Abstract

The amphipod Hyalella patagonica is widespread in Andean inland waters in Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia, this species inhabits in littoral zones of rivers, streams, lakes and lagoons, that have mainly aggregated patterns of spatial distribution in according to the literature. The aim of the present study is to apply different kinds of aggregation models to explain the spatial distribution of H. patagonica collected in a North Andean Patagonian stream. It was applied different kinds of dispersion coefficients to understand H. patagonica spatial pattern. The results revealed that H. patagonica population has an aggregated distribution, but not necessarily a negative binomial distribution which is a frequent probabilistic model associated with aggregated spatial distribution. The results would be similar to patterns observed for Hyalella genus in Patagonian inland waters.