Comparison of Fish, Macroinvertebrates and Diatom Communities in Response to Environmental Variation in the Wei River Basin, China

Linfei Liu,Wei Wu,Zongxue Xu,Fan Yang,Jisheng Li,Xuwang Yin

doi:10.3390/w12123422

Abstract

Land use changes usually lead to the deterioration of freshwater ecosystems and reduced biodiversity. Aquatic organisms are considered valuable indicators for reflecting the conditions of freshwater ecosystems. Understanding the relationship between organisms and land use type, as well as physiochemical conditions, is beneficial for the management, monitoring and restoration of aquatic ecosystems. In this study, fish, macroinvertebrates, and diatoms were investigated at 60 sampling sites in the Wei River basin from October 2012 to April 2013 to determine the relationships between the environment and aquatic organisms. The richness, abundance, Shannon diversity, evenness, Margalef diversity, and Simpson diversity were selected as biological indices for analyzing the correlation between these communities and environmental variables according to Pearson’s coefficient. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to analyze the relationship between the biotic communities and environmental variables. The results showed that three diatom indices were weakly correlated with chemical oxygen demand (COD), qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QH), and dissolved oxygen (DO). Four macroinvertebrate indices were associated with total phosphorus (TP) while total nitrogen (TN), and agricultural land (AL) had a significant influence on assemblages, suggesting that macroinvertebrates could respond to nutrient levels in the Wei River basin. All land use types had a strong effect on fish indices except AL, indicating that fish would be better used as indicators of spatial changes in the aquatic ecosystem. In conclusion, fish and macroinvertebrates have the potential for use in routine monitoring programs in the Wei River basin.

Highlights

The effects of land use change on aquatic biotic communities have been widely demonstrated by ecologists throughout the world [1,2,3,4] Land use changes have resulted in strong disadvantages to the maintenance of the ecological integrity of river systems [5,6,7]
The most abundant land use types were forestland (FL) and grassland (GL), which were mainly distributed in the southern and northeastern parts of the Wei River basin, and they accounted for 28.9% and 19.0% of the total area, respectively (Figure 4)
This study demonstrated the response of fish, macroinvertebrate, and diatom assemblages to four land use types and six physiochemical variables in the Wei River basin

Summary

Introduction

The effects of land use change on aquatic biotic communities have been widely demonstrated by ecologists throughout the world [1,2,3,4] Land use changes have resulted in strong disadvantages to the maintenance of the ecological integrity of river systems [5,6,7]. Urbanization, agriculturalization, industrialization, and commercialization has become more prevalent with the rapid development of society and economy and the rapid growth of the population [8,9,10] Much of the forest, grass, and other natural vegetation cover has been replaced with urban land. This may destroy the equilibrium of the primary ecosystem and alter the biotic community structure. Habitat diversity decreases and fine sediments replace cobblestone sediments, which adversely impact fish spawning and diatom or macroinvertebrate attachment [6]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion