Distribution and ecology of benthic macroinvertebrates in theOpunohu river catchment, Moorea, French Polynesia

Abstract

Distribution and ecology of macroinvertebrates in the Opunohu River catchment (17°31'S, 149°S 50'W), Moorea, French Polynesia, were studied at eight sites, which range in altitude from 2 to 335 m, and from 0.4 to 4.0 km distance from the ocean. Taxa richness per site ranged from 16 to 28, and was higher in austral spring than austral fall ; 48 taxa were collected over all sites and included 7 species of molluscs, 6 crustaceans, 23 insects, and 6 oligochaetes. Neritid snails and atyid and palaemonid shrimp in the Opunohu have diadromous life cycles : they enter freshwater as juveniles and migrate upstream ; their larval offspring must return to the sea for growth and metamorphosis. These groups generally had larger individuals at upstream than at downstream sites. Human activities such as channeling stream flow through elevated culverts can impede normal upstream migration of diadromous species. Densities of neritid egg capsules were higher in riffle than pool habitats, exhibited seasonality, and were highest at the downstream-most site ; abundance at upstream sites also reflected local habitat conditions. Microhabitat segregation of two species of atyiid shrimp reflected their respective filter-feeding and detritus-gathering feeding mechanisms. High pH and temperatures in the poorly buffered, cascade headwaters produced high seston loads (3.4 mg/l) that mainly contained diatoms ; in downstream reaches seston concentrations were lower and contained more detritus. Some filter-feeding black fly species occured only in the headwaters. Insect taxa-richness was higher in headwater reaches while mollusc and crustacean richness was higher at sites near the ocean, which supports a tenet of the River Continuum Concept.