Macroinvertebrate Communities In Rivers Research Articles

Physical habitat modeling for river macroinvertebrate communities

Habitat models rarely consider macroinvertebrate communities as ecological targets in rivers. Available approaches mainly focus on single macroinvertebrate species, not addressing the ecological needs and functionality of the whole community.This research aimed at providing an approach to model the habitat of the macroinvertebrate communities. The study was carried out in three rivers, located in Italy and characterized by a braiding morphology, gravel riverbeds, and low flows during the summer period. The approach is based on the recently developed Flow-T index, together with a Random Forest (RF) regression, which is employed to apply the Flow-T index at the mesohabitat scale. Using different datasets gathered from field data collection and 2D hydrodynamic simulations, the model was calibrated in the Trebbia River (2019 field campaign) and validated in the Trebbia, Taro, and Enza rivers (2020 field campaign).The RF model selected 12 mesohabitat descriptors as important for the macroinvertebrate community. These descriptors belong to different frequency classes of water depth, flow velocity, substrate grain size, and connectivity to the main river channel. The cross-validation R2 coefficient (R2cv) of the training dataset was 0.71, whereas the R2 coefficient (R2test) for the validation dataset was 0.63. The agreement between the simulated results and the experimental data shows sufficient accuracy and reliability. The outcomes of the study reveal that the model can identify the ecological response of the macroinvertebrate community to possible flow regime alterations and river morphological modifications.Lastly, the proposed approach allowed to extend the MesoHABSIM methodology, widely used for the fish habitat assessment, to a different ecological target community. Further applications of the approach can be related to ecological flows design in both perennial and non-perennial rivers, including river reaches in which fish fauna is absent.

A refined functional group approach reveals novel insights into effects of urbanization on river macroinvertebrate communities

A refined functional group approach reveals novel insights into effects of urbanization on river macroinvertebrate communities

Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Community Structure along a Continuum in a Spring Dominated River, Missouri, USA

The Current River is a cold-water, thermally constant Missouri Ozark stream and is one of the few remaining free-flowing rivers in the U.S. The Current River’s baseflow is largely fed by hundreds of springs, which include five first-magnitude springs. Little attention has been given to the influence of spring inflows on river temperature and spring influence on biodiversity. The objectives of this study were to demonstrate how large springs affect river macroinvertebrate communities, and to explore the relationships among macroinvertebrate diversity and habitat variables to estimate spring influences on community structure and diversity. Aquatic macroinvertebrates were collected from 42 riffle/run habitats of the Current River main-stem, tributaries, and springs during the winter season. Samples at each site were collected using a Slack-Surber sampler for macroinvertebrates with additional habitat variables collected: substrate size, embeddedness, periphyton, filamentous green algae, vegetation, depth, current velocity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, and pH. Beta diversity analysis was performed on consecutive pairs of site taxa richness values using the Wilson–Shmida calculation to determine the impact of main-stem confluences with either tributaries or springs, and invertebrate community relationships were explored using nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Water temperature and taxa richness exhibited similar patterns, with higher temperatures being associated with lower taxa richness. Downstream of each large-magnitude spring, taxa richness sharply decreased, while taxa richness increased downstream of tributaries. Beta diversity usually declined downstream of the confluences with springs, but increased downstream of the tributaries. Data from large springs were closely grouped in NMDS, while tributaries and main-stem sites were more widely scattered. These data indicate spring inputs produce more homogenous conditions in the main-stem river compared to more heterogenous conditions produced by tributary inputs. Macroinvertebrate diversity along the Current River also does not follow predictions from the river continuum concept, but rather diversity peaks are downstream of springs. Our data clearly demonstrate the strong influence of large springs on macroinvertebrate communities in the Current River.

