H.H.Tolkamp Hature Conservation Department, Agricultural University, Wageningen Organism-substrate relationships in lowland streams IpudooI Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation Wageningen - 1980 ,y* <3 "3! Communication NatureConservatio n Department211 . ISBN9 022 0075 96 Theautho r graduatedo n6 Februar y 1981a sDocto r ind e Landbouwwetenschappen atth eAgricultura l University,Wageningen ,th eNetherlands ,o na thesi swit h thesam etitl ean dcontents . ^)Centr e forAgricultura l Publishing andDocumentation ,1980 . Nopar to fthi sboo kma yb ereproduce do rpublishe d inan y form,b yprint , photoprint,microfil mo ran yothe rmean swithou twritte n permission fromth e publishers. Abstract Tolkamp, H.H. (1980)Organism-substrat e relationships inlowlan d streams.Agric . Res.Rep . (Versl.landbouwk .Onderz. )907 ,ISB N9 022 007S 96 , (xi)+ 21 1p. ,8 0 tables,4 3 figs.,31 9refs. ,Eng .an dDutc hsummaries , 14appendices . Also:Doctora l thesis,Wageningen . Afiel d and laboratory studyo n themicrodistributio n ofbotto m dwellingmacro - invertebrates toinvestigat eth erol eo fth estrea msubstrat e inth edevelopmen t andpreservatio no fth emacroinvertebrat ecommunitie s innatural ,undisturbe d low­ land streams isdescribed .Fiel ddat ao nbotto m substratesan d faunawer ecollecte d between 1975an d 1978fro mtw oDutc hlowlan d streams.Substrate swer e characterized by thenatur ean dth eamoun to forgani c detritus and theminera l particlesizes :i n a fieldclassificatio no n thebasi so fth evisuall y dominantparticl e sizes;i na grain-size classificationo nth ebasi so fexac t particle-size analysis inth elabora ­ tory.Substrat epreferenc e for8 4macroinvertebrat especie swa sdemonstrate d using the Indexo fRepresentation . Substrate-selection experimentswer econducte d ina laborator y stream forthre e Trichopteraspecie s (Mioropterna sequax, Chaetopteryx villosa and Seriaostoma per­ sonation) andon eEphemeropter aspecie s (Ephemera daniea). Anexperimen t onth e colonization of artificial substrates inth efiel dwa sals o conducted. From thefiel ddata , several faunal groupscoul db edistinguished , eachgrou p madeu po f specieswit h similar substratepreferences .Detaile d datao nth emicro - distribution inrelatio n tosubstrat eparticl e sizear egive n for26 ,species ,whic h represent thevariou staxonomica lunit stha tcompos e thefauna lgroup s: Trichopter a (5species) ,Ephemeropter a (1species) ,Plecopter a (1species) ,Coleopter a (3species) , Amphipoda (1species) ,Dipter a (15species ,amon gwhic h 13specie so fChironomidae) . Themicrodistributio n isdiscusse d inrelatio n tocase-buildin g behaviour,lif ecycl e and foodpreferences .Fo rsevera l speciessubstrat epreference sma yb edifferen t for different development stageso r indifferen t seasons. Iti sconclude d thatmos t speciessho wdistinc t preferences fora specifi csub ­ strate.Th e small scalespatia lvariatio n insubstrat ecompositio n ofth estrea mbe d isessentia l forth eexistenc eo fman y lowland streammacroinvertebrat e species. Freedescriptors :substrat epreference ,microdistribution , benthos,macroinvertebrates , particlesize ,detritus ,organi c matter,habita t preference,environmenta l factors, lowland stream, laboratory stream Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 General 1 1.2 Purposeo