New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Meiofaunal communities associated with bryophytes and gravels in shaded and unshaded alpine streams in New Zealand

ALASTAIRM.SUREN

Department of Zoology
University of Canterbury
Private Bag, Christchurch, New Zealand
Present address: Hydrology Centre, DSIR Marine and Freshwater, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, P.O. Box 22-037, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Abstract Meiofauna associated with bryophyte and gravel habitats in two small alpine streams was investigated to determine its potential importance to stream communities. These invertebrates are traditionally neglected in stream surveys and their ecological roles poorly understood. Twenty-one operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found during the study, of which at least six were undescribed (two Copepoda and four Acarina). Meiofaunal densities were higher at the unshaded site than the shaded site, and higher withlin bryophyte than gravel habitats. Stepwise multiple regression analyses illustrated the importance of bryophytes to members of the meiofauna in each stream, and different meiofaunal communities were found associated with aquatic bryophytes and gravels. The high densities of Chironomidae, Nematoda, Copepoda, Tardigrada, and Rotifera associated with bryophytes may reflect the food value of the high peripiiyton biomass associated with these plants, and the shelter they offer from fast water currents. Although hyporheic meiofaunal taxa are known to move into interstices of mineral substratum for shelter, meiofauna associated with bryophytes dwell among stems and in leaf axils where they also find shelter. Because bryophyte-dwelling meiofauna occur in very high densities, they probably play an important, if as yet unknown, role in energy transfer in streams.

Keywords aquatic bryophytes; lotic meiofauna; Chironomidae; Copepoda; Tardigrada; Nematoda; Ostracoda; Acarina

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1992, Vol. 26: The Royal Society of New Zealand 1992
Received 24 May 1991; accepted 11 October 1991

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (953K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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