Decreasing Richness And Biomass During A Flood Pulse Observed In A Southeastern US Coastal Floodplain Following A Multi-Year, Supra-Seasonal Drought

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica L. Johnson ◽  
Erin F. Abernethy ◽  
J. Checo Colón-Gaud
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Flood Pulse ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Biological Productivity ◽  
Aquatic Communities ◽  
Functional Feeding Group ◽  
Seasonal Flooding ◽  
Southeastern Us ◽  
Feeding Group

Abstract Floodplains of the southeastern United States exhibit high biological productivity, maintained by periodic floodplain inundation as a result of seasonal flooding. To examine the relationship between biological productivity and seasonal flooding following periods of drought, we quantified aquatic macroinvertebrate communities monthly in an inundated floodplain during the annual flood pulse (December-April) in two years, one following a multi-year drought and one following a larger than average flooding event. We predicted that floodplain communities would differ in richness, biomass, and community composition between years and that differences would be driven by discharge at the main stem and organic matter availability. We collected macroinvertebrates from the floodplain of the Altamaha River, an unimpounded 6th order river in the Coastal Plain region of the southeastern US that experiences floodplain connectivity. With invertebrates identified to genus, we elucidated richness, abundance, biomass, community composition, and functional feeding group. Richness was generally higher in the drought year but decreased throughout the flood pulse, while during the flood year richness was lower and increased. Biomass decreased throughout the flood pulse following the drought year and increased during the flood year. There was a high degree of overlap in invertebrate community composition based on abundance data during both years of the study with collector gatherers being the most highly abundant functional feeding group. As climate change impacts (i.e., severe droughts) become more common, it is critical to investigate how aquatic communities are responding to increasingly unpredictable flow conditions in unimpounded and seemingly unaltered rivers.

Regional-scale patterns in community concordance: testing the roles of historical biogeography versus contemporary abiotic controls in determining stream community composition

2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 1141-1150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret R. Neff ◽  
Donald A. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Historical Biogeography ◽  
Physical Habitat ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Aquatic Communities ◽  
Lotic Systems ◽  
Abiotic Conditions ◽  
South Central ◽  
Community Concordance

The determinants of a local-scale biological community can include both abiotic and biotic factors acting at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Previous studies have shown that the Precambrian Shield, a broad-scale geological feature, has distinct abiotic conditions and aquatic communities in lotic systems as compared with systems off-Shield. The relative importance of historical biogeography and postglacial colonization in Ontario versus the role of contemporary abiotic conditions has been debated in determining fish community composition. In this study, we sampled fish and macroinvertebrate community data from south-central Ontario streams to examine the degree of community concordance between fishes and macroinvertebrates and to determine the main abiotic drivers for this biological distinction between Shield and off-Shield areas. This study shows that low-order lotic systems on the Shield differ both abiotically and biotically from adjacent off-Shield systems and that similar abiotic drivers are responsible for structuring both groups of taxa. However, water chemistry and land-use variables are the most important in structuring macroinvertebrate communities, whereas physical habitat plays a larger role for fish communities.

Patch history, invertebrate patch dynamics and heterogeneous community composition: perspectives from a manipulative stream experiment

2007 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Olsen ◽  
C. D. Matthaei ◽  
C. R. Townsend
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Patch Dynamics ◽  
Invertebrate Drift ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Disturbance History ◽  
Patch Type ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Stream Communities ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Stable Control

Recent research after bed-moving flow events has shown that local disturbance history can contribute to patchiness in stream communities. Patterns of recolonisation were studied following experimental disturbances in which patches of sediment were manipulated by removing 10 cm of surface sediment (scour) or by depositing 10 cm of clean sediment (fill) on top of existing sediments. Six invertebrate samples were collected from each patch type (including stable control patches) on five occasions up to six weeks after the manipulation. Immediately after the disturbance, distinctive macroinvertebrate communities occurred in scour, fill and stable patches. Community composition in scour patches remained distinct from fill and stable patches for the entire study period. Immediately after the manipulation, scour patches contained higher densities of hypogean taxa than did fill patches, but this difference did not persist for long, indicating that the relict community had little influence on the subsequent pattern of recovery. In contrast, fill patch communities were indistinguishable from stable patches by Day 14, most likely owing to recolonisation by buried invertebrates and invertebrate drift. Differences in patterns of recolonisation following different types of disturbance can result in patchy invertebrate communities that persist for several weeks after the disturbance.

scholarly journals Capões como Ilhas para Artrópodes no Pantanal

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Aranda
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Riparian Vegetation ◽  
Flood Pulse ◽  
Soil Arthropods ◽  
Arthropod Community ◽  
Plastic Bags

A configuração do habitat é um dos fatores que pode influenciar a distribuição dos organismos. O pantanal por apresentar mosaico natural de formações se enquadra para testar tais afirmações. O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar se a distância e o tamanho de capões afetam a composição da comunidade de artrópodes testando a hipótese de que quanto maior e mais próximo o capão da mata ciliar, maior sua diversidade. Foram amostradas seis parcelas de 30 cm² em nove capões onde a serrapilheira e o solo foram coletados, acondicionados em sacos plásticos e posteriormente triados. Houve relação entre a composição da comunidade de artrópodes em relação à distância e o tamanho indicando que o pulso de inundação do último ano afetou de forma significativa a comunidade de artrópodes de solo em capões. O acompanhamento dos processos de recolonização dos capões é sugerido. Capons as Island for Arthropods in Pantanal Abstract. The configuration of habitat is one of the factors that influence the distribution of organisms. The Pantanal by presenting mosaic natural formations fit to test such claims. The present study aimed to evaluate the distance and size of riparian capons affect the community composition of arthropods tested the hypothesis that the higher and closer to the capon of riparian vegetation, the greater its diversity. We sampled six plots of 30 cm² in nine capons where the leaf-litter and soil were collected, placed in plastic bags and later sorted. There was a relationship between the composition of arthropod community in relation to distance and size indicating that the flood pulse of the last year significantly affected the community of soil arthropods in geldings. The monitoring of the processes of recolonization of the capons is suggested.

scholarly journals Promoting a functional macroinvertebrate approach in the biomonitoring of Italian lotic systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 76 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Merritt ◽  
Stefano Fenoglio ◽  
Kenneth W. Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Level Of Detail ◽  
Functional Feeding Groups ◽  
Running Waters ◽  
Ecological Evaluation ◽  
Lotic Systems ◽  
Functional Feeding Group ◽  
Feeding Group ◽  
Great Availability ◽  
Made In

Over fifty years of research on freshwater macroinvertebrates has been driven largely by the state of the taxonomy of these organisms. Significant advances have been and continue to be made in developing ever more refined keys to macroinvertebrate groups. When advances in macroinvertebrate ecological research are restricted by the level of detail in identifications, then analysis by function is a viable alternative. The focus on function, namely adaptations of macroinvertebrates to habitats and the utilization of food resources, has facilitated ecological evaluation of freshwater ecosystems. This classification is based not on what insects eat, but how they obtain their food. These categories are called 'functional feeding groups', as the name implies, denoting their functional