The role of salinity in the selection of biological traits of freshwater invertebrates.
Résumé
Salinity exerts significant pressure on freshwater faunas living in slightly salted water (i.e. water with salinity < 3g L-1). Changes in seven biological and physiological characteristics of freshwater taxa belonging to natural invertebrate communities observed along a salinity gradient wer investigated. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled from four stations on the Meurthe River, a six-order stream in northeastern France with a gradient ranging in concentrations from 0.21 g L-1 to 2.60 g L-1 of total dissolved solids over a distance of only 19 km.