The ecological requirements of caddisflies larvae (Insecta: Trichoptera) and their usefulness in water quality assessment of a river in south-west Romania
This survey analyzed the eco-physiological requirements of caddisflies assemblages in Jiu
River (south- west Romania). The output revealed that the communities are driven by a
synergic combination of natural factors and pollutants. Their ecological profiles are
diverse and the degree of tolerance is related to a decrease of water quality over a
longitudinal gradient, overlapped with natural variation of physic-chemical factors. The
assemblage is dominated by hydropsychids, very tolerant to anthropogenic disturbances, and
two other communities separated by large distances (characteristic of headwaters and of
lowland areas, respectively) that do rather reveal stronger affinities to the microhabitat
requirements then to water pollution. Polyhedral diagrams were employed in order to reveal
caddisflies larvae tolerances/intolerances to environmental parameters, in order to test
their usefulness for local areas and less numerous samples, as frequently encountered in
routine surveys
