Diversity and community structure of Ephemeroptera in freshwater stream of Megamalai hills, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

In the study on the diversity and community structure of Ephemeroptera in the freshwater stream of Chinnasuruli falls on Megamalai hills, a total of 523 specimens belonging to thirteen genera and five families were collected in six month periods. Of the five families, Teloganodidae and Leptophlebiidae exhibited high diversity and Caenidae showed low diversity. Choroterpes alagarensis (Leptophlebiidae) is the most dominant species. Diversity indices such as Shannon and Simpson indices showed that diversity was maximum in November and December and it was minimum in August and January. Canonical Correspondence Analysis revealed that rainfall, water flow, turbidity, and air temperature were the major stressors in affecting the Ephemeropteran community structure.