Spatial patterns in lotic invertebrate community composition: is substrate disturbance actually important?

Twenty-five forest streams were sampled in August 1994 in Te Urewera National Park, New Zealand, to examine the effect of substrate disturbance on invertebrate community structure. Stream size, flow permanence, and riparian cover were more influential than substrate disturbance in affecting invertebrate composition. Three community types were distinguishable based on these three factors: small (<1 m wide), intermittent streams were dominated by Chironomidae; larger (12–15 m wide), open streams were dominated by Chironomidae, Plecoptera, and Ephemeroptera; and intermediate-sized (1–10 m wide) streams with continuous riparian cover were dominated by mayflies and caddisflies. Periphyton biomass was negatively affected by substrate disturbance but not to the same degree as reported by others studying unshaded streams. This may explain why the influence of substrate disturbance on community composition was less than that of stream size, flow permanence, and riparian cover. The key effect of substrate disturbance on postdisturbance community composition in these light-limited New Zealand streams appears to be the removal of animals rather than food loss. Thus, differences between communities that experience high flows and those that do not are far less than they might be in unshaded streams in which the food base is more severely affected by substrate disturbance.