Climate and land‐use driven reorganisation of structure and function in river macroinvertebrate communities

Understanding temporal changes in the composition of species communities over spatial and temporal scales relevant to conservation management is crucial for preventing further biodiversity declines. Here, we assessed patterns and potential drivers of taxonomic and functional temporal β diversity over 26 years (1991–2016) of 64 river macroinvertebrate communities, and the length of New Zealand (37°00'N, 46°00'S). We further examined changes in population size and range shifts of species pools, and related these to taxonomy and functional traits. We found increasing climate and land‐use driven differences in both the taxonomic and functional composition of communities over time, coupled with poleward species colonisations and increasing extirpations in northern locations. Increases in population and species range size were more prevalent than decreases in population and range size. Species shifted their ranges towards higher latitudes on average by 50 km per decade. Despite little to no relationship with taxonomy, we uncovered distinct relationships between functional traits and population trends and latitudinal species range shifts. Species with a high number of reproductive cycles per year and long‐life duration of adults tended to increase their population size, while larger size species with a high number of descendants per reproductive cycle tended to shift their range towards more southern latitudes. Our results suggest that the intensity of disturbances, the geographic location of individuals and communities, and species ecological and functional characteristics, are major determinants of riverine biodiversity reorganisation in the Anthropocene.

Exploring the capacity of aquatic biofilms to act as environmental DNA samplers: Test on macroinvertebrate communities in rivers

Aquatic biofilms are heterogeneous assemblages of microorganisms surrounded by a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Recent studies suggest that aquatic biofilms can physically act as sorptive sponges of DNA. We took the opportunity from already available samples of stone biofilms and macroinvertebrates specimens collected in parallel at the same sites to test the capacity of biofilms to act as DNA samplers of macroinvertebrate communities in streams. Macroinvertebrate communities are usually studied with metabarcoding using the DNA extracted from their bodies bulk samples, which remains a time-consuming approach and involves the destruction of all individual specimens from the samples. The ability of biofilms to capture DNA was explored on 19 rivers sites of a tropical island (Mayotte Island, France). First, macroinvertebrate specimens were identified based on their morphological characteristics. Second, DNA was extracted from biofilms, and macroinvertebrate communities were targeted using a standard COI barcode. The resulting morphological and molecular inventories were compared. They provided comparable structures and diversities for macroinvertebrate communities when one is working with the unassigned OTU data. After taxonomic assignment of the OTU data, diversity and richness were no longer correlated. The ecological assessment derived from morphological bulk samples was conserved by the biofilms samples. We also showed that the biofilm method allows to detect a higher diversity for some organisms (Cnidaria), that is hardly accessible with the morphological method. The results of this study exploring the DNA signal captured by natural biofilms are encouraging. However, a more detailed study integrating more replicates and comparing the biodiversity signal based on both morphological and molecular bulk macroinvertebrate samples to the one captured by biofilms will be necessary. Better understanding how the DNA signal captured by natural biofilms represents the biodiversity of a given sampling site is necessary before considering its use for bioassessment applications.

Exploring the capacity of aquatic biofilms to act as environmental DNA samplers: test on macroinvertebrate communities in rivers

Exploring the capacity of aquatic biofilms to act as environmental DNA samplers: test on macroinvertebrate communities in rivers

The influence of aquatic buffer zone vegetation on river macroinvertebrate communities

Aquatic buffer zones (ABZs) are areas of the riparian zone managed to protect streams from the potential impacts of commercial conifer forests and associated forestry operations In Ireland. Previous research identified that the dominant vegetation communities in ABZs are wet grassland and scrub habitats and that the vegetation communities are broadly determined by the soil type (peaty or mineral). One of the primary management options available to forest managers is whether to plant native broadleaves in the ABZ or leave them to be naturally colonised. The present study sought to determine the degree to which the vegetation of ABZs influences the composition and structure of associated aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and how this might inform their future management in particular the decision of whether to afforest the ABZ with broadleaf trees. The macroinvertebrate communities from stream on peaty and mineral soils with ABZs dominated by four vegetation communities were sampled, streams bordered by grassland habitats, scrub habitats, no ABZ i.e. conifer trees planted to the streams edge and control streams with no conifer forests in the vicinity. The results of this study showed that the composition and structure of the macroinvertebrate community varied significantly between streams on peaty and mineral soils, but was largely unaffected by the ABZ type. The differences between communities across soil type can be attributed to the lower abundance and richness of Ephemeroptera and conversely the higher abundance and richness of Plecoptera in streams on peaty soils. The lack of a consistent effect of ABZ type on the macroinvertebrate community illustrates the more dominant effect of water chemistry driven by soil type particularly episodic acidity.

