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Mai Y, Wang Y, Geng T, Peng S, Lai Z, Wang X, Li H. A systematic toxicologic study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on aquatic organisms via food-web bioaccumulation. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 929:172362. [PMID: 38649047 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172362] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Pollution-induced declines in fishery resources restrict the sustainable development of fishery. As a kind of typical environmental pollutant, the mechanism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) facilitating fishery resources declines needs to be fully illustrated. To determine how PAHs have led to declines in fishery resources, a systematic toxicologic analysis of the effects of PAHs on aquatic organisms via food-web bioaccumulation was performed in the Pearl River and its estuary. Overall, PAH bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms was correlated with the trophic levels along food-web, exhibiting as significant positive correlations were observed between PAHs concentration and the trophic levels of fishes in the Pearl River Estuary. Additionally, waterborne PAHs exerted significant direct effects on dietary organisms (P < 0.05), and diet-borne PAHs subsequently exhibited significant direct effects on fish (P < 0.05). However, an apparent block effect was found in dietary organisms (e.g., zooplankton) where 33.49 % of the total system throughput (TST) was retained at trophic level II, exhibiting as the highest PAHs concentration, bioaccumulation factor (BAF), and biomagnification factor (BMF) of ∑15PAHs in zooplankton were at least eight-fold greater than those in fishes in both the Pearl River and its estuary, thereby waterborne PAHs exerted either direct or indirect effects on fishes that ultimately led to food-web simplification. Regardless of the block effect of dietary organisms, a general toxic effect of PAHs on aquatic organisms was observed, e.g., Phe and BaP exerted lethal effects on phytoplankton Chlorella pyrenoidosa and zooplankton Daphnia magna, and decreased reproduction in fishes Danio rerio and Megalobrama hoffmanni via activating the NOD-like receptors (NLRs) signaling pathway. Consequently, an assembled aggregate exposure pathway for PAHs revealed that increases in waterborne PAHs led to bioaccumulation of PAHs in aquatic organisms along food-web, and this in turn decreased the reproductive ability of fishes, thus causing decline in fishery resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongzhan Mai
- National Agricultural Scientific Observing and Experimental Station for Fisheries Resources and Environment, Guangzhou, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Fishery Resources and Environment in the Middle and Lower Reaches of Pearl River, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control for Aquatic Invasive Alien Species, Fishery Ecological Environment Monitoring Center of Pearl River Basin, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Immunology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou 510380, China
| | - Yunfan Wang
- Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine Greater Bay Area, Zhongshan 528437, China
| | - Tuo Geng
- Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine Greater Bay Area, Zhongshan 528437, China
| | - Songyao Peng
- Pearl River Water Resources Research Institute, Guangzhou 510611, China
| | - Zini Lai
- National Agricultural Scientific Observing and Experimental Station for Fisheries Resources and Environment, Guangzhou, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Fishery Resources and Environment in the Middle and Lower Reaches of Pearl River, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control for Aquatic Invasive Alien Species, Fishery Ecological Environment Monitoring Center of Pearl River Basin, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Immunology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou 510380, China
| | - Xuesong Wang
- Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine Greater Bay Area, Zhongshan 528437, China.
| | - Haiyan Li
- National Agricultural Scientific Observing and Experimental Station for Fisheries Resources and Environment, Guangzhou, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Fishery Resources and Environment in the Middle and Lower Reaches of Pearl River, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control for Aquatic Invasive Alien Species, Fishery Ecological Environment Monitoring Center of Pearl River Basin, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Immunology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou 510380, China.
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Zhang Y, Datry T, Zhang Q, Wang X, Xiang X, Gong Z, Cai Y. Effects of different hydrological conditions on the taxonomic structure and functional traits of mollusk communities in a large floodplain wetland. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11466. [PMID: 38803609 PMCID: PMC11128460 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Floodplain wetlands are critical to the conservation of aquatic biodiversity and the ecological integrity of river networks. However, increasing drought severity and frequency caused by climate change can reduce floodplain wetlands' resistance and recovery capacities. Mollusks, which are common inhabitants of floodplain wetlands, are among the most vulnerable species to drought. However, the response of mollusk communities to drought has received little attention. Here, we investigated how the structure and functional traits of mollusk communities changed in response to varying hydrological conditions, including a flash drought (FD) in the Poyang Lake floodplain wetland. Our findings showed that FD strongly reduced mollusk abundance and biomass, decreased both α- and β-diversity, and resulted in the extinction of bivalve taxa. A sudden shift in community trait structure was discovered due to the extinction of many species. These traits, which include deposit feeding, crawling, scraping, aerial respiration, and dormancy, help mollusks survive in FD and tolerate completely dry out of their Changhuchi habitat. Finally, we discovered that dissolved oxygen was an important controlling variable for mollusk communities during drought. Our findings provide a scientific basis for the management and conservation of floodplain wetland biodiversity in the context of increasing drought frequency and intensity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and LimnologyChinese Academy of SciencesNanjingChina
- School of Ecology and EnvironmentAnhui Normal UniversityWuhuChina
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Recovery and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystem in Wanjiang Basin Co‐Founded by Anhui Province and Ministry of EducationWuhuChina
- Poyang Lake Wetland Research Station, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of SciencesJiujiangChina
| | - Thibault Datry
- INRAE, UR RiverLy, Centre de Lyon‐VilleurbanneVilleurbanne CedexFrance
| | - Qingji Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and LimnologyChinese Academy of SciencesNanjingChina
- INRAE, UR RiverLy, Centre de Lyon‐VilleurbanneVilleurbanne CedexFrance
- School of Geography and Ocean ScienceNanjing UniversityNanjingChina
| | - Xiaolong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and LimnologyChinese Academy of SciencesNanjingChina
- Poyang Lake Wetland Research Station, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of SciencesJiujiangChina
| | - Xianling Xiang
- School of Ecology and EnvironmentAnhui Normal UniversityWuhuChina
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Recovery and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystem in Wanjiang Basin Co‐Founded by Anhui Province and Ministry of EducationWuhuChina
| | - Zhijun Gong
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and LimnologyChinese Academy of SciencesNanjingChina
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Recovery and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystem in Wanjiang Basin Co‐Founded by Anhui Province and Ministry of EducationWuhuChina
| | - Yongjiu Cai
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and LimnologyChinese Academy of SciencesNanjingChina
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Recovery and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystem in Wanjiang Basin Co‐Founded by Anhui Province and Ministry of EducationWuhuChina
- Poyang Lake Wetland Research Station, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of SciencesJiujiangChina
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Guo F, Fry B, Yan K, Huang J, Zhao Q, O'Mara K, Li F, Gao W, Kainz MJ, Brett MT, Bunn SE, Zhang Y. Assessment of the impact of dams on aquatic food webs using stable isotopes: Current progress and future challenges. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 904:167097. [PMID: 37716688 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 09/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/18/2023]
Abstract
Dams have disrupted natural river systems worldwide and although population and community level effects on aquatic biota have been well documented, food web responses remain poorly understood and difficult to characterize. The application of stable isotope analysis (SIA) provides a means to assess the effect of dams on food webs. Here we review the effect of dams on aquatic food webs using SIA, aiming to detect knowledge gaps in the field of dam impacts on aquatic food webs and propose a conceptual framework to help formulate hypotheses about dam impacts on food webs guided by food web theory. Dams can affect aquatic food webs via two pathways: a bottom-up pathway with altered basal food sources and their transfer to consumers through changes in flow, nutrients, temperature and sediment, and a top-down pathway with consumer species composition altered mainly through habitat fragmentation and related physiochemical changes. Taking these mechanisms into consideration, the impact of dams on food web attributes derived from SIA was evaluated. These studies generally apply mixing models to determine how dams alter the dominant carbon sources supporting food webs, use δ15N to examine how dams alter food-chain length, or use Layman metrics of isotope variability to assess niche changes for invertebrate and fish assemblages. Most studies compare the patterns of SIA metrics spatially (e.g. upstream vs reservoir vs downstream of dams; regulated vs unregulated rivers) and temporally (before vs after dam construction), without explicit hypotheses and/or links to theoretical concepts of food webs. We propose several steps to make SIA studies of dam impacts more rigorous and enhance their potential for producing novel insights. Future studies should quantify the shape and strength of the effect of dams on SIA-measured food web response, be conducted at larger temporal and spatial scales (particularly along the river longitudinal continuum and the lateral connected ecosystems (e.g., floodplains)), and consider effects of dams on food web resilience and tipping points.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fen Guo
