Species traits and resilience of meiofauna to floods and drought in a Mediterranean stream

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (11) ◽  
pp. 1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ainhoa Gaudes ◽  
Joan Artigas ◽  
Isabel Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Species Traits ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Mediterranean Stream ◽  
Migratory Capacity ◽  
The Face ◽  
Droughts And Floods ◽  
Downstream Communities ◽  
Density And Biomass ◽  
Low Order

In Mediterranean streams, droughts and floods are mainly seasonal and predictable, occurring twice or three times a year. Under these conditions, multivoltinism and short life-cycles would be favoured, particularly for organisms with low migratory capacity. The meiofaunal community is therefore hypothesised to have species traits adapted to these hydrological perturbations. However, meiofauna have been neglected in many lotic studies. The present study examined the temporal variability of meiofaunal density and biomass over a 2-year period in three reaches of a low-order Mediterranean stream. Relationships between biological traits and hydrological and environmental characteristics were investigated. Resilience of meiofauna to floods was quantified using regression. Small differences in basin drainage resulted in different responses. The abundance and resilience of the meiofauna were higher in the upstream reach than those in the downstream communities. A small, worm-shaped body and active locomotor structures conferred higher resilience in the face of natural hydrological disturbances. Low-order reaches are refugia for functionally important meiofauna that can eventually repopulate downstream reaches.

scholarly journals Cycles and circulation: a theme in the history of biology and medicine

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Hopwood ◽  
Staffan Müller-Wille ◽  
Janet Browne ◽  
Christiane Groeben ◽  
Shigehisa Kuriyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Systems Ecology ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
Reproductive Cycles ◽  
Economics And Biology

AbstractWe invite systematic consideration of the metaphors of cycles and circulation as a long-term theme in the history of the life and environmental sciences and medicine. Ubiquitous in ancient religious and philosophical traditions, especially in representing the seasons and the motions of celestial bodies, circles once symbolized perfection. Over the centuries cyclic images in western medicine, natural philosophy, natural history and eventually biology gained independence from cosmology and theology and came to depend less on strictly circular forms. As potent ‘canonical icons’, cycles also interacted with representations of linear and irreversible change, including arrows, arcs, scales, series and trees, as in theories of the Earth and of evolution. In modern times life cycles and reproductive cycles have often been held to characterize life, in some cases especially female life, while human efforts selectively to foster and disrupt these cycles have harnessed their productivity in medicine and agriculture. But strong cyclic metaphors have continued to link physiology and climatology, medicine and economics, and biology and manufacturing, notably through the relations between land, food and population. From the grand nineteenth-century transformations of matter to systems ecology, the circulation of molecules through organic and inorganic compartments has posed the problem of maintaining identity in the face of flux and highlights the seductive ability of cyclic schemes to imply closure where no original state was in fact restored. More concerted attention to cycles and circulation will enrich analyses of the power of metaphors to naturalize understandings of life and their shaping by practical interests and political imaginations.

Comparison of mayfly (Ephemeroptera) taxocenes of permanent and intermittent Central European small streams via species traits

Biologia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavla Řezníčková ◽  
Tomáš Soldán ◽  
Petr Pařil ◽  
Světlana Zahrádková
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
Extreme Temperature ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Hydrological Regime ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Small Streams ◽  
High Oxygen Demand ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe recurrent drying out of small streams in past decades has shown an urgent need to pay attention to the impact of global climate change. The objectives of this study were to describe the effect of drying out on the composition of the mayfly taxocene and evaluate the relevance of individual species traits for survival of mayflies to drying out. The mayfly taxocenes of two model localities, one at an intermittent and one at a permanent brook, were investigated in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Compared with the permanent stream, the taxocene of the intermittent stream was short of nine species, foremost rheobionts and high oxygen demand species. To explain further differences between both stream types in survival and recolonisation ability, 15 species traits were evaluated. These included so-called “ecological traits” (e.g., habitat and substrate range, density, distribution, current velocity adaptation) and “biological traits” connected with life cycle and larval/adult adaptations. Species showing the highest number of advantageous traits (with only exception of Electrogena sp. cf. ujhelyii — species of taxonomically unclear status) were able to successfully survive under the unfavourable conditions of the intermittent brook. Biological traits considered more important in many respects seem to be good predictors for assessing sensitivity to extreme temperature changes, hydrological regime fluctuations and the survival/recolonisation ability of species in exposed habitats.

scholarly journals Parasite vulnerability to climate change: an evidence-based functional trait approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 160535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie A. Cizauskas ◽  
Colin J. Carlson ◽  
Kevin R. Burgio ◽  
Chris F. Clements ◽  
Eric R. Dougherty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Parasite Species ◽  
Trophic Group ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Parasite Biology ◽  
Parasite Conservation

Despite the number of virulent pathogens that are projected to benefit from global change and to spread in the next century, we suggest that a combination of coextinction risk and climate sensitivity could make parasites at least as extinction prone as any other trophic group. However, the existing interdisciplinary toolbox for identifying species threatened by climate change is inadequate or inappropriate when considering parasites as conservation targets. A functional trait approach can be used to connect parasites' ecological role to their risk of disappearance, but this is complicated by the taxonomic and functional diversity of many parasite clades. Here, we propose biological traits that may render parasite species particularly vulnerable to extinction (including high host specificity, complex life cycles and narrow climatic tolerance), and identify critical gaps in our knowledge of parasite biology and ecology. By doing so, we provide criteria to identify vulnerable parasite species and triage parasite conservation efforts.

