engleski

Functional organisation of benthic macroinvertebrates in travertine barrier biotopes

In the karstic running water of the Dinaric mountains, travertine barriers and other travertine formations covered with moss are very common habitats. The objectives of our field investigation were to establish how the functional feeding structure of the travertine barriers community is adapted to the quality and quantity of available food. Herbivorous-detritivorous collector-gatherers and collector-filterers were the dominant functional consumer group (40% of the total macroinvertebrates, approximately). Scrapers were the subdominant feeding group representing 24% of the total macroinvertebrates. Shredder fauna constituted 18% of the total, and the same abundance belongs to the predators.

macroinvertebrates; karstic water; functional feeding groups

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