Species interactions and community structure

Abstract

The fact that the Chironomidae are extremely species-rich and occur in a wide variety of habitats points to their varied roles in ecosystems and the possibilities of interaction with different kinds of organism. This opens up many opportunities for community-orientated studies involving the Chironomidae but ecological research on chironomids has largely been dominated by autoecological approaches with a conspicuous lack of community perspectives, apart from typological studies where chironomid faunas were associated with some environmental characteristics. Studies on species interactions and community structure involving chironomids are limited in number and often lack analytical rigour, though the situation is steadily improving. This chapter reviews community aspects of the Chironomidae including predator—prey relations, host—parasite/commensal relations, competitive/non-competitive relations, the roles of disturbance and stochasticity, and community assembly.