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communities where benthic invertebrates dominated. <br />Mean water column invertebrate densities L'1 were highest in <br />the open water followed by the alkali bulrush, bulrush, <br />backwater, and river communities (Figure 19). The river <br />community was nearly devoid of water column invertebrates. <br />Benthic invertebrate densities were highest in the bulrush <br />followed by the open water, alkali bulrush, backwater and river <br />communities. Wetland communities produced greater numbers of <br />water column and benthic organisms than did the river <br />communities. The importance of benthos to overall river and <br />backwater invertebrate community production and biomass cannot be <br />emphasized enough as these invertebrates are much more numerous <br />than water column invertebrates. <br />Cladocera were the most abundant water column invertebrates <br />in the open water communities while Copepoda were most abundant <br />in the alkali bulrush communities (Figure 20). chironomids, <br />insects other than chironomids, and all other invertebrates (i.e. <br />Gastropods, Nematoda, Cnidaria, and Protozoa) also reached their <br />greatest densities in alkali bulrush communities. Open, water, <br />alkali bulrush and river communities were represented by all <br />taxonomic groups (not apparent due to graph scale in the river <br />community). The bulrush community lacked the other invertebrates <br />group and the backwater lacked other insects besides chironomids <br />and other invertebrates. Figure 20 emphasizes the difference in <br />water column invertebrate densities between off-river wetland <br />communities and the backwater and river communities. <br />35 <br />