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Vendrell-Puigmitja L, Proia L, Espinosa C, Barral-Fraga L, Cañedo-Argüelles M, Osorio V, Casas C, Llenas L, Abril M. Hypersaline mining effluents affect the structure and function of stream biofilm. Sci Total Environ 2022; 843:156966. [PMID: 35760177 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The salinisation of freshwater ecosystems is a global environmental problem that threatens biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and human welfare. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential impact of a realistic salinity gradient on the structure and functioning of freshwater biofilms. The salinity gradient was based on the real ion concentration of a mining effluent from an abandoned mine in Germany. We exposed biofilm from a pristine stream to 5 increasing salinities (3 to 100 g L-1) under controlled conditions in artificial streams for 21 days. We evaluated its functional (photosynthetic efficiency, nutrient uptake, and microbial respiration) and structural responses (community composition, algal biomass and diatom, cyanobacteria and green algae metrics) over time. Then we compared their responses with an unexposed biofilm used as control. The functionality and structure of the biofilm exposed to the different salinities significantly decreased after short-term and long-term exposure, respectively. The community composition shifted to a new stable state where the most tolerant species increased their abundances. At the same time, we observed an increase in the community tolerance (measured as Pollution-Induced Community Tolerance) along the salinity gradient. This study provides relevant information on the salt threshold concentrations that can substantially damage algal cells (i.e., between 15 and 30 g L-1). The results provide new insights regarding the response and adaptation of stream biofilm to salinity and its potential implications at the ecosystem level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidia Vendrell-Puigmitja
- BETA Tech Center, TECNIO Network, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Ctra de Roda 70, 08500 Vic, Spain
| | - Lorenzo Proia
- BETA Tech Center, TECNIO Network, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Ctra de Roda 70, 08500 Vic, Spain.
| | - Carmen Espinosa
- BETA Tech Center, TECNIO Network, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Ctra de Roda 70, 08500 Vic, Spain; Aigües de Vic S.A., Carrer de la Riera, 08500 Vic, Spain
| | - Laura Barral-Fraga
- LDAR24-Laboratoire Départemental d'Analyse et de Recherche de la Dordogne, 24660 Coulounieix-Chamiers, France; Grup de recerca en Ecologia aquàtica continental (GRECO), Departament de Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Girona, 17071 Girona, Spain
| | - Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles
- Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain; Grup de recerca FEHM (Freshwater Ecology, Hydrology and Management), Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua (IdRA), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Victoria Osorio
- Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain; Department of Chemistry, University of Girona, Maria Aurèlia Capmany 69, 17003 Girona, Spain
| | - Carme Casas
- BETA Tech Center, TECNIO Network, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Ctra de Roda 70, 08500 Vic, Spain
| | - Laia Llenas
- BETA Tech Center, TECNIO Network, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Ctra de Roda 70, 08500 Vic, Spain
| | - Meritxell Abril
- BETA Tech Center, TECNIO Network, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Ctra de Roda 70, 08500 Vic, Spain
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Cunillera-montcusí D, Beklioğlu M, Cañedo-argüelles M, Jeppesen E, Ptacnik R, Amorim CA, Arnott SE, Berger SA, Brucet S, Dugan HA, Gerhard M, Horváth Z, Langenheder S, Nejstgaard JC, Reinikainen M, Striebel M, Urrutia-cordero P, Vad CF, Zadereev E, Matias M. Freshwater salinisation: a research agenda for a saltier world. Trends Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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Abstract
Salinization of freshwater is occurring throughout the world, affecting freshwater biota that inhabit rivers, streams, ponds, marshes and lakes. There are many freshwater insects, and these animals are important for ecosystem health. These insects have evolved physiological mechanisms to maintain their internal salt and water balance based on a freshwater environment that has comparatively little salt. In these habitats, insects must counter the loss of salts and dilution of their internal body fluids by sequestering salts and excreting water. Most of these insects can tolerate salinization of their habitats to a certain level; however, when exposed to salinization they often exhibit markers of stress and impaired development. An understanding of the physiological mechanisms for controlling salt and water balance in freshwater insects, and how these are affected by salinization, is needed to predict the consequences of salinization for freshwater ecosystems. Recent research in this area has addressed the whole-organism response, but the purpose of this Review is to summarize the effects of salinization on the osmoregulatory physiology of freshwater insects at the molecular to organ level. Research of this type is limited, and pursuing such lines of inquiry will improve our understanding of the effects of salinization on freshwater insects and the ecosystems they inhabit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney Silver
- Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Andrew Donini
- Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
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Le TDH, Schreiner VC, Kattwinkel M, Schäfer RB. Invertebrate turnover along gradients of anthropogenic salinisation in rivers of two German regions. Sci Total Environ 2021; 753:141986. [PMID: 32911168 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2020] [Revised: 08/22/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Rising salinity in freshwater ecosystems can affect community composition. Previous studies mainly focused on changes in freshwater communities along gradients of absolute levels of electrical conductivity (EC). However, both geogenic and anthropogenic drivers contribute to the EC level and taxa may regionally be adapted to geogenic EC levels. Therefore, we examined the turnover in freshwater invertebrates along gradients of anthropogenic EC change in two regions of Germany. The anthropogenic change of EC was estimated as the difference between the measured EC and the modeled background EC driven by geochemical and climate variables. Turnover in freshwater invertebrates (β-diversity) was estimated using the Jaccard index (JI). We found that invertebrate turnover between EC gradient categories is generally greater than 47%, with a maximum of approximately 70% in sites with a more than 0.4 mS cm-1 change compared to the baseline (i.e. no difference between predicted and measured EC). The invertebrates Amphinemura sp., Anomalopterygella chauviniana and Leuctra sp. were reliable indicators of low EC change, whereas Potamopyrgus antipodarum indicated sites with the highest EC change. Variability within categories of EC change was slightly lower than within categories of absolute EC. Elevated nutrient concentrations that are often linked to land use may have contributed to the observed change of the invertebrate richness and can exacerbate effects of EC on communities in water. Overall, our study suggests that the change in EC, quantified as the difference between measured EC and modeled background EC, can be used to examine the response of invertebrate communities to increasing anthropogenic salinity concentrations in rivers. However, due to the strong correlation between EC change and observed EC in our study regions, the response to these two variables was very similar. Further studies in areas where EC change and observed EC are less correlated are required. In addition, such studies should consider the change in specific ions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trong Dieu Hien Le
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829 Landau in der Pfalz, Germany; Faculty of Resources & Environment, University of Thu Dau Mot, 06 Tran Van On street, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong, Viet Nam.
| | - Verena C Schreiner
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829 Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Mira Kattwinkel
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829 Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Ralf B Schäfer
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829 Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
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Mangahas RS, Murray RL, McCauley SJ. Chronic Exposure to High Concentrations of Road Salt Decreases the Immune Response of Dragonfly Larvae. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Buczyńska E, Buczyński P. Survival under anthropogenic impact: the response of dragonflies (Odonata), beetles (Coleoptera) and caddisflies (Trichoptera) to environmental disturbances in a two-way industrial canal system (central Poland). PeerJ 2019; 6:e6215. [PMID: 30643685 PMCID: PMC6330038 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2018] [Accepted: 12/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological metrics and assemblages of three orders of aquatic insects (Odonata, Coleoptera and Trichoptera—OCT) in an industrial canal system affected by dredging were studied. Five sites (a river as a control site and canals) along the Vistula River in Central Poland were sampled during six sampling periods (2011 and 2013). Canonical correspondence analyses (CCA) was used to assess the influence of environmental variables on the distribution of 54 insect species in the following system of habitats—a river feeding the canals, river-fed inlet canals and outlet canals with cooling waters. Additionally, before and after control impact (BACI) was used to test for the impact of canal dredging in 2011 on the insect response metrics. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis differentiated insect assemblages of the three habitats and similarity percentage (SIMPER) indicated the species most responsible for the faunistic dissimilarities. Temperature was found to be a key factor governing the presence of insects in the outlet canals with cooling water. CCAs revealed that electrolytic conductivity (EC) and salinity had the greatest influence on the OCT fauna in the river and the inlet canals, whilst it was the dissolved oxygen and the level of development of aquatic plants that proved most important in the outlet canals. Modified ANOVAs showed that dredging significantly affected the mean species richness and the dominance in the canals. The changes in OCT species composition were highly informative. The comparison between tolerance patterns of the OCT orders against the five parameters (temperature, EC, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH and current) revealed that caddisflies are the most sensitive group, followed by Coleoptera while Odonata proved the most resistant. Dragonflies have the greatest potential to serve as bioindicators of industrially heated waters. The OCT fauna responded specifically to different environmental factors and stressors, it is strongly recommended to track the responses on different levels, not only metrics, but above all, species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edyta Buczyńska
