Open Access

ARTICLE

Null models for explaining macrophyte associations in lentic environments of the Araucanía region, Chile

Urrutia J¹, R Rivera^1,2, E Hauenstein¹, P De los Ríos¹

1 Escuela de Ciencias Ambientales, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Casilla 15-D. Chile.
2 Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160 C. Chile.

* Corresponding Author:Address Correspondence to: Jonathan Urrutia, e-mail:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2012, 81(all), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2012.81.007

Abstract

Macrophytes of inland waters are a group of great biological interest. Although lentic systems are ideal for their growth, their presence is not so evident in oligotrophic water bodies, proliferating largely in areas with some level of contamination. A useful tool to determine the presence of a regulatory factor in the composition of these and other biological communities is the use of null models. This analysis was applied based on the co-occurrence of species through a matrix of presence and absence, with the purpose of determining the presence of randomness in species associations. The three models tested, determined the presence of regulatory factors in the case of lagoons, whereas just only one lake showed the same result. We discussed aspects of the possible factors that are determining the macrophyte assemblage and topics on the floristic composition of these water bodies.

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