fth einvestigatio n 4 1.3 Hypotheses 5 1.4 Research approach 6 2 Description of the streams 7 2.1' TheSni jdersveerbee k 7 2.2 TheRatumsebee k 11 3 Methods 16 3.1 Fieldprocedur e 16 3.1.1 Selectiono fsamplin g sites 16 3.1.2 Sampling dates 16 3.1.3 Field classificationo fsubstrate s 17 3.1.4 Samplingmetho d 18 3.1.5 Additional collections 20 3.2 Laboratoryprocedur e 20 3.2.1 Sample sorting 20 3.2.2 Substrate analysis 20 3.2.3 Macrofauna analysis 23 3.3 Laboratory experiments 25 3.3.1 Artificial stream channel experiments 25 3.3.1.1 Thestrea m 25 3.3.1.2 Substrates tested 27 3.3.1.3 Experimental design 27 3.3.1.4 Species tested 29 3.3.1.5 Theinfluenc eo fcurren tvelocit yo nsubstrat e selection 29 3.3.2 Rearing channel 30 3.3.3 Experimentswit hTrichopter a 30 3.3.3.1 Case-building experiments 30 3.3.3.2 Grainsiz e analysiso fnatura lTrichopter a cases 31 3.4 Fieldexperiment s 32 3.4.1 Artificial substrate trays 32 3.4.2 Artificial substrates introducedwithou t trays 33 3.4.3 Litterbag s 34 3.5 Dataprocessin g 34 3.5.1 Datastorag e 34 3.5.2 Statisticalmethod s 35 Results 37 4.1 Data 37 4.1.1 Fieldclassificatio no fsubstrat etype s 37 4.1.2 Grain-sizeclassificatio n inth e laboratory 40 4.1.2.1 Substratecompositio n 40 4.1.2.2 Substratetype s 41 4.1.3 Discussion 44 4.1.3.1 Theus eo fth e Indexo fRepresentatio n compared toothe r statisticalmethod s 44 4.1.3.2 The importance ofth ejoin tus eo f H and 10%detritu s classifications 45 4.1.3.3 The influenceo fanima labundanc eo nth e Indexo fRepresen ­ tation 46 4.1.4 Groupingo fsubstrat etype sbase do nspecie scompositio n 47 4.1.5 Groupingo fspecie sbase d onsubstrat epreference s 49 4.1.6 Numberso fspecie san d specimens indifferen t substrate types 56 4.1.7 Fieldexperiment s 58 4.1.7.1 Trays filledwit h artificial substrate 58 4.1.7.2 Particlesize s introducedwithou ttray s 59 4.2 Organism-substrate relationships 60 4.2.1 Outlineo fpresentatio n 60 4.2.2 Autecological datafo rselecte d species 62 4.2.2.1 Lithaxobscuru s (Hagen) (Trichoptera:Goeridae ) 62 4.2.2.2 Sericostomapersonatu m (Spence) (Trichoptera: Sericostomatidae) 68 4.2.2.3 Micropterna sequax (MacLachlan) (Trichoptera:Limnephilidae ) 75 4.2.2.4 Chaetopteryxvillos a (Fabricius) (Trichoptera:Limnephilidae ) 91 4.2.2.5 Plectrocnemiaconspers a (Curtis) (Trichoptera: Polycentropodidae) 100 4.2.2.6 Ephemeradanic a (Müller) (Ephemeroptera:Ephemeridae ) 103 4.2.2.7 Nemouracinere a (Retzius) (Plecoptera:Nemouridae ) 114 4.2.2.8 Limniusvolckmar i (Panzer),Elmi saene a (Müller)an d Oulimnius tuberculatus (Müller) (Coleoptera:Elminthidae ) 116 4.2.2.9 Gammaruspule x (L.)(Malacostraca :Amphipoda ,Gammaridae ) 119 4.2.2.10Dicranot aZettersted t sp. (Diptera:Limoniidae ) 128 4.2.2.11 LimnophilaMarquar t spp. (Diptera:Limoniidae ) 132 4.2.2.12Ptychopter aMeige nspp . (Diptera:Ptychopteridae ) 134 4.2.2.13Orthocladiu sva nde rWul p spp. (Diptera:Chironomidae , Orthocladiinae) 13S 4.2.2.14Micropsectr agr .praeco x (sensuTshernowskij )(Diptera : Chironomidae,Tanytarsini ) 137 4.2.2.15Paracladopelm aHarnisc hspp . (Diptera'.Chironomidae , Chironominae) 140 4.2.2.16Prodiames aolivace aMeige n (Diptera:Chironomidae , Orthocladiinae) 142 4.2.2.17Epoicocladiu s flavens (Malloch) (Diptera:Chironomidae , Orthocladiinae) 144 4.2.2.18Chironomida eo fdetritu ssubstrate s 146 Conchapelopiamelanop s (Wiedemann) (Diptera:Chironomidae , Tanypodinae) 146 CorynoneuraWinnert zspp .