Benthic diatoms in western european streams with altitudes above 800 m: characterisation of the main assemblages and correspondence with ecoregions
Résumé
High altitude rivers in European mountains show a large diversity of benthic diatom assemblage. Diatoms were studied from rivers of the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and the Iberic system. The first aim of this study was to assess the importance of these ecoregions for diatoms compared to other environmental factors. To reduce the heterogeneity of the diatom assemblages due to the river continuum and also pollution. The second aim was to describe and to typify the main diatom assemblages of these European mountains.