Distributions of physical habitats and benthic macroinvertebrates in Western Cape headwater streams at multiple spatial and temporal scales

The research in this thesis examines the links between benthic macroinverebrate (invertebrate) distributions and aspects of the physical habitat at different spatial and temporal scales in mountain and foothill zones of rivers in the Western Cape, South Africa. A geomorphological hierarchy was used as the spatial template for studying invertebrate distributions. The different levels of the hierarchy are: catchment, segment, zone, reach, morphological unit and hydraulic biotype. Hydraulic biotypes are visually defined flow and substratum combinations. The hierarchical levels studied in this thesis were catchment, zone, reach and hydraulic biotype.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Biological Sciences

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Schael, Denise Marie

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• King, Jackie
• Day, Jenny
• Field, John G

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6183

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6183