Compounding Effects of Agricultural Land Use and Water Use in Free-Flowing Rivers: Confounding Issues for Environmental Flows.

Defining the ecological impacts of water extraction from free-flowing river systems in altered landscapes is challenging as multiple stressors (e.g., flow regime alteration, increased sedimentation) may have simultaneous effects and attributing causality is problematic. This multiple-stressor context has been acknowledged in environmental flows science, but is often neglected when it comes to examining flow-ecology relationships, and setting and implementing environmental flows. We examined the impacts of land and water use on rivers in the upper Ringarooma River catchment in Tasmania (south-east Australia), which contains intensively irrigated agriculture, to support implementation of a water management plan. Temporal and spatial and trends in river condition were assessed using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. Relationships between macroinvertebrate community structure and environmental variables were examined using univariate and multivariate analyses, focusing on the impacts of agricultural land use and water use. Structural changes in macroinvertebrate communities in rivers in the catchment indicated temporal and spatial declines in the ecological condition of some stretches of river associated with agricultural land and water use. Moreover, water extraction appeared to exacerbate impairment associated with agricultural land use (e.g., reduced macroinvertebrate density, more flow-avoiding taxa). The findings of our catchment-specific bioassessments will underpin decision-making during the implementation of the Ringarooma water management plan, and highlight the need to consider compounding impacts of land and water use in environmental flows and water planning in agricultural landscapes.

Predicting River Macroinvertebrate Communities Distributional Shifts under Future Global Change Scenarios in the Spanish Mediterranean Area

Several studies on global change over the next century predict increases in mean air temperatures of between 1°C to 5°C that would affect not only water temperature but also river flow. Climate is the predominant environmental driver of thermal and flow regimes of freshwater ecosystems, determining survival, growth, metabolism, phenology and behaviour as well as biotic interactions of aquatic fauna. Thus, these changes would also have consequences for species phenology, their distribution range, and the composition and dynamics of communities. These effects are expected to be especially severe in the Mediterranean basin due its particular climate conditions, seriously threatening Southern European ecosystems. In addition, species with restricted distributions and narrow ecological requirements, such as those living in the headwaters of rivers, will be severely affected. The study area corresponds to the Spanish Mediterranean and Balearic Islands, delimited by the Köppen climate boundary. With the application of the MEDPACS (MEDiterranean Prediction And Classification System) predictive approach, the macroinvertebrate community was predicted for current conditions and compared with three posible scenarios of watertemperature increase and its associated water flow reductions. The results indicate that the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities will undergo a drastic impact, with reductions in taxa richness for each scenario in relation to simulated current conditions, accompanied by changes in the taxa distribution pattern. Accordingly, the distribution area of most of the taxa (65.96%) inhabiting the mid-high elevations would contract and rise in altitude. Thus, families containing a great number of generalist species will move upstream to colonize new zones with lower water temperatures. By contrast, more vulnerable taxa will undergo reductions in their distribution area.

A Bayesian network assessment of macroinvertebrate responses to nutrients and other factors in streams of the Eastern Corn Belt Plains, Ohio, USA

