Padrões de diversidade e organização temporal de Chironomidae (Diptera) em um córego tropical

Abstract

In this study we investigated the temporal dynamics of a chironomid assemblage in a forested stream located in southeastern Brazil. First, we analyzed some diversity patterns of this assemblage by describing two macroecological relationships (body size-species richness and body size-abundance) and by testing with they vary in an intra-annual scale. Second, we analyzed the emergence phenology using a time series of 48 weekly samples. In general, both species richness and abundance peaked on intermediate body sizes, moreover these relationships showed to be variable in this intra-annual scale; Chironomidae emergence was not seasonal, neither was related to any environmental variables measured; on the other hand, the most persistent species (Caladomyia sp. 1, Endotribelos sp. 4, Caladomyia sp. 2, and Corynoneura sp. 1) appeared to have some temporal structure on emergence, probably associated with photoperiod and minimum air temperature respectively; there was no synchrony in species emergence with most taxa emerging together through the year; species richness as taxonomic composition did not change over time.