The main topic of dissertation thesis was diversity of benthic invertebrates and factors influence their diversity. One of the objectives was to determine species composition of the macroinvertebrate communities. We obtained macroinvertebrates from 44 samples ponds in Tatra Mts.. A total of 76 taxons were determined. All identified taxonomic groups (Acarina, Turbellaria, Bivalvia, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Heteroptera, Coleoptera, Trichoptera and Diptera) were represented by species common in the Tatra Mts. This part of the work offers a review of benthic invertebrates and complements the first comprehensive checklist of benthic macroinvertebrates of high altitude ponds of the area – NOVIKMEC et al. (2015) and extends it to 18 new taxa.Ponds have been long regarded as smaller versions of larger lakes. We evaluated the differences between 14 ponds (average size 0,03 ha) and 6 lakes (average size 1 ha) in terms of abundance, communities composition and α, β, γ diversity in relatively homogeneous environment of the Veľká Studená Valley. We showed that ponds and lakes significantly differ in abundance and composition of bethic communities. Although, ponds have a lower α diversity than lakes and higher β and γ diversity, these differences were not significant. Apparently, the diversity threshold between ponds and lakes lies higher than at the intersection of 0,03 ha and 1 ha. Nevertheless, we consider ponds and lakes as systems with significantly different community structure.Based on metacommunity theory, we assessed a role of local and regional factors in shaping macroinvertebrate communities. Our results showed the prevalence of local environmental conditions in structuring of macroinvertebrates communities which might be attributable to the species-sorting model. Influence of the dispersal on short distances, expected under the mass-effect model, was observed only in the case of hydrologically connected ponds. The importance of dispersal or its limitation, logically increased with increasing spatial scale. We have confirmed that even in relatively simple communities of well-adapted species of high altitude lakes, local environmental conditions have dominant influence.