Effect of Didymosphenia geminata coverage on the phytobenthic community in an Andean basin of Chile

Table 1 Mean values and standard deviation of the most significant environmental variables according to the multivariate linear model. Values of the River habitat index (IHF), D. geminata coverage, coverage categories described by Diaz et al. (2013) and the significant Mann-Whitney U test (: p < 0.001, : p < 0.01; : p < 0.05; ns: non-significance)

	Site	Month	Cond μS/cm	Sig-Dif (M-W)	Temp C	Sig-Dif (M-W)	TP μg/L	Sig-Dif (M-W)	IHF	D. geminata %	Coverage categories
Non-invaded	LIU	Dec	50.90 ± 1.10		18.93 ± 0.63		3.27 ± 0.05		74	0
Invaded	MAR	Dec	49.35 ± 0.55	**	16.15 ± 0.15	**	2.68 ± 0.04	***	60	91 ± 4.47	Massive growth
	TAL	Dec	53.62 ± 0.72	**	13.33 ± 0.08	**	3.15 ± 0.04	*	64	48 ± 3.96	Medium growth
	LOL	Dec	57.70 ± 0.46	**	17.37 ± 0.20	**	2.67 ± 0.02	***	64	65 ± 5.04	High growth
Non- invaded	LIU	Jan	52.70 ± 2.00		21.45 ± 0.78		5.15 ± 0.03		79	0
Invaded	MAR	Jan	45.53 ± 1.40	**	20.75 ± 0.49	*	2.30 ± 0.01	***	60	87 ± 5.15	Massive growth
	TAL	Jan	52.78 ± 0.44	*	16.00 ± 0.20	**	1.66 ± 0.04	***	61	29 ± 5.42	Medium growth
	LOL	Jan	58.68 ± 0.56	**	18.63 ± 0.21	**	2.73 ± 0.01	***	60	57 ± 5.56	High growth
Non-invaded	LIU	Feb	55.20 ± 1.20		15.42 ± 2.30		4.76 ± 0.03		77	0
Invaded	MAR	Feb	50.33 ± 1.03	**	14.48 ± 0.21	**	4.17 ± 0.04	***	58	72 ± 9.89	High growth
	TAL	Feb	59.33 ± 0.82	**	15.47 ± 0.10	ns	2.51 ± 0.01	***	68	13 ± 3.95	Absent
	LOL	Feb	65.50 ± 2.43	**	14.05 ± 0.20	**	4.37 ± 0.01	***	63	27 ± 7.88	Medium growth
Non-invaded	LIU	Mar	52.00 ± 0.01		13.26 ± 3.00		1.69 ± 0.01		81	0
Invaded	MAR	Mar	48.50 ± 1.38	**	13.03 ± 0.35	**	1.63 ± 0.04	Ns	67	39 ± 8.67	Medium growth
	TAL	Mar	54.67 ± 0.52	**	9.24 ± 0.03	**	1.35 ± 0.02	***	72	4 ± 3.37	Absent
	LOL	Mar	60.50 ± 0.55	**	9.89 ± 0.03	**	1.39 ± 0.03	***	69	12 ± 5.37	Absent

ISSN: 0717-6317