Aquatic macroinvertebrates in Madeira Island (Portugal) streams: diversity and distribution.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Madeira Island (Portugal; 32°24'-33°07'N, 16°16-17°16'W; 796 km²) is an oceanic island located in the North Atlantic, about 980 km south of Portugal and about 700 km west of the African coast. The presence of freshwater invertebrates in oceanic islands has always raised questions concerning dispersal, colonisation and evolution. Therefore, the freshwater fauna of Madeira Island has attracted the interest of many researchers in the past, the first publications going back to the nineteenth century. Initial studies were mainly taxonomic, resulting in a checklist of the Madeira freshwater macroinvertebrates with 240 taxa. As typical from oceanic islands, freshwater invertebrates are characterised by low diversity, with some taxonomic groups absent. Although fr

SUBMITTER: Raposeiro PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8881431 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature