ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Freshwater Science
Spatiotemporal Variation in Macroinvertebrate Community Structure and Its influencing factors in River Ecosystems: Lai Chi Wo Stream, Hong Kong
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology, Shenzhen, China
- 2Space Intelligence and Informatics Research Center, Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
- 3North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, China
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The spatial and temporal variation patterns of benthic species have received global 2 attention due to their important role in conserving river biodiversity and maintaining 3 environmental sustainability. Upon analyzing one-year macroinvertebrate data from 4 five sampling sites (A, B, C, D, and Z) along the river, from the upper reaches to the 5 lower reaches, we were able to evaluate the spatial and seasonal variations in the 6 macroinvertebrate community structure and examine the influences of river 7 environmental factors on macroinvertebrate composition within the Lai Chi Wo 8 (LCW) catchment in Hong Kong, China. The results revealed significant seasonal 9 variations in macroinvertebrate richness between the wet season and the dry season. 10 Among different sites, the macroinvertebrate community structures at sites B (middle 11 reach without farming influence) and C (one upstream tributary) were similar, while 12 the structure at site D, affected by seawater intrusion, differed from the others. 13 Moreover, Diptera and Ephemeroptera were found to be the dominant taxa in LCW, 14 and water depth and water conductivity were identified as the most important 15 environmental factors in controlling the distribution of macroinvertebrates. This 16 preliminary study offers valuable baseline insights into the spatial and seasonal 17 variations of macroinvertebrate community structure within the LCW catchment, 18 underscores the role of key environmental factors, and highlights the potential 19 influence of land-use. The findings establish a foundation for future research and 20 could be beneficial for the development of effective management strategies aimed at 21 conserving macroinvertebrate biodiversity in subtropical stream ecosystems.
Keywords: environmental factors, Hong Kong, Macroinvertebrate community structure, River ecosystems, Spatiotemporal variation
Received: 18 Aug 2025; Accepted: 02 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wang, Xu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qian Xu
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