Effects of urban infrastructure on aquatic invertebrate diversity

Mia Vehkaoja,Milla Niemi,Veli-Matti Väänänen

doi:10.1007/s11252-020-00947-x

Abstract

Wetlands are one of the world’s most important, economically valuable, and diverse ecosystems. A major proportion of wetland biodiversity is composed of aquatic invertebrates, which are essential for secondary production in aquatic and terrestrial food webs. Urban areas have intensified the challenges wetlands encounter by increasing the area of impermeable surfaces and the levels of nutrient and pollutant overflows. We investigated how urban infrastructure affects the aquatic invertebrate fauna of urban wetlands in metropolitan Helsinki, southern Finland. We measured riparian canopy cover, emergent vegetation coverage, and various land cover and road variables. Recreation area, forests, and open natural areas were the most important landscape features positively influencing aquatic invertebrate family richness, whereas buildings and roads had a negative effect on family richness and abundances of many taxa. Recreation area and the various forest types also positively affected the α-diversity indices of wetlands. On the other hand, fish assemblage did not affect either family richness or abundances of the studied taxa. Furthermore, trees growing on the shoreline negatively affected the diversity of aquatic invertebrate families. Invertebrate family diversity was greatest at well-connected wetlands, as these areas added to the regional species pool by over 33%. Our results show that connectivity and green areas near wetlands increase aquatic invertebrate family diversity, and our results could be utilized in urban planning.Graphical abstract

Highlights

Wetlands are one of the world’s most important and valuable ecosystems (Emerton and Bos 2004; Finlayson and D'Cruz 2005; Takamura 2012; Russi et al 2013; Costanza et al 2014; Oertli and Parris 2019)
We focus on how the amount of various urban infrastructures around urban wetlands influences aquatic invertebrate community assemblage and size
Invertebrate diversity was greatest at well-connected wetlands, and as the degree of isolation increased, the number of invertebrate taxa decreased

Summary

Introduction

Wetlands are one of the world’s most important and valuable ecosystems (Emerton and Bos 2004; Finlayson and D'Cruz 2005; Takamura 2012; Russi et al 2013; Costanza et al 2014; Oertli and Parris 2019). Their value is mostly based on the ecosystem services they produce (Woodward and Wui 2001; MEA 2005) and the thousands of species they inhabit (The Pond Manifesto EPCN 2008). The main causes affecting wetlands are anthropogenic (Dudgeon et al 2006; Vörösmarty et al 2010; Clark et al 2014)

Methods

Results

Conclusion