Duration of water flow interruption drives the structure and functional diversity of stream benthic diatoms

Abstract

Flow cessation affects river ecosystems submitted to low precipitation and increased water demand, and creates unfavourable conditions to aquatic biological communities. Diatoms are amongst the most sensitive biological groups to hydric stress, making them good indicators of preceding hydrological conditions. We here analyse the response of diatom assemblages to the duration and frequency of non-flow periods in 23 Mediterranean temporary streams. All of them experienced a strong decrease in water flow during summer, leading to a period of flow cessation. In addition, other ten permanent streams (zero dry days during the study period) were included in the study for comparative purposes. Temporary and permanent streams showed similar diatom species richness, evenness, and alpha diversity. However, beta diversity was higher in temporary than permanent streams, regardless rare taxa (<1% occurrence) had similar numbers in the two types of streams. Alpha diversity, richness, and evenness of diatom assemblages in the temporary streams changed with the duration of the non-flow period. Durations of 50–100 days were associated to higher alpha diversity, richness, and evenness, but longer non-flow periods caused their decrease. Diatoms thriving under the most extreme conditions were mostly aerophilic, pioneer, and motile taxa. The proportion of aerophilic diatom taxa increased beyond 100 dry days, particularly in those sites receiving more intense solar radiation. Overall, the taxonomical and functional composition of diatom assemblages mostly responded to the duration of the non-flow period, irrespectively of these being consecutive or not. This study shows that diatom assemblages from temporary streams contain taxa adapted to non-flow conditions, but remain vulnerable to further reductions of water flow associated to climate or global change. ‘Unimpacted’ watercourses in the Mediterranean region, independently of their flow regime, should be urgently protected and used as taxonomical and functional early indicators of climate change.