engleski

Aquatic Coleoptera and Heteroptera assemblages and diversity in relation to habitat type and flood dynamic structure

The abundance and taxonomic composition of the aquatic insect fauna were investigated, with the focus on adult water bugs, water beetles and water scavenger beetles (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha and Coleoptera: Hydradephaga, Hydrophilidae), in two different freshwater habitats — (1) periodically flooded area of the Special Zoological Reserve and (2) melioration canals of the wider area of the Nature Park Kopački rit during 2005. Aquatic insects are generally abundant in various waters, including floodplains which are exposed to fluctuations of water level. Our aims were (1) to characterize the assemblage of aquatic insects in relation to habitat type and flood dynamics and (2) to evaluate the diversity of aquatic insects with detecting characteristic species in two different freshwater habitats. There was a difference in species abundance and diversity between canals and flooded area. Rényi diversity profiles showed that the diversity of two habitat types varies depending on months, but NMDS and INDVAL analyses clearly shows that there are remarkable differences in species pool and their abundance. There were 11 species associated with the canals and 21 species associated with the flooded area. Also, 2 species bounded significantly to the canals and 9 to the flooded area. The collection of two endangered species (Graphoderus bilineatus and Berosus geminus) in the flooded area, illustrates the value of the Kopački rit floodplain.

aquatic insects; species pool; floodplain

nije evidentirano