Institute of Zoology SAS
Topic
Chironomidae communities (Diptera) as indicators of hydromorphological degradation of streams
PhD. program
Name of the supervisor
prof. Ing. Ladislav Hamerlík, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave
Annotation
Midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) are the most widespread group of free-living holometabolous insects known from all zoogeographical regions, including Antarctica. Their larvae are common inhabitants of a variety of freshwater bodies in all climatic zones from the tropics to the polar regions and often dominate benthic communities both in abundance and species richness. Therefore, their aquatic stages represent an ideal taxonomic group for studying the use of small hydropower plants (SHPs) as a model to simulate the effects of climate change on stream biodiversity. This research has a potential to bring implications for adaptation and future management. Currently, our team has faunistic and environmental data from 18 SHPs studied in the previous project. Additional SHPs will be sampled to achieve the objectives of the present project, so that the data matrix represents a sufficient sample for statistical and mathematical modelling and generalisation of the results. The sampling of zoobenthos will be complemented with drift sampling, where exuviae of chironomid pupae will be collected to ensure species-level identification. Chironomid larvae, pupae and pupal exuviae will be identified at the lowest possible taxonomic level.