Life cycles and nymphal feeding of Isoperla morenica Tierno de Figueroa and Luzón-Ortega, 2011 and Brachyptera vera cordubensis Berthélemy and Baena, 1984 (Plecoptera: Perlodidae and Taeniopterygidae) in a Mediterranean stream (Spain)

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Quevedo-Ortiz ◽  
José María Fernández-Calero ◽  
Julio Miguel Luzón-Ortega ◽  
Manuel Jesús López-Rodríguez ◽  
José Manuel Tierno de Figueroa
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycles ◽  
Mediterranean Stream

Flammable Australia

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Face ◽  
Emerging Issues

In Flammable Australia: Fire Regimes, Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing World, leading researchers in fire ecology and management discuss how fire regimes have shaped and will continue to shape the distribution and abundance of Australia’s highly diverse plants and animals. Central to this is the exploration of the concept of the fire regime – the cumulative pattern of fires and their individual characteristics (fire type, frequency, intensity, season) and how variation in regime components affects landscapes and their constituent biota. Contributions by 44 authors explore a wide range of topics including classical themes such as pre-history and evolution, fire behaviour, fire regimes in key biomes, plant and animal life cycles, remote sensing and modelling of fire regimes, and emerging issues such as climate change and fire regimes, carbon dynamics and opportunities for managing fire regimes for multiple benefits. In the face of significant global change, the conservation of our native species and ecosystems requires an understanding of the processes at play when fires and landscapes interact. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of this complex science, in the context of one of the world’s most flammable continents.

Natural Selection in Relation to Complexity

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley N. Salthe
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Dissipative Structures ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Fitness Functions ◽  
Soft Selection ◽  
The Face ◽  
Natural Selection Theory

Structural complexity characterizes our representations of dissipative structures. As a mechanistic concept, when referred to natural systems it generates perplexity in the face of logically sound models. Natural selection is a simple mechanistic concept, whose logic is well exemplified in genetic algorithms. While biological traits and functions do appear to have been subjected to selective culling, current neo-Darwinian theory is unable to account for the evolution of traits or functions when many of these are taken as the separate objects of independent fitness functions. Soft selection, acting in a phenotypically holistic manner, does model selection acting upon structurally complex systems with many traits and functions, but does not account for the evolution of specific traits or functions. It is further suggested that selection cannot be other than a weak force in the early, generative stages of complex life histories, and that this is a good thing, preserving their generativity. I conclude that natural selection theory by itself cannot account for increases in structural complexity.

scholarly journals Underlying Low-Order Dynamics of Nonlinear Interaction among Northern Hemisphere Teleconnection Patterns and Its Association with the AO/NAM

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 1315-1335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Zhao ◽  
Sujie Liang ◽  
Yihui Ding
Keyword(s):  
Phase Space ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Nonlinear Interaction ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Stratospheric Polar Vortex ◽  
Local Maxima ◽  
Deterministic Dynamics ◽  
Low Order

Abstract Studies on the nonlinear natures of the spatiotemporal structure of the Arctic Oscillation/Northern Hemisphere annular mode (AO/NAM) in the context of nonlinear interaction among the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the Pacific–North American pattern (PNA), and the stratospheric polar vortex (SPV) are performed. The non-Gaussianity of the multivariate probability density function (PDF) in the phase space spanned by their indices is examined first. Five local maxima potentially related to circulation regimes are identified from the so-called angular PDF. One opposite pair of these regimes is found to correspond to the positive and negative phases of the AO/NAM. Since the authors are not sure that, due to uncertainty as suggested by statistical tests, some of the above regimes are non-Gaussian, the nonlinearity of phase-space tendency is employed as an assistant measure to identify them as nonlinear modes. It seems phase-space tendency traditionally estimated from time difference failed to be effective because of its dependence on Δt. To overcome this drawback a low-order stochastic dynamical model is established empirically from the indices. The investigation on the basic deterministic dynamics of this model suggests that the existence of regimes, such as those associated with the AO/NAM, can primarily be explained by its nonlinear deterministic part. However, two problems still remain unsolved: 1) one of the local maxima was almost not identified and 2) life cycles of the basic deterministic dynamics are too long to be related to the low-frequency variability. By introducing a multilevel approach of modeling, further insight into the residual noise of the above stochastic model can address these two issues quite well.

Sedimentation effects on the benthos of streams and estuaries: a cross-ecosystem comparison

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Reid ◽  
Luca D. Chiaroni ◽  
Judi E. Hewitt ◽  
Drew M. Lohrer ◽  
Christoph D. Matthaei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Taxon Richness ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Sediment Addition ◽  
Estuarine Condition ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ecosystem Comparison

Connected ecosystems can be detrimentally affected by the same stressor, such as occurs when excess fine sediment moves from streams into estuaries. However, no previous study has directly compared sedimentation effects across these ecosystems. Responses of benthic macroinvertebrate communities to sedimentation were predicted to vary between streams and estuaries, because of intersystem differences in the physical environment and representation of species traits. To compare these responses, fine terrigenous sediment was added simultaneously to replicated plots in stream-run habitats and the adjacent estuary. Although sediment addition to streams caused reduced invertebrate densities after 1 week, no changes in taxon richness or consistent changes in community structure were detected, and densities had recovered another week later. In contrast, sediment addition to estuarine sites caused large declines in invertebrate densities and changes in community structure, which remained evident at the innermost sites 16 days after addition. Across both systems, sedimentation effects were detectable only for some of the common taxa, and biological traits were not predictive of effects. The potential for more severe effects in estuaries should be considered when predicting the implications of land-use changes that may increase sedimentation, and when setting guidelines for maintaining stream and estuarine condition.

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