and flashy lowland streams.
Highlights
Drift is regarded as the dominant form of macroinvertebrate movement in freshwater lowland streams[1,2], travelling short to long distances before returning to the stream bottom[3,4]
We hypothesized that the presence of refuges in streams increases return rates to the bottom from drift, helps to avoid secondary dislodgement and that heterogeneous refuges are used more effectively by caddisfly larvae than bare refuges
The number of individuals remaining in the channels and the residence time increased over the lentic-lotic species gradient, with L. lunatus being the most vulnerable to high flow velocity, in contrast to C. villosa and M. sequax (Table 1; Fig. 3)
Summary
Drift is regarded as the dominant form of macroinvertebrate movement in freshwater lowland streams[1,2], travelling short to long distances before returning to the stream bottom[3,4]. We studied the ability of six Trichoptera species ranging from lentic to lotic, to return to the stream bottom under different flow velocity conditions[14]. Heterogeneous environments, that include stable habitat patches like leaf packages, offer refuges in which organisms can find shelter. This may help individuals to avoid dislodgement, since movement to refuges prior to high flow is a commonly used avoidance strategy to prevent dislodgement[19,20,21]. We hypothesized that the presence of refuges in streams increases return rates to the bottom from drift, helps to avoid secondary dislodgement and that heterogeneous refuges (leaf patches) are used more effectively by caddisfly larvae than bare refuges
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