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Brian Fry
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld 4109, Australia
| | - Keheng Yan
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Juan Huang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Qian Zhao
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250358, China
| | - Kaitlyn O'Mara
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld 4109, Australia
| | - Feilong Li
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Wei Gao
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Martin J Kainz
- WasserCluster Lunz - Inter-University Centre for Aquatic Ecosystem Research, Lunz am See, Austria
| | - Michael T Brett
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Stuart E Bunn
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld 4109, Australia
| | - Yuan Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
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Gál B, Weiperth A, Farkas J, Schmera D. Road crossings change functional diversity and trait composition of stream-dwelling macroinvertebrate assemblages. Sci Rep 2023; 13:20698. [PMID: 38001350 PMCID: PMC10674018 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47975-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Functional diversity is regarded as a key concept in understanding the link between ecosystem function and biodiversity, and is therefore widely investigated in relation to human-induced impacts. However, information on how the intersection of roads and streams (hereafter road crossings, representing a widespread habitat transformation in relation to human development), influences the functional diversity of stream-dwelling macroinvertebrates is still missing. The general aim of our study was to provide a comprehensible picture on the impacts of road crossing structures on multiple facets of the functional diversity of stream-dwelling macroinvertebrates. In addition, we also investigated changes in trait structure. Our research showed that road crossing structures had negative impacts on functional richness and dispersion; i.e., functional diversification. However, we found no significant impact on functional divergence and evenness components. We found a decrease in functional redundancy at road crossing structures. This indicates a reduced ability of the community to recover from disturbances. Finally, we found that road crossings drive stream habitat and hydrological changes in parallel with modification of the trait composition of stream-dwelling macroinvertebrate assemblages. All these results suggest that road crossings cause notable changes in the functional diversity of stream-dwelling macroinvertebrate assemblages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blanka Gál
- Balaton Limnological Research Institute, Klebelsberg K. u. 3, 8237, Tihany, Hungary.
- National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Security, Balaton Limnological Research Institute, Klebelsberg K. u. 3, 8237, Tihany, Hungary.
| | - András Weiperth
- Department of Freshwater Fish Ecology, Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly u. 1, Gödöllő, 2103, Hungary
- Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Institute of Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117, Budapest, Hungary
| | - János Farkas
- Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Institute of Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Dénes Schmera
- Balaton Limnological Research Institute, Klebelsberg K. u. 3, 8237, Tihany, Hungary
- National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Security, Balaton Limnological Research Institute, Klebelsberg K. u. 3, 8237, Tihany, Hungary
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Li Z, García-Girón J, Zhang J, Jia Y, Jiang X, Xie Z. Anthropogenic impacts on multiple facets of macroinvertebrate α and β diversity in a large river-floodplain ecosystem. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 874:162387. [PMID: 36848991 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic disturbances have become one of the primary causes of biodiversity decline in freshwater ecosystems. Beyond the well-documented loss of taxon richness in increasingly impacted ecosystems, our knowledge on how different facets of α and β diversity respond to human disturbances is still limited. Here, we examined the responses of taxonomic (TD), functional (FD) and phylogenetic (PD) α and β diversity of macroinvertebrate communities to human impact across 33 floodplain lakes surrounding the Yangtze River. We found that most pairwise correlations between TD and FD/PD were low and non-significant, whereas FD and PD metrics were instead positively and significantly correlated. All facets of α diversity decreased from weakly to strongly impacted lakes owing to the removal of sensitive species harboring unique evolutionary legacies and phenotypes. By contrast, the three facets of β diversity responded inconsistently to anthropogenic disturbance: while FDβ and PDβ showed significant impairment in moderately and strongly impacted lakes as a result of spatial homogenization, TDβ was lowest in weakly impacted lakes. The multiple facets of diversity also responded differently to the underlying environmental gradients, re-emphasizing that taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversities provide complementary information on community dynamics. However, the explanatory power of our machine learning and constrained ordination models was relatively low and suggests that unmeasured environmental features and stochastic processes may strongly contribute to macroinvertebrate communities in floodplain lakes suffering from variable levels of anthropogenic degradation. We finally suggested guidelines for effective conservation and restoration targets aimed at achieving healthier aquatic biotas in a context of increasing human impact across the 'lakescape' surrounding the Yangtze River, the most important being the control of nutrient inputs and increased spatial spillover effects to promote natural metasystem dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhengfei Li
- The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
| | - Jorge García-Girón
- Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland; Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, University of León, Campus de Vegazana, 24007 León, Spain.
