Community structure of benthic invertebrates in the Allipén River basin, North Patagonia, Araucania region (38º S, Chile)

Abstract

One of the biological indicators most used to determine the health of a fluvial ecosystem are the benthic macroinvertebrates. The presence of recurrent species in a wide gradient of latitudes, dominates the biogeographic pattern of the benthic macroinvertebrates in Chilean fresh waters, nevertheless the knowledge on the communitarian ecology of these in the Chilean rivers continues to be scarce. Null models became a powerful statistical tool for describing the ecological mechanisms that drive the structure of an ecological community and the underlying patterns of diversity. The objective of this study was to determine the community structure of benthic invertebrates in the Allipén River by describing their composition, richness and abundance of species through richness models and null models based on presence/absence. The results reveal a high family richness and low diversity, three phyla, five classes, 11 orders and 28 families were identified in the study area during the four seasons of the year. The Arthropoda phylum was the most representative in abundance and richness. Regarding to richness, Trichoptera (7 families) and Diptera (6 families) followed by Ephemeroptera (3 families) were the orders that showed the greatest diversity of families, however, a low diversity with a H’≤ 1.5 nit was registered in the study area. We demonstrated through the null models, the randomization in the species associations corresponding to the three analyzed sites. The information provided here contributes to the understanding of the ecological patterns of the invertebrate communities in the Allipén River, establishing the basis for more complex ecological studies.

Benthic community ecology for Algerian river Seybouse

“…(2021), who found associations between groups reported and environmental parameters for Chilean North Patagonian rivers. In this scenario, the macroinvertebrate assemblage fauna in the studied river is similar to observations for central and southern Chilean rivers (35-40º S;Fierro et al, 2015;Figueroa et al, 2003Figueroa et al, , 2007Figueroa et al, , 2013Vega et al, 2020;Barile et al, 2021), where it was found marked differences in community structure in function to river zone, where it is possible found that in high zones there are shredders (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera) that requires water quality with high oxygen content and low dissolved organic matter contents and nutrient concentration (Moya et al, 2009;Oyanedel et al, 2008;Miserendino et al, 2018;De los Ríos-Escalante et al, 2020;Solis-Lufi et al, 2021).…”