The response of chironomid assemblages to mineral richness gradient in the Western Carpathian helocrenes

We investigated the effect of water mineral richness (basicity) on chironomid assemblages of helocrene springs in the Western Carpathians. To do so, we tested for relationships between the taxonomic structure, total abundance and abundance of most frequent taxa of chironomid assemblages and mineral richness gradient in two contrasting habitats: trickle (A) and water-loged soil with standing water (B). Chironomid assemblage showed a strong and systematic response to the complex gradient of mineral richness, which explained the largest portion of variance in both the habitat A and B faunal data and was projected on the first axes of NMDS ordinations. As only 17 samples were analysed so far, the results are considered preliminary and, hopefully, more confident results will be available in near future