| | - Junqian Zhang
- The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
| | - Yintao Jia
- The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Xiaoming Jiang
- The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulic in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Zhicai Xie
- The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
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The impacts of hydropower on freshwater macroinvertebrate richness: A global meta-analysis. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0273089. [PMID: 35980987 PMCID: PMC9387867 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Hydroelectric dams and their reservoirs have been suggested to affect freshwater biodiversity. Nevertheless, studies investigating the consequences of hydroelectric dams and reservoirs on macroinvertebrate richness have reached opposite conclusions. We performed a meta-analysis devised to elucidate the effects of hydropower, dams and reservoirs on macroinvertebrate richness while accounting for the potential role played by moderators such as biomes, impact types, study designs, sampling seasons and gears. We used a random/mixed-effects model, combined with robust variance estimation, to conduct the meta-analysis on 107 pairs of observations (i.e., impacted versus reference) extracted from 24 studies (more than one observation per study). Hydropower, dams and reservoirs did significantly impact (P = 0.04) macroinvertebrate richness in a clear, directional and statistically significant way, where macroinvertebrate richness in hydropower, dams and reservoirs impacted environments were significantly lower than in unimpacted environments. We also observed a large range of effect sizes, from very negative to very positive impacts of hydropower. We tried to account for the large variability in effect sizes using moderators, but none of the moderators included in the meta-analysis had statistically significant effects. This suggests that some other moderators (unavailable for the 24 studies) might be important (e.g., temperature, granulometry, wave disturbance and macrophytes) and that macroinvertebrate richness may be driven by local, smaller scale processes. As new studies become available, it would be interesting to keep enriching this meta-analysis, as well as collecting local habitat variables, to see if we could statistically strengthen and deepen the conclusions of this meta-analysis.
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Fu X, Yang W, Zheng L, Liu D, Li X. Spatial patterns of macrobenthos taxonomic and functional diversity throughout the ecotones from river to lake: A case study in Northern China. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.922539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Macrobenthos taxonomic and functional diversity are key indicators of ecosystem health. River–lake ecotones are key macrobenthos habitats. However, we don’t fully understand macrobenthos biodiversity patterns in these ecotones. We studied water environment, sediment heavy metal contents, and macrobenthos community, which we sampled simultaneously from 29 sampling sites along the Fu River–Baiyangdian Lake gradient in Northern China with five field surveys from 2018 to 2019. Six trait classes resolved into 25 categories were allocated to macrobenthos through a binary coding system. We used the RLQ framework (R, environmental variables; L, species of taxa; Q, traits) and fourth-corner analyses to evaluate the relationship between environmental variables and macrobenthos traits. Finally, we carried out variance partitioning to assess the contributions of environmental variables to variation of macrobenthos diversities. As the results, TN and TP contents in the river and lake mouths were lower than those in the adjacent river and lake, indicating that the river–lake ecotones played a role in purifying the water and buffering pollution. High taxonomic diversity of macrobenthos in the lake mouth and the presence of unique taxa in the two ecotones revealed edge effects, but the macrobenthos abundance and biomass were extremely low compared with those in the adjacent river and lake. We found no significant correlation between the taxonomic and functional diversity indices in the river and lake mouths. Water depth, water transparency, TN, and TP were the main water environmental drivers of macrobenthos taxonomic and functional diversity, explaining up to 45.5% and 56.2% of the variation, respectively. Sediment Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn contents explained 15.1% and 32.8%, respectively, of macrobenthos taxonomic and functional diversity. Our results suggest that functional diversity approaches based on biological traits can complement taxonomic approaches in river–lake ecotones. Furthermore, improving water depth, transparency, eutrophication, and heavy metal pollution will improve macrobenthos diversity in these ecotones and maintain ecosystem health.
