Mayfly (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) community structure as an indicator of the ecological status of the Nišava river (Central Balkan Peninsula)

Authors

  • Ana Savić Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000, Niš, Serbia
  • Vladimir Ranđelović Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000, Niš, Serbia
  • Saša Branković Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia – Niš Office, Vožda Karađorđa 14, 18000, Niš, Serbia
  • Jasmina Krpo-Ćetković Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

Keywords:

environmental conditions, faunistic diversity, spatial distribution, water pollution

Abstract

Mayfly taxa are widely accepted as bioindicators of water quality, due to the wide variety of substrates they live on and high chances of detecting the pollution impact by assessing their community structure. Ephemeroptera samples and physicochemical data were analysed for 12 sites along the 151 km long stretch of the Nišava River in southeastern Serbia during a one-year period. Twenty eight morphologically distinct taxa belonging to eight genera were identified. The dominant genera were Baetis (35.27%) and Ephemerella (29.44%). The Ephemeroptera community structure analysis of samples from the Nišava River has shown a clear dependence of the mayfly community on the habitat type, physical and chemical parameters, and the season. The lowest Shannon's diversity index was estimated for the localities with the lowest percentage of the solid substrate and the highest average content of phosphorus and nitrogen.

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Published

2011-07-01

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 3 (2011)

Section

Research article

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