Over the past several years, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has urged states to adopt numeric nutrient criteria to protect water quality. In a number of states, new numeric nutrient criteria have incorporated both a nutrient (nitrogen and/or phosphorus) criterion and a biological endpoint (e.g., chlorophyll a in lakes or benthic macroinvertebrates in streams). While the causal relationship between nutrient levels and chlorophyll in lakes is well-established, quantifying causal relationships between nutrients, chlorophyll a, and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in rivers and streams has been more elusive. This is especially true in highly agricultural ecoregions of the upper midwest United States where a number of confounding factors may be present. Predictive relationships derived from field-collected data can provide important support for setting numeric criteria and identifying management alternatives that can achieve and sustain water quality goals. In this paper, we examine the empirical basis for a causal relationship between nutrients, chlorophyll, and benthic macroinvertebrates in the context of other potential macroinvertebrate stressors in a highly agricultural region. We developed a Bayesian network (BN) model for the number of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera taxa (EPT) present in streams of the Eastern Corn Belt Plains Ecoregion of Ohio using Ohio Environmental Protection Agency data collected over roughly a decade (2005–2013). For the data evaluated in this study, useful relationships between nutrients, chlorophyll a, and EPT were not found. An alternative BN model including total Kjeldahl nitrogen with habitat quality and dissolved oxygen appeared to reflect stronger causal influences on this indicator of stream macroinvertebrate quality. However, the predictive power of the BN was relatively low, suggesting that other factors not accounted for in the model may contribute significantly to EPT taxa abundance in these streams.

Inferring landscape-scale land-use impacts on rivers using data from mesocosm experiments and artificial neural networks.

Identifying land-use drivers of changes in river condition is complicated by spatial scale, geomorphological context, land management, and correlations among responding variables such as nutrients and sediments. Furthermore, variations in standard metrics, such as substratum composition, do not necessarily relate causally to ecological impacts. Consequently, the absence of a significant relationship between a hypothesised driver and a dependent variable does not necessarily indicate the absence of a causal relationship. We conducted a gradient survey to identify impacts of catchment-scale grazing by domestic livestock on river macroinvertebrate communities. A standard correlative approach showed that community structure was strongly related to the upstream catchment area under grazing. We then used data from a stream mesocosm experiment that independently quantified the impacts of nutrients and fine sediments on macroinvertebrate communities to train artificial neural networks (ANNs) to assess the relative influence of nutrients and fine sediments on the survey sites from their community composition. The ANNs developed to predict nutrient impacts did not find a relationship between nutrients and catchment area under grazing, suggesting that nutrients were not an important factor mediating grazing impacts on community composition, or that these ANNs had no generality or insufficient power at the landscape-scale. In contrast, ANNs trained to predict the impacts of fine sediments indicated a significant relationship between fine sediments and catchment area under grazing. Macroinvertebrate communities at sites with a high proportion of land under grazing were thus more similar to those resulting from high fine sediments in a mesocosm experiment than to those resulting from high nutrients. Our study confirms that 1) fine sediment is an important mediator of land-use impacts on river macroinvertebrate communities, 2) ANNs can successfully identify subtle effects and separate the effects of correlated variables, and 3) data from small-scale experiments can generate relationships that help explain landscape-scale patterns.

Effects of Didymosphenia geminata removal on river macroinvertebrate communities

Periphyton blooms dominated by Didymosphenia geminata have been reported from hundreds of rivers. D. geminata blooms consist of thick mats that cover kilometers of riverbed. Benthic habitat conditions are altered when large areas of sediment and native periphyton are replaced by D. geminata mats and these habitat changes may lead to changes in the composition and abundance of benthic invertebrates. Mensurative studies have provided circumstantial evidence of changes in invertebrate communities in response to D. geminata blooms. However, those studies may have confounded the effects of D. geminata and other environmental variables. To identify direct effects of D. geminata on invertebrate communities, we conducted a paired before–after, control-impact (BACIP) experiment in three D. geminata-infested rivers. The experimental impact was the removal of D. geminata mats from 35–50 m2 areas of riverbed. We tested for effects of D. geminata removal on macroinvertebrate community metrics, including total density, taxon richness, and the prevalence of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) and trophic groups. The BACIP analysis indicated that D. geminata removal caused a decrease in total density at two rivers, a decrease in the density of dipterans and an increase in % EPT invertebrates at one river, and an increase in % algivorous invertebrates at another river. A multivariate analysis indicated that there was more variation in invertebrate community structure among rivers than between treatments within rivers. The limited effects of D. geminata removal on invertebrate communities were probably related to the composition of colonist pools and the relatively small cleared areas; cleared areas were surrounded by large areas of D. geminata-covered habitat and the colonist pools were dominated by taxa that inhabit D. geminata mats.

