The effect of hydrological connectivity on water beetles fauna in water bodies within the floodplain of a lowland river (Neman river, Belarus)

The middle course of the Neman River is the habitat of 120 water beetle species. Water beetles were most abundant in the Neman River, its major tributaries and oxbow lakes. They consisted of four synecological groups: rheobiontic and rheophilic organisms, type “a” and “b” stagnobionts. The diverse types of aquatic environments constitute faunal centers which, in addition to the specific and dominant Coleopteran populations, also feature migrational elements. The presence of close relations between the fauna of different environments indicates that they form a single, faunistically integrated hydrological system.