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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.42, 1-11
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10
Trophic metrics are surrogates of complex processes
such as trophic interaction, production and food
source availability (Merrit et al. 1996). Feeding
strategies are typical traits reflecting the adaptation of
species, and they could form part of a unified measure
across communities differing in taxonomic
composition (Statzner et al. 2004). Various modes of
food acquisition have been described (Cummins and
Merritt, 1996) in the form of functional feeding
groups which have been used to describe lotic
invertebrate feeding habits, and have been used to
assess ecosystem condition (Merritt
et al
. 1996) The
percentage representation of all the feeding groups
displayed weak or no correlation with concentrations
of chl-a. However, the dominance of filter feeders in
the study area may have been favoured by microalgal
production in the overlying water (See Table 2).
Opposite to patterns observed for terrestrial systems
(Scot, 2005), high primary productivity in near shore
waters tends to promote low species richness and high
evenness (Castro and Huber, 2005). In these areas the
role of producer tends to be dominated by a small
number of species able to monopolise resources under
ambient conditions. Corresponding benthic communities
are dominated by the taxa best able to use the
associated products or withstand periods of anoxia
imposed by excess organic input (Nybakken, 1998).
The extent to which primary production may influence
benthic macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity as
observed in this present study needs to be further
investigated. Emphases should be placed on the
determination of those intrinsic properties of habitats
which potentially affect the overall impact of primary
production on benthic macroinvertebrate abundance
and diversity. Investigations on the distribution of
populations and assemblages integrated with a
hierarchical analysis of spatial variation to fully
represent the complexity of natural benthic systems, in
order to recognise the potentially important forcing
factors is important for ecological understanding of
the interplay of factors affecting benthic biocoenosis.
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