Die Meiofauna des Bodensee-Litorals im Einflussbereich der Schussenmündung

The dissertation describes the meiobenthic distribution within the Schussen River Mouth at Lake Constance. Main topics were the seasonality and the influence of river-borne benthic particulate matter on the benthic community compared with littoral sites without the influence of the Schussen River. In detail the nematode community have been analysed, which dominated the meiofauna. 106 nematode species were found, thus making the investigations area to one of the most diverse freshwater habitats described in literature so far. The nematode diversity was higher when influence of river and wind (via waves) were moderate. This outcome supported the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (Connel, 1978)