The effects of substrate embeddedness on aquatic invertebrate densities.

Abstract

This study uses the microhabitat approach to determine if the level of substrate embeddedness affects the related aquatic invertebrate densities. The findings were that invertebrate densities were inversely dependent on substrate embeddedness. As a result, it can be implied that invertebrates, either actively or passively, favor more rock space and possible refugia over substrate stability as results of embeddedness levels. It is possible that rock size played a larger role in substrate stability than embeddedness, however, more studies would need to be performed to determine if this was the case.