Effects on river macroinvertebrate communities of tsunami propagation after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

Summary The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake generated extreme tsunami waves that entered river mouths, causing strong and long‐distance propagation along the water corridors. This study reports the first empirical survey of this rare and extreme ecological impact of tsunami propagation on river communities. We sampled macroinvertebrate communities at 15 river sites on the Sendai Plain in Northeast Japan along a gradient of tsunami disturbance intensity [i.e. altitude: range = 1–29 m above sea level (a.s.l.)] two and 16 months after the earthquake. In comparison with data collected before the tsunami, we found evidence of significant reductions in taxon richness (−54% on average) and total abundance (−91%) after the tsunami in inundated river reaches (up to 25 km from the river mouth). There were large spatial variations in local impacts, with altitudes of 7–9 m a.s.l. separating heavily damaged inundated communities from intact non‐inundated communities. The degraded communities exhibited variable recovery rates extending beyond 16 months after the tsunami. Mobility trait analysis revealed a relatively rapid recovery of swimmers (e.g. Baetis), reflecting their high mobility and active drift behaviours in the recolonisation phase. We observed the rare phenomenon of ‘upstream drift’ of marine worms (Phyllodocidae) to freshwater rivers in three of the 10 inundated sites. These survived in fresh water for up to 14 months, suggesting that some marine‐derived immigrants can persist in fresh water for extended periods.

River Ecosystem Response to Prescribed Vegetation Burning on Blanket peatland

Catchment-scale land-use change is recognised as a major threat to aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning globally. In the UK uplands rotational vegetation burning is practised widely to boost production of recreational game birds, and while some recent studies have suggested burning can alter river water quality there has been minimal attention paid to effects on aquatic biota. We studied ten rivers across the north of England between March 2010 and October 2011, five of which drained burned catchments and five from unburned catchments. There were significant effects of burning, season and their interaction on river macroinvertebrate communities, with rivers draining burned catchments having significantly lower taxonomic richness and Simpson’s diversity. ANOSIM revealed a significant effect of burning on macroinvertebrate community composition, with typically reduced Ephemeroptera abundance and diversity and greater abundance of Chironomidae and Nemouridae. Grazer and collector-gatherer feeding groups were also significantly less abundant in rivers draining burned catchments. These biotic changes were associated with lower pH and higher Si, Mn, Fe and Al in burned systems. Vegetation burning on peatland therefore has effects beyond the terrestrial part of the system where the management intervention is being practiced. Similar responses of river macroinvertebrate communities have been observed in peatlands disturbed by forestry activity across northern Europe. Finally we found river ecosystem changes similar to those observed in studies of wild and prescribed forest fires across North America and South Africa, illustrating some potentially generic effects of fire on aquatic ecosystems.

MACROINVERTEBRATE–PRESSURE RELATIONSHIPS IN BOATABLE NEW ZEALAND RIVERS: INFLUENCE OF UNDERLYING ENVIRONMENT AND SAMPLING SUBSTRATE