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Sîrbu I, Benedek AM, Brown BL, Sîrbu M. Disentangling structural and functional responses of native versus alien communities by canonical ordination analyses and variation partitioning with multiple matrices. Sci Rep 2022; 12:12813. [PMID: 35896765 PMCID: PMC9329446 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16860-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Freshwaters are under accelerated human pressure, and mollusk communities are among its most sensitive, threatened, and valuable components. To the best of our knowledge, the overall effects of damming, environment, space, time, and invasive alien mollusk species, on structural and functional responses of native mollusk communities were not yet compared. Using historical information and recent data from a river, we aimed to investigate and disentangle these effects and evaluate the differences in structural and functional responses of natives and alien invasives to the same predictors. Variation partitioning showed that alien species were as important predictors as were environmental factors and time in explaining species composition of native freshwater mollusk communities. Aliens were more independent of environmental conditions than natives and responded to different drivers, partially explaining their invasion success. The increased abundance of some alien gastropods was positively related to taxonomic diversity, while certain alien bivalves were negatively associated with the functional diversity of native communities. We introduce a cumulative variation partitioning with multiple response (native and alien) and predictor matrices, along with a diagram to show their relations, advocating for a conceptual shift in future community ecology, from “variables to matrices” and from “multivariate analyses to multi-matrix statistical modeling”.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioan Sîrbu
- Faculty of Sciences, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 5-7 Dr. I. Raţiu St., 550012, Sibiu, Romania.
| | - Ana-Maria Benedek
- Faculty of Sciences, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 5-7 Dr. I. Raţiu St., 550012, Sibiu, Romania
| | - Bryan L Brown
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA
| | - Monica Sîrbu
- Andrei Şaguna Pedagogical National College, 2 Turnu Roşu St., Hipodrom, Sibiu, Romania
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de Guzman I, Altieri P, Elosegi A, Pérez-Calpe AV, von Schiller D, González JM, Brauns M, Montoya JM, Larrañaga A. Water diversion and pollution interactively shape freshwater food webs through bottom-up mechanisms. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:859-876. [PMID: 34862833 PMCID: PMC7614049 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Water diversion and pollution are two pervasive stressors in river ecosystems that often co-occur. Individual effects of both stressors on basal resources available to stream communities have been described, with diversion reducing detritus standing stocks and pollution increasing biomass of primary producers. However, interactive effects of both stressors on the structure and trophic basis of food webs remain unknown. We hypothesized that the interaction between both stressors increases the contribution of the green pathway in stream food webs. Given the key role of the high-quality, but less abundant, primary producers, we also hypothesized an increase in food web complexity with larger trophic diversity in the presence of water diversion and pollution. To test these hypotheses, we selected four rivers in a range of pollution subject to similar water diversion schemes, and we compared food webs upstream and downstream of the diversion. We characterized food webs by means of stable isotope analysis. Both stressors directly changed the availability of basal resources, with water diversion affecting the brown food web by decreasing detritus stocks, and pollution enhancing the green food web by promoting biofilm production. The propagation of the effects at the base of the food web to higher trophic levels differed between stressors. Water diversion had little effect on the structure of food webs, but pollution increased food chain length and trophic diversity, and reduced trophic redundancy. The effects at higher trophic levels were exacerbated when combining both stressors, as the relative contribution of biofilm to the stock of basal resources increased even further. Overall, we conclude that moderate pollution increases food web complexity and that the interaction with water abstraction seems to amplify this effect. Our study shows the importance of assessing the interaction between stressors to create predictive tools for a proper management of ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioar de Guzman
- Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain
| | - Paula Altieri
- Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet, Laboratorio de Bentos, CCT La Plata-CONICET-UNLP, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo/FCNyM, Universidad Nacional de La Plata/UNLP, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Arturo Elosegi
- Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain
| | - Ana Victoria Pérez-Calpe
- Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain
| | - Daniel von Schiller
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jose M. González
- Department of Biology and Geology, Physics and Inorganic Chemistry, Rey Juan Carlos University, Móstoles, Spain
| | - Mario Brauns
- Department of River Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - José M. Montoya
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, French National Center for Scientific Research, Moulis, France
| | - Aitor Larrañaga
- Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain
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