Sea lamprey nests increase the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrate communities
Abstract
The habitat heterogeneity hypothesis states that increased habitat heterogeneity promotes species diversity thanks to a greater number of available ecological niches. For stream invertebrates, substrate appears to be a key driver of macroinvertebrates community structure followed by current velocity and depth. Lamprey nesting, by removing large volumes of sediment and altering local bed morphology, increases the riverbed physical heterogeneity. This structural heterogeneity might increase biological and functional diversity. Here, we investigated the local-scale effects of lamprey spawning on macroinvertebrates communities and discussed the overall effects at the reach-scale.
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