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Caddisflies (Trichoptera, Insecta) are one of the most diverse and abundant groups of aquatic insects. Plitvice Lakes NP was chosen for studying ecology of caddisflies due to high variety of habitats with different substrates. The main goals of this study were to determine composition, diversity, emergence patterns and trophic structure of trichopteran communities at tufa barriers and barrage lakes. Caddisflies were collected monthly during 2008 using emergence traps at 6 locations. A total of 2265 individuals and 43 species were collected. The highest number of species and individuals were collected at Labudovac barrier and diversity was highest at Labudovac and Novakovića Brod barriers. Emergence peaks were recorded in the summer and in the late spring and summer at tufa barriers and lakes, respectively. Emergence patterns of the most abundant species are in accordance with results of previous studies in the Plitvice Lakes NP. Regarding distribution at different microhabitats, highest and lowest number of species were recorded on gravel and particulate tufa, and silt, respectively. At tufa barriers, trichopteran community was dominated by collectors filterers, and at lakes by predators-collectors filterers, shredders-predators-scrapers and scrapers-xylophagus. |
