Djuradj Milošević1*, Milica Stojković1, Dubravka Čerba3, Ana Petrović2, Momir Paunović4, Vladica Simić2*
Different aggregation approaches in the chironomid community and the threshold of acceptable information loss
1 Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Nis, Visegradska 33, 18000 Nis, Serbia
2 Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Radoja Domanovica 12, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
3 Department of Biology, University of J. J. Strossmayer in Osijek, Cara Hadrijana 8A, HR-31000 Osijek, Croatia
4Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”, University of Belgrade, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
*Correspondence to: Djuradj Milošević and Vladica Simić
E-mail: ;
Online resources
Appendix 1
Fig. S1Spearman’s correlation (ρ) values between the species-level matrix and each randomly aggregated matrix plotted against the corresponding lnϕ values. A dotted line indicates ϕlow sufficient to obtain results consistent with those obtained analyzing species-level data.
Appendix 2
Table S1Percentage of PERMANOVAs on random aggregated data consistent with those from species-level analyses, at gradient of aggregation levels (ϕ). Bold values represent the minimum number of surrogates (Gmin) and the corresponding lowest practicable aggregation level (ϕlow). Underlined values indicate the number of selected surrogates for BestAgg (GBestAgg) and the corresponding aggregation level for BestAgg (ϕBestAgg).
Number of surrogates (G) / Aggregation ratio (ϕ) / % PERMANOVAs consistent with species level103 / 0.90 / 100%
92 / 0.80 / 100%
81 / 0.71 / 100%
70 / 0.61 / 100%
59 / 0.51 / 100%
48 / 0.42 / 100%
37 / 0.32 / 100%
26 / 0.22 / 100%
17 / 0.14 / 99%
15 / 0.13 / 98%
4 / 0.03 / 59%
Table S2 Results of SIMPER analysis reporting the % contribution of taxa to assemblage dissimilarities between sites at different elevations (four categories: 1-up to 200 m.a.s.l., 2-from 200 to 500 m.a.s.l., 3-from 500 to 800 m.a.s.l. and 4-over 800 m.a.s.l.). Species with contributions higher than 3% in at least one pair-wise comparison are considered. The Average dissimilarities between assemblages are presented in brackets.
Taxa / 1 vs 2(85.54) / 1 vs 3
(91.46) / 2 vs 3
(88.07) / 1 vs 4
(93.81) / 2 vs 4
(89.27) / 3 vs 4
(85.88)
Chironomus bernensis / 3.48 / - / - / 3.87 / - / -
Chironomus riparius / 3.04 / - / - / - / 3.73 / -
Cricotopus bicinctus / 3.23 / - / - / 3.90 / - / -
Cricotopus triannulatus agg. / 10.39 / 8.90 / - / 12.86 / - / -
Epoicocladius ephemerae / - / - / - / 4.49 / 5.66 / 3.69
Microtendipes pedellus agg. / - / 5.01 / 4.01 / - / - / 4.40
Orthocladius (Euorthocladius)sp. / - / - / 3.23 / - / 4.22 / 4.37
Orthocladius (Orthocladius) spp. / 6.41 / 6.17 / 7.90 / 4.59 / 7.58 / 7.11
Parametriocnemus stylatus / 4.00 / 5.46 / 7.47 / 3.40 / 7.66 / 7.77
Paratendipes albimanus / - / 5.91 / 6.99 / - / - / 8.12
Paratrichocladius rufiventris / 4.24 / - / - / 3.57 / - / -
Paratrissocladius excerptus / - / - / 3.22 / - / - / 4.04
Polypedilum convictum / - / - / - / - / - / 3.07
Polypedilum scalaenum / 8.46 / 6.08 / 3.65 / 9.35 / 5.72 / -
Prodiamesa olivacea / - / - / - / 4.32 / 5.31 / 4.51
Rheocricotopus chalybeatus / 4.84 / 3.72 / - / 5.49 / - / -
Tanytarsus spp. / - / - / - / - / - / 3.04
Tvetenia bavarica / - / - / - / - / - / 4.00
Table S3 Set of surrogates selected by the BestAgg procedure in the Southern Morava river system. Relevance is reported according to the SIMPER analysis (See Table S2). In the Easiness column, Y stands for easy identification and N for difficult identification (requires slide mounting). The Resemblance column contains aggregation criteria or NA if they did not apply. The number in brackets indicates the number of species included in the obtained surrogate or taxa. Priority was determined following the procedure described by Bevilacqua et al. (2013).
Family / Taxa / Relevance / Easiness / Resemblance / Priority / BestAgg surrogatesChironomidae(114) / Chironomus bernensis Kloetzli 1973 / Simper / N / Easier at genus level: aggregated with other 4 congenerics in Chironomus / Medium / Chironomus (5)
Chironomus riparius Meigen 1804 / Simper / N / Easier at genus level: aggregated with other 4 congenerics in Chironomus / Medium
Cricotopus bicinctus (Meigen 1818) / Simper / N / Easier at genus level: aggregated with other 4 congenerics in Cricotopus / Medium / Cricotopus (5)
Cricotopus triannulatus agg. sensu Moller Pillot 1984 / Simper / N / Easier at genus level: aggregated with other 4 congenerics in Cricotopus / Medium
Epoicocladius ephemerae (Kieffer 1924) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Epoicocladius ephemerae (Kieffer 1924)
Microtendipes pedellus agg. sensu Moller Pillot (1984) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Microtendipes pedellus agg. sensu Moller Pillot (1984)
Orthocladius (Euorthocladius)sp. / Simper / Y / NA / High / Orthocladius (Euorthocladius)sp.
Orthocladius (Orthocladius) spp. / Simper / Y / NA / High / Orthocladius (Orthocladius) spp.
Parametriocnemus stylatus (Spaerck 1923) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Parametriocnemus stylatus (Spaerck 1923)
Paratendipes albimanus (Meigen 1818) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Paratendipes albimanus (Meigen 1818)
Paratrichocladius rufiventris (Meigen 1830) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Paratrichocladius rufiventris (Meigen 1830)
Paratrissocladius excerptus (Walker 1856) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Paratrissocladius excerptus (Walker 1856)
Prodiamesa olivacea (Meigen 1818) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Prodiamesa olivacea (Meigen 1818)
Polypedilum convictum (Walker 1856) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Polypedilum convictum (Walker 1856)
Polypedilum scalaenum (Schrank 1803) / Simper / Y / NA / High / Polypedilum scalaenum (Schrank 1803)
Rheocricotopus chalybeatus (Edwards 1929) / Simper / N / Easier at genus level: aggregated with other 2 congenerics in Rheocricotopus / Medium / Rheocricotopus (3)
Tanytarsus spp. / Simper / Y / NA / High / Tanytarsus spp.
Tvetenia bavarica (Goetghebuer 1934) / Simper / N / Easier at genus level: aggregated with other 2 congenerics in Tvetenia / Medium / Tvetenia(3)
Other chironomids / Not relevant / N / Very easy at family level:
Aggregated in Chironomidae / Low / Chironomidae(88)