Diversity patterns of Chironomidae in the Western Carpathian spring fens.
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Spring fens, often called helocrenes, are biotopes of a high ecological and conservation value. They host many species, some of which are critically endangered and strictly confined to this type of biotope. Despite that, they are scarce and continue to disappear throughout the Europe, mostly because of human activities and inappropriate management. The knowledge about diversity patterns can help decision makers to guide the selection of sites for conservation. However, the distribution of spring-fen species’ diversity among and within sites remains largely unknown. We sampled chironomid larvae at about 60 spring-fen sites and analysed their diversity patterns. It appears that the highest chironomid alpha diversity is restricted to old and large sites. However, the main portion of diversity lies in the extraordinary high among-site beta diversity, which largely, but not only, reflects the main gradient observed at spring fens – the gradient of mineral richness. To maintain the high diversity of spring-fen assemblages, a high number of sites distributed along the mineral richness gradient ought to be protected, with the highest priority for old and large ones. The research was financially supported by Czech Science Foundation P505/11/0779. |
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