Species richness of macrozoobenthos, especially chironomid communities, in the littoral zone of some Finnish lakes

The species richness increased with the area sampled and the number of individuals studied in the oligotrophic, clear-water Lakes Pääjärvi and Inarijärvi, while five lakes sampled by the same methods showed a strong correlation between the abundance of individuals and species richness and between biomass and species richness. Total phosphorus and water colour seem not to explain the variation in species richness. The results regarding the whole macrofauna and the chironomids alone were parallel.