Reversed trends in the benthic community structure in two confluent streams; one spring-fed,the other lake-fed

The community structure of two confluent streams in southern Sweden was investigated, one stream was spring-fed and the other lake-fed. There was a downstream decrease in the number of species present in the lake outlet stream, no such change being discernible in the spring-fed stream. Taking the sampling site nearest the source of the spring-fed stream as the reference point, there was a downstream increase in dissimilarity and this increase was maintained upstream from the confluence in the lake-fed stream. Apart from generalists, all functional feeding groups showed decreased numbers from the lake outlet to the confluence in the lake-fed stream. In the spring-fed stream, densities of functional groups increased downstream, with the exception of grazers and generalists. There were indications of more predictable changes along the lake-fed stream compared to the spring-fed one, which seemed more influenced by site-specific factors.