Community patterns of benthic macroinvertebrates in streams in relation to temperature variation using the Self-Organizing Map

Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected from 2,000 sample sites in the major river basins in South Korea from 1997 to 2002. In total 5 phyla, 9 class, 23 order, 111 family and 727 species of benthic macroinvertebrate were recorded during the survey period. Communities from the unpolluted sites (BMWP ≥ 45) were selected and were trained by the Self-Organizing Map (SOM). The benthic macroinvertebrates were accordingly clustered based on topography of river basins in a larger scale, and subsequently according to temperature variation within the river basins in a smaller scale. The scope of species distribution was also illustrated through visualization of the SOM. Some selected species appeared to be locally adaptable while other species were widely distributed across the river basins. Patterning communities based on the SOM was efficient in monitoring species distribution and adaptability of the species in response to temperature variation.