The distribution of aquatic invertebrate egg masses in relation to physical characteristics of oviposition sites at two Victorian upland streams

Abstract

1. Various physical variables were measured at rocks potentially used by lotic macroinvertebrates as oviposition sites at multiple locations on two occasions along the Acheron and Little Rivers, south-eastern Australia. The associations between these parameters and the presence/absence and abundance of aquatic insect egg masses were explored as well as the small-scale distribution of egg masses on individual rocks. 2. Physical features that characterise oviposition sites of 17 different aquatic taxa are presented. No obvious differences in patterns of oviposition site selectivity were apparent between multiple sampling times or locations. For some common taxa, multivariate analyses revealed ..