(Diptera :Chironomidae , Orthocladiinae) 148 Brilliamodest a (Meigen) (Diptera:Chironomidae , Orthocladiinae) 148 Diplocladius cultrigerKleffe r (Diptera:Chironomidae , Orthocladiinae) 149 RheocricotopusThieneman nspp . (Diptera:Chironomidae , Orthocladiinae) 149 Eukiefferiellagr .discoloripe s (sensuMolle rPillot , 1980) (Diptera:Chironomidae ,Orthocladiinae ) 150 Polypedilumlaetu magg . (sensuMolle rPillot ,1979 ) (Diptera: Chironomidae,Chironominae ) 151 5 General discussion 153 5.1 Partielesiz e 154 5.2 Currentvelocit y 156 5.3 Foodcondition s 158 6 Conclusions 165 6.1 Substrate composition 165 6.2 Substratepattern s 166 6.3 Effecto fregulatio n 169 Surrmary 173 176 Samenvattvng 181 Appendices Identification references 196 References 200 Outline of substate classification Abbreviations used in the field classification of substrate types S = Sand FD = Fine Detritus G = Gravel St = Stable CD = Coarse Detritus Sh = Shifting L = Leaves B = Bare Detritus = CD + L CD/FD = CD with or without FD Names, phi values and phi indices of grain-size fractions Frac tiori Phi value Phi index Name of fraction (mm] <-log2 fraction) 128 - 256 -7 8 cobbles 64 - 128 -6 7 cobbles 32 - 64 -5 6 large pebbles 16 - 32 -4 5 small pebbles 8 - 16 -3 4 coarse gravel 4 - 8 -2 3 medium gravel 2 - 4 -1 2 fine gravel 1 - 2 0 1 very coarse sand 0. 500 - 1 1 1 coarse sand 0. 250 - 0 500 2 2 medium sand 0. 125 0. 250 3 3 fine sand 0.05 0 0. 125. 4 4 very fine sand 0 - 0.05 0 5-10 0 silt and lutum t :0.05 0 mm is used instead of 0.0625 Q M Q index describes the grain-size composition of a substrate by giving the first (Q-), second (median)(H) and third (Q ) quartiles expressed in integer phi values (phi indices). 1 Introduction 1.1 GENERAL Lowlandstreams ,wit ha strongl yfluctuatin gdischarge ,wate rlevel ,curren t velocity,botto mcompositio nan dvegetatio npattern ,ar ea characteristi c typeo f streamfo rth eNetherlands .A larg enumbe ro fbenthi cmacroinvertebrat e speciesar e restrictedt othi styp eo fenvironmen tan dfor mth echaracteristi c animalcommunit y ofth enatura l lowlandstream . Sinceth e1930 smos t lowland streamsin th eNetherland shav ebee nregulate din connectionwit hlan dreclamatio nscheme so rprogramme saime da tth eimprovemem to f streamhydrolog yt oincreas edrainag ean di nth emor erecen tdecade sals ot olowe r thegroundwate rleve lin vas tareas .Thi s impliesth ereductio no finundation ,pea k flow,erosio nan dsedimen ttransport .T othi sen dmeander sar ecu toff ,bend sar e straightened,th estrea mbe di sdeepene dan dwidened ,th eslop eo fth ebank si sstan ­ dardizedt oa 1: 2o r1: 3profile ,ban kvegetatio ni sremove dan dpath sar econ ­ structedfo rgras smowers ;weir san dbarrage sar eplace da tregula rinterval st o reducesedimen t transportan dretai na minimu mwate r leveli nsumme rfo rirrigatio n purposes.Bank sar eofte nreinforce dwit hconcrete ,nylo nmattin go rwoo dan dsome ­ timesth ewhol estrea mbe di sreinforce dwit hconcret eblocks .Severa lterm sar ein uset odescrib ethes ekin do fphysica lperturbations .Hereafte rth eter mregulatio n willb eused ,t osav eth eter mchannelizatio nfo rstream san drivers.tha thav ebee n regulatedwit hth epurpos eo ffacilitatin gtranspor tb yboat .