- Department of Zoology, Animal Ecology and Wildlife Management, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland
| | - Paweł Buczyński
- Department of Zoology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University Lublin, Lublin, Poland
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Cañedo-Argüelles M, Kefford B, Schäfer R. Salt in freshwaters: causes, effects and prospects - introduction to the theme issue. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 374:rstb.2018.0002. [PMID: 30509904 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/25/2018] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans are globally increasing the salt concentration of freshwaters (i.e. freshwater salinization), leading to significant effects at the population, community and ecosystem level. The present theme issue focuses on priority research questions and delivers results that contribute to shaping the future research agenda on freshwater salinization as well as fostering our capacity to manage salinization. The issue is structured along five topics: (i) the estimation of future salinity and evaluation of the relative contribution of the different drivers; (ii) the physiological responses of organisms to alterations in ion concentrations with a specific focus on the osmophysiology of freshwater insects and the responses of different organisims to seawater intrusion; (iii) the impact of salinization on ecosystem functioning, also considering the connections between riparian and stream ecosystems; (iv) the role of context in moderating the response to salinization. The contributions scrutinise the role of additional stressors, biotic interactions, the identify of the ions and their ratios, as well as of the biogeographic and evolutionary context; and (v) the public discourse on salinization and recommendations for management and regulation. In this paper we introduce the general background of salinization, outline research gaps and report key findings from the contributions to this theme issue.This article is part of the theme issue 'Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles
- Grup de recerca FEHM (Freshwater Ecology, Hydrology and Management), Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciència Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ben Kefford
- Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
| | - Ralf Schäfer
- Department of Quantitative Landscape Ecology, University Koblenz-Landau, Fortstr. 7, 76829 Landau, Germany
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Schulz CJ, Cañedo-Argüelles M. Lost in translation: the German literature on freshwater salinization. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 374:rstb.2018.0007. [PMID: 30509909 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human activities have globally increased and altered the ion concentration of freshwater ecosystems. The proliferation of potash mines in Germany (especially intense in the early 1900s) constitutes a good example of it. The effluents and runoff coming from potash mines led to extreme salt concentrations (e.g. 72 g l-1 of total salt content, approx. 149 mS cm-1) in surrounding rivers and streams, causing ecosystem degradation (e.g. massive algal blooms and fish kills). This promoted scientific research that was mostly published in German, thereby being neglected by the wide scientific community. Here, the findings of the German literature on freshwater salinization are discussed in the light of current knowledge. German studies revealed that at similar ion concentrations potassium (K+) can be the most toxic ion to freshwater organisms, whereas calcium (Ca2+) could have a toxicity ameliorating effect. Also, they showed that salinization could lead to biodiversity loss, major shifts in the composition of aquatic communities (e.g. dominance of salt-tolerant algae, proliferation of invasive species) and alter organic matter processing. The biological degradation caused by freshwater salinization related to potash mining has important management implications, e.g. it could prevent many European rivers and streams from reaching the good ecological status demanded by the Water Framework Directive. Within this context, German publications show several examples of salinity thresholds and biological indices that could be useful to monitor and regulate salinization (i.e. developing legally enforced salinity and ion-specific standards). They also provide potential management techniques (i.e. brine collection and disposal) and some estimates of the economic costs of freshwater salinization. Overall, the German literature on freshwater salinization provides internationally relevant information that has rarely been cited by the English literature. We suggest that the global editorial and scientific community should take action to make important findings published in non-English literature more widely available.This article is part of the theme issue 'Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles
