The effect of habitat stability on benthic invertebrate communities: the utility of species abundance distributions

✍ Scribed by R.G. Death

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 747 KB
• Volume: 317
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5141
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00018733

✦ Synopsis

Spatial and temporal patterns in the species abundance distribution of benthic invertebrate communities of 11 fresh ater habitats (10 streams and a ind-s ept lake shore) ere examined ith respect to habitat stability . Abundance patterns varied markedly bet een seasons at most sites . Ho ever, mean abundance distributions at 4 of the 5 unstable sites and the 2 most stable sites ere dominated by one or t o taxa ith a large number of rare species, hereas sites of intermediate stability had more equitable distributions . Both the log series and log normal distributions ere statistically indistinguishable, at the 5% level, from all the observed mean abundance patterns . In contrast, graphical comparisons of the observed and fitted distributions suggested the log series may be the better fit at most of the unstable sites and the t o most stable sites, hereas the more equitable distribution at sites of intermediate stability suggested the log normal distribution as the better fit . If conditions at a site favoured one or t o species, either through severe physical conditions, or through competitive superiority in the absence of disturbance then the log series distribution may result . Ho ever, if no species in the community as strongly advantaged over others, a log normal distribution should result . Given the discriminating po er of the appropriate statistical test it may not, ho ever, be possible to pick up these differences ithout graphical comparisons as ell .