Diversity Patterns and Assemblage Structure of Non-Biting Midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) in Urban Waterbodies
2022
Authors:
Popović, NatašaMarinković, Nikola
Čerba, Dubravka
Raković, Maja
Đuknić, Jelena
Paunović, Momir
Document Type:
Article (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract:
Urban waters are often neglected in biodiversity research; nonetheless, the number of
aquatic microhabitats present in a city and the surrounding urban area is impressive. Twenty-two
waterbodies in the Belgrade functional urban area (FUA) were investigated for faunistic and diversity
patterns and to assess the effects of environmental factors on the differentiation of Chironomidae
assemblages. A total of 66 chironomid taxa within four subfamilies was identified. Water quality
at the studied sites, expressed by the water pollution index (WPI), varied significantly. K-means
clustering gave four homogenous groups of chironomid assemblages, which showed clear preferences
to specific habitat conditions and tolerance to anthropogenic pressures. These groups had high values
of alpha and beta diversity components. The main component of beta diversity was species turnover.
Waterbody type, water temperature, pH, nutrients and overall pollution were the most important
factors influencing the distribution and composition of chironomid assemblages, which revealed
clear preferences of each assemblage type to the category of waterbody type and tolerances to
environmental pressures.
Keywords:
chironomid larvae; water pollution index (WPI); alpha and beta diversity; anthropogenic pressureSource:
Diversity, 2022, 14, 3, 187-Funding / projects:
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, institutional funding - 200007 (University of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research 'Siniša Stanković') (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200007)
DOI: 10.3390/d14030187
ISSN: 1424-2818