Aquatic macrophytes may have a significant effect on associated communities such as epiphytes and macroinvertebrates, which through the structural complexity of habitat, provide shelter, resources, and interspecific interactions. We tested the hypothesis that the structural complexity of macrophytes positively modifies epiphytes and macroinvertebrates and that the interspecific interactions of epiphytes and macrophytes positively influence macroinvertebrates by synergism of epiphyte availability and increased habitat complexity. The macrophytes presented different structural complexities, ranging from low (Cyperus articulatus), medium (Nymphaea pulchella) to high complexity (Eichhornia crassipes and Ludwigia helminthorrhiza). The richness, diversity, and biomass of epiphytes presented a significant difference and positive relationship with the increase of the structural complexity of the macrophytes. The synergism between the structural complexity of the macrophytes and the epiphytic biomass (r² = 0.37; p = 0.0002), increased the biomass of macroinvertebrates (r² = 0.47; p = 0.003). The functional traits of the epiphytes were directly related to the morphology of the macrophytes with the unicellular, pedunculated, and firmly adhered dominating. The dominance of these traits indicates the absence or low disturbance (e.g., rain) in the studied site. The responses of the functional characteristics of the epiphytes are important to understand ecosystem functioning and dynamics. Therefore, we conclude that epiphytes showed a positive relationship with the structural complexity of the macrophytes. Moreover, macroinvertebrates showed a positive relationship with the increased macrophyte morphological complexity and increased biomass of epiphytes. The management of macrophytes with different structural complexities can be a strategy to recover the biodiversity in tropical aquatic ecosystems.

大型水生植物可能对附生植物和大型无脊椎动物等相关群落产生重大影响，它们通过栖息地的结构复杂性提供庇护所、资源和种间相互作用。我们检验了以下假设：大型植物的结构复杂性对附生植物和大型无脊椎动物产生积极影响，并且附生植物和大型植物的种间相互作用通过附生植物可用性和栖息地复杂性增加的协同作用对大型无脊椎动物产生积极影响。大型植物表现出不同的结构复杂性，从低（Cyperus articulatus）、中（Nymphaea pulchella）到高度复杂（Eichhornia crassipes和Ludwigia helminthorrhiza）。附生植物的丰富度、多样性和生物量随着大型植物结构复杂性的增加呈现显着差异和正相关。大型植物的结构复杂性和附生生物量之间的协同作用（r ²  = 0.37；p  = 0.0002），增加了大型无脊椎动物的生物量（r ²  = 0.47；p = 0.003）。附生植物的功能性状与大型植物的形态直接相关，以单细胞、有蒂、附着牢固为主。这些性状的优势表明研究地点没有干扰或干扰（例如，下雨）。附生植物功能特征的响应对于了解生态系统功能和动态非常重要。因此，我们得出结论，附生植物与大型植物的结构复杂性呈正相关。此外，大型无脊椎动物与大型植物形态复杂性的增加和附生植物生物量的增加呈正相关。管理具有不同结构复杂性的大型植物可以成为恢复热带水生生态系统生物多样性的一种策略。