Distribution of benthic diatoms in U.S. rivers in relation to conductivity and ionic composition

SUMMARY 1. We quantified the relationships between diatom relative abundance and water conductivity and ionic composition, using a dataset of 3239 benthic diatom samples collected from 1109 river sites throughout the U.S.A. [U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program dataset]. This dataset provided a unique opportunity to explore the autecology of freshwater diatoms over a broad range of environmental conditions. 2. Conductivity ranged from 10 to 14 500 l Sc m )1 , but most of the rivers had moderate conductivity (interquartile range 180‐618 l Sc m )1 ). Calcium and bicarbonate were the dominant ions. Ionic composition, however, varied greatly because of the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors. 3. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and Monte Carlo permutation tests showed that

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