Ref ID : 2195
Wilfried Schonborn; Secondary Production and Energy Transfer in the Polluted River Saale (Thuringia, Southern GDR). Int.Revue ges.Hydrobiol. 72(5):539-557, 1987
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In the middle reaches of the Saale (alpha-mesosaprobic region) there are two final consumers: Erpobdella octoculata (leech) and fish. Three main flows of energy in the river ecosystem are described and quantified. The food web is only poorly developed. In the River Saale Erpobdella is the main predator and controls most of the meio- and macrozoobenthos. The type of energy transfer described here seems to predominate in polluted rivers. A qualitatively different type of energy transfer predominates in clean running waters. The relationships between energy transfer and self-purification are discussed.