Inter-annual patterns in the stability and persistence of stream macroinvertebrate communities: relationship with water physicochemical parameters

The relationships between temporal patterns of macroinvertebrate community and water physicochemical parameters were investigated in the Xiangxi River, which is the largest tributary to the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in Hubei province, China. The construction of the TGR has strongly impacted the Xiangxi River watershed, but inter-annual patterns in stream macroinvertebrate communities have not been examined. We sampled water and macroinvertebrates monthly from 2004 to 2006. We assessed the persistence (similarity between years of species assemblage) and stability (similarity between years with respect to relative abundance of species in the community) of the macroinvertebrate community by the Bray-Curtis distance. The relationship between changes in water physicochemical conditions and changes in community structure were assessed with linear regression. The results showed that both the physical and chemical conditions of the water differed significantly among years. Similarly, the macroinvertebrate community structure and composition were significantly different among years. The compositional persistence was positively and significantly related to the physical condition, supporting the Habitat Templet Theory and indicating the importance of physical habitat protection. This study provides information for environmental assessment, which can be used to develop sustainable management strategies.