Distribution patterns of macroinvertebrate communities in a Chinese floodgate-regulated river and their relationships with river longitudinal connectivity

Abstract In this study, the Li River and the middle-lower reaches of the Shaying River in the Shaying River basin were selected for an investigation on the effects of floodgates on macroinvertebrate communities; additionally, the relationships among floodgates, macroinvertebrate communities and river longitudinal connectivity were explored. The Li and Shaying rivers had similar ratios of molluscs and scrapers, but their species compositions were significantly different. The water level fluctuations in the Li River were based on natural hydrological characteristics, and these were very different from the fluctuations in the reaches of the Shaying River that were divided by a serious of floodgates. The effects of floodgates resulted in a reduction in the number of taxa, Shannon-Wiener index, Margalef index, and Fisher index and an increase in the Harrison index. The upper reaches of the Li and Saying rivers had similar macroinvertebrate communities, but these were very different from the lower reaches of the Saying River. The total number of species and the number of aquatic insect species increased with the river connectivity gradient and the variations in the α-diversity and β-diversity indices along reaches confirmed the hypothesis that the longitudinal connectivity of the Shaying River was significantly affected by floodgates. The results of Pearson and PLS tests showed that some plankton variables and physical water parameters could possibly describe how the gradient of river longitudinal connectivity was related to the floodgates in the Shaying River basin. The results of partial correlations showed, even when excluding the effects of water pollution, the protozoa richness and electrical conductivity still had significant influences on the distribution patterns of macroinvertebrate communities. When considering the results of correlation analyses and regression together, these same variables could be used to describe how the gradient of river longitudinal hydrological connectivity is related to floodgates in future studies.