- Freshwater Ecology and Management (FEM) Research Group, Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua (IdRA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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Cormier SM, Zheng L, Hayslip G, Flaherty CM. A field-based characterization of conductivity in areas of minimal alteration: A case example in the Cascades of northwestern United States. Sci Total Environ 2018; 633:1657-1666. [PMID: 29472136 PMCID: PMC6880308 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2017] [Revised: 01/14/2018] [Accepted: 02/02/2018] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
The concentration of salts in streams is increasing world-wide making freshwater a declining resource. Developing thresholds for freshwater with low specific conductivity (SC), a measure of dissolved ions in water, may protect high quality resources that are refugia for aquatic life and that dilute downstream waters. In this case example, methods are illustrated for estimating protective levels for streams with low SC. The Cascades in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America was selected for the case study because a geophysical model indicated that the SC of freshwater streams was likely to be very low. Also, there was an insufficient range in the SC data to accurately derive a criterion using the 2011, US Environmental Protection Agency field-based extirpation concentration distribution method. Instead, background and a regression model was used to estimate chronic and acute SC levels that could extirpate 5% of benthic invertebrate genera. Background SC was estimated at the 25th centile (33μS/cm) of the measured data and used as the independent variable in a least squares empirical background-to-criteria (B-C) model. Because no comparison could be made with effect levels estimated from a paired SC and biological data set from the Cascades, the lower 50% prediction limit (PL) was identified as an example chronic water quality criterion (97μS/cm). The maximum exposure threshold was estimated at the 90th centile SC of streams meeting the chronic SC level. The example acute SC level was 190μS/cm. Because paired aquatic life and SC data are often sparse, the B-C method is useful for developing SC criteria for other systems with limited data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan M Cormier
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA.
| | - Lei Zheng
- Tetra Tech, Inc., 10711 Red Run Blvd., Suite 105, Owings Mills, MD 21117, USA
| | - Gretchen Hayslip
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10-Pacific Northwest, Office of Environmental Review and Assessment, Environmental Characterization Unit, 1200 Sixth Ave, Suite 900, Seattle, WA 98101, USA
| | - Colleen M Flaherty
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology, Health and Ecological Criteria Division, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W., Washington, DC 20460, USA
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Cañedo-Argüelles M, Brucet S, Carrasco S, Flor-Arnau N, Ordeix M, Ponsá S, Coring E. Effects of potash mining on river ecosystems: An experimental study. Environ Pollut 2017; 224:759-770. [PMID: 28057374 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.12.072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2016] [Revised: 12/23/2016] [Accepted: 12/25/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
In spite of being a widespread activity causing the salinization of rivers worldwide, the impact of potash mining on river ecosystems is poorly understood. Here we used a mesocosm approach to test the effects of a salt effluent coming from a potash mine on algal and aquatic invertebrate communities at different concentrations and release modes (i.e. press versus pulse releases). Algal biomass was higher in salt treatments than in control (i.e. river water), with an increase in salt-tolerant diatom species. Salt addition had an effect on invertebrate community composition that was mainly related with changes in the abundance of certain taxa. Short (i.e. 48 h long) salt pulses had no significant effect on the algal and invertebrate communities. The biotic indices showed a weak response to treatment, with only the treatment with the highest salt concentration causing a consistent (i.e. according to all indices) reduction in the ecological quality of the streams and only by the end of the study. Overall, the treatment's effects were time-dependent, being more clear by the end of the study. Our results suggest that potash mining has the potential to significantly alter biological communities of surrounding rivers and streams, and that specific biotic indices to detect salt pollution should be developed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles
- Aquatic Ecology Group, BETA Tecnio Centre, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Catalonia, Spain; Grup de Recerca Freshwater Ecology and Management (FEM), Departament d'Ecologia, Facultat de Biologia, Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
| | - Sandra Brucet
- Aquatic Ecology Group, BETA Tecnio Centre, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Catalonia, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREA, Barcelona 08010, Spain
| | - Sergi Carrasco
- Aquatic Ecology Group, BETA Tecnio Centre, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Núria Flor-Arnau
- Grup de Recerca Freshwater Ecology and Management (FEM), Departament de Biologia Vegetal (Unitat de Botànica), Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Marc Ordeix
- CERM, Center for the Study of Mediterranean Rivers, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Passeig del Ter 2, 08560 Manlleu, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Sergio Ponsá
- Aquatic Ecology Group, BETA Tecnio Centre, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Catalonia, Spain
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