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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 6740

Peter Heininger, Sebastian Hoss, Evelyn Claus, Jurgen Pelzer, and Walter Traunspurger; Nematode communities in contaminated river sediments. Environmental Pollution 146:64-76, 2007

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Nematode communities of eight sites from three river catchments were investigated in terms of the genera composition, feeding types, and life-history strategists. The sampling sites showed a gradient of anthropogenic contamination with heavy metals and organic pollutants being important factors in differentiating the sites. Nematode community structure was related to sediment pollution and the hydro-morphological structure of the sampling sites. Heavily contaminated sites were characterized by communities with high relative abundances of omnivorous and predacious nematodes (Tobrilus, c-p 3; Mononchus c-p 4), while sites with low to medium contamination were dominated by bacterivorous nematodes (Monhystera, Daptonema; c-p 2) or suction feeders (Dorylaimus, c-p 4). The relatively high Maturity Index values in the heavily polluted sites were surprising. Nematodes turned out to be a suitable organism group for monitoring sediment quality, with generic composition being the most accurate indicator of assessing differences in nematode community structure.