The composition, abundance and species diversity of Trichoptera immatures was studied in 12 tributaries of Suiá-Miçú River Basin, a mosaic of wetlands, streams and rivers tributary of the Xingu River in the Cerrado-Amazonian Forest transition zone in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The varying sizes, flow types and conservation levels of the tributaries were sampled through three periods between 2007 and 2008 by the use of fixed transects along the environments margins. A total of 867 larvae was collected (divided in seven families, 17 genera, 49 species/morphospecies) with the most abundant and rich families being Hydropsychidae and Leptoceridae and the most abundant species Leptonema sparsum (n = 370). There has been loss of species richness in impacted, large and lentic environments. Composition variations related to the flow, the vegetation type and the interaction between conservation levels and flow was detected. Conservation levels, width and the quantitative habitat integrity index (HII) did not influence the Trichoptera composition. These results may encourage further investigation of impact effects on aquatic insect compositions and pattern of distribution in the transition area between the Cerrado and the Amazonian Forest.
Diversity; larvae; stream ecology; biomonitoring; Xingu River
