Fine-Scale Taxonomic and Functional Diversity Patterns Inform Within-Site Sampling Strategies for Benthic Macroinvertebrates in an Alpine Stream

Abstract

Fine-scale habitat heterogeneity can generate marked short-distance variation in alpine-stream benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, yet routine surveys often characterize a site using five Surber-net replicates collected within an approximately 100 m reach. We analyzed 99 quantitative samples collected at 10 m intervals along a 1 km reach of Qingbixi Stream on Cangshan Mountain, Dali, Yunnan, China, to relate taxonomic and functional diversity patterns to within-site sampling design. The samples contained 69 taxa and 15,034 individuals. Across 20 consecutive 50 m sections, turnover accounted for 70.9% of mean total pairwise taxonomic beta diversity, whereas nestedness accounted for 96.3% of mean total functional trait-state beta diversity. Taxonomic dissimilarity increased weakly but significantly with longitudinal distance. In ten simulated nominal 100 m sampling units, five spatial replicates detected an average of 82.9% of the locally observed taxon pool; completeness increased to 87.4% with six replicates and 94.6% with eight. These results support five replicates as a practical baseline for routine community characterization, while more intensive or microhabitat-stratified sampling is preferable when near-complete taxon detection or fine-scale beta-diversity assessment is required.

Keywords

Alpine stream / Benthic macroinvertebrates / Beta diversity / Functional diversity / Sampling design

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