Relationships between instream communities and decomposition
(H5)
Shredder abundance had a strong positive effect on instream CK and this
effect decreased with increasing DS and UC% (Table 3, Fig. 5). Richness
was however not selected among the best predictors when included in
similar models. The multivariate variation in community was related with
the variability in CK among perennial sites (Procrustes; r = 0.431, p=
0.002) and headwaters (r = 0.438, p= 0.001), marginally so for mainstem
sites (r = 0.450, p = 0.06) but not among intermittent sites (r = 0.286,
p = 0.121).