| The present study was conducted to assess the effect of rainbow trout introduction on benthic invertebrate communities, stratified as epibenthos and infauna. Two main questions are explored: 1) do the trout-invaded streams show a different community structure than the streams with autochthonous fish?, and 2) does the presence of trout affect differentially the epibenthos and the infauna? Epibenthic and infaunal samples, drift samples and fish stomach content were sampled four times from three stations to assess the impact of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) on the invertebrate aquatic fauna. Only one species of native fish was recorded in the studied sites, the siluriform Trichomycterus corduvense. Both fish species were found always in allopatry. The... |
