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Benthic Invertebrates and Metabolism of West Carpathian (Slovakia) Rivers
Author(s) -
Šporka Ferdinand,
Krno Il'ja
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international review of hydrobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1522-2632
pISSN - 1434-2944
DOI - 10.1002/iroh.200390024
Subject(s) - benthic zone , autotroph , tributary , streams , environmental science , water column , ecology , invertebrate , biology , geography , computer network , genetics , cartography , bacteria , computer science
We examined benthic invertebrates and metabolism on the basis of the annual sampling of 9 types of running waters in the West Carpathians. Headwaters in general represent typical heterotrophic systems, except where they are high mountain streams, which are autotrophic. Lower down, the upper reaches of brooks are transition zones between heterotrophic and autotrophic systems. After the transition to an autotrophic system (which depends mainly on the primary producers) there is a considerable decrease in secondary production. Production is higher in the rivers of the Carpathian basin, as well as lower down the valley (submontane rivers and lower tributaries of submontane streams) where, within the autotrophic systems, there is a shift of metabolism from the bottom to the water column. The temperature days, altitude and slope of the stream and concentration of calcium influence production of macrozoobenthos.