Empirical relationships of phytomacrofaunal abundance of plant biomass and macrophyte bed characteristics

Quantitative analyses are presented for chironomids, cladocerans, cyclopoid copepods, gastropods, water mites (Hydracarina), ostracods and trichopterans. The abundance of invertebrates was best related to the biomass of separate plant species, but equations based only on total plant biomass sometimes had equivalent R² values. In general, abundance of phytophilous invertebrates was positively related to areal plant biomass, sediment organic matter, and lake trophic status and negatively related to depth. Abundance of phytophilous invertebrates generally rose throughout the sampling season. The sign of the relationship with sediment water content, however, varied among invertebrate taxa. Macrophyte beds with high areal plant biomass, in lakes with high total P concentration, support the greatest abundance of potential invertebrate food for fish and waterfowl. -from Authors