ILPLA   05424
INSTITUTO DE LIMNOLOGIA "DR. RAUL A. RINGUELET"
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
cological Responses to Different Degrees of Hydrologic Connectivity: Assessing Patterns in the Bionomy of Benthic Chironomids in a Large River-Floodplain System.
Autor/es:
ZILLI, F.L.; A. C. PAGGI
Revista:
WETLANDS
Editorial:
SPRINGER
Referencias:
Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2013 vol. 33 p. 837 - 845
ISSN:
0277-5212
Resumen:
Abstract Floodplain wetlands of the Middle Paraná River,Argentina, are regulated by their hydrologic connectivity tothe main channel as well as by their position within the rivernetwork. The Chironomids are the most abundant insectsthat inhabit the benthos of the Paraná River floodplainhabitats. In order to address whether wetlands with differentdegrees of connectivity (disconnected, temporarily, andpermanently connected) exhibit different abundance patternsand secondary production of benthic chironomids,samples were collected during a year comprising high andlow water phases. The disconnected wetland exhibited thehighest abundance and secondary production of chironomids.Both attributes were positively correlated to thedegree of connectivity for most of the predators among theconnected wetlands. Differences in assemblages? compositionand secondary production were found to be in relationto the degree of connectivity, the cover of macrophytes, thedetritus at the bottom, the transparency of water, theproportion of clay in bottom sediments and the location ofwetlands within the floodplain. The interaction betweenlocal environmental factors mediated by lateral connectivityand regional dynamics of metapopulations establisheddiverse patterns in the metrics of chironomids along theParaná River floodplain wetlands. Thus, various degrees ofhydrologic connectivity of wetlands should be preserved tomaintain a high productivity of different chironomids in thefloodplain.