ABSTRACTResponses of macroinvertebrate communities to human pressure are poorly known in large rivers compared with wadeable streams, in part because of variable substrate composition and the need to disentangle pressure responses from underlying natural environmental variation. To investigate the interaction between these factors, we sampled macroinvertebrates from the following: (i) submerged wood; (ii) littoral substrates < 0.8 m deep; and (iii) inorganic substrates in deep water (> 1.5 m) benthic habitats in eleven 6th‐ or 7th‐order New Zealand rivers spanning a catchment vegetation land cover gradient. Cluster analysis identified primary site groupings reflecting regional environmental characteristics and secondary groupings for moderate gradient rivers reflecting the extent of catchment native vegetation cover. Low pressure sites with high levels of native vegetation had higher habitat quality and higher percentages of several Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera taxa than sites in developed catchments, whereas developed sites were more typically dominated by Diptera, Mollusca and other Trichoptera. Partial regression analysis indicated that the combination of underlying environment and human pressure accounted for 77–89% of the variation in Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera and Plecoptera taxa richness, %Diptera and %Mollusca, with human pressure explaining more variance than underlying environment for %Mollusca. Analysis of replicate deepwater and littoral samples from moderate gradient sites at the upper and lower ends of the pressure gradient indicated that total Trichoptera and Diptera richness and %Diptera responded to land use differences in these boatable river catchments. Responses to human pressure were substrate specific with the combination of littoral and deepwater substrates providing the most consistent response and yielding the highest number of taxa. These results indicate that multiple substrate sampling is required to document the biodiversity and condition of boatable river macroinvertebrate communities and that spatial variation in the underlying natural environment needs to be accounted for when interpreting pressure–response relationships. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Runoff-related agricultural impact in relation to macroinvertebrate communities of the Lourens River, South Africa

A field study at the Lourens River, South Africa, was undertaken during the pesticide application period between November 2001 and January 2002 in order to investigate the potential relation of agricultural pollution to the aquatic macroinvertebrate fauna. The upper regions of the Lourens River were free of contamination (LR1), whereas subsequent stretches flowing through a 400-ha orchard area (LR2) received transient insecticide peaks. Continuously operating suspended-particle samplers as well as flood samplers operating during runoff events were used to measure pesticide contamination. In addition, various physicochemical and morphological parameters were examined. A survey of the macroinvertebrate communities associated with the rocky substrates was carried out every three weeks. Community indices were calculated using the South African Scoring System (SASS 5) for bioassessment of water quality in rivers. The two sites differed in pesticide pollution as well as in average turbidity levels (LR1 5.5 mg/L; LR2 64.3 mg/L), but were similar in bottom substrate composition and most other abiotic factors. At the downstream site (LR2), pesticide values of 0.05 μg/L azinphos-methyl in water as well as 49 μg/kg azinphos-methyl, 94 μg/kg chlorpyrifos and 122 μg/kg total endosulfan in suspended particles were found during runoff conditions. The macroinvertebrate communities of the two sampling sites were similar in terms of number of total individuals, but differed significantly (ANOVA) in average number of taxa (LR1 11.7, LR2 8.9). Seven out of 17 investigated taxa occurred in significantly reduced numbers or were even absent at the downstream site LR2. The community characteristics determined by SASS 5 showed a significantly less sensitive community structure at the downstream site (TS 41; ASPT 4.6), indicating continuously lower water quality compared to site LR1 (TS 80; ASPT 6.9). It is concluded that the Lourens River macroinvertebrate communities are affected by agricultural pollution, with pesticides and increased turbidity as the most important stressors.

The effects of a chlorinated discharge and a thermal outfall on the structure and composition of the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in the sheep river, Alberta, Canada

Physico-chemical and biological samples were collected from 12 sampling stations over a 13-month period to assess the effects of a small town's chlorinated sewage discharge and a thermal discharge on the Sheep River's macroinvertebrate communities. During the study, the chlorinated effluent plume was restricted to the left third of the channel for approx. 0.5 km at which point the effluent was thoroughly mixed due to an abrupt change in channel direction. Within the concentrated 0.5 km chlorinated plume, total residual chlorine TRC concentrations periodically exceeded 5.0 mg l −1. Stations were categorized into similar community assemblages on the basis of species abundance and composition using heirarchical cluster analysis. Stations immediately downstream of the thermal outfall and those within the chlorinated plume had distinctly different structure and were dominated by Oligochaeta. Multiple discriminant analysis indicated that temperature was the principle discriminating variable immediately below the thermal discharge while the chlorinated sewage (MCSE) variable was the most important discriminant function within the chlorinated effluent plume. Following complete mixing of the effluent plume within the stream channel (0.6 km downstream of outfall), macroinvertebrate structure and diversity improved, presumably due to nutrient enrichment and dilution of TRC below detectable levels.