![]() ![]() This protocol is adapted from an existing methodology developed to scan marine mesozooplankton with a scanning system designed for water samples. To expedite the estimation of community size structure, here, we developed a protocol to semi-automatically measure the individual body size of preserved river macroinvertebrates, which are one of the most commonly used bioindicators for assessing the ecological status of freshwater ecosystems. However, the manual measurement of small-bodied organisms such as benthic macroinvertebrates (e.g., >500 µm to a few centimeters long) is time-consuming. Community size structure responds to biotic and abiotic gradients, including anthropogenic perturbations across taxa and ecosystems. ![]() Body size is an important functional trait that can be used as a bioindicator to assess the impacts of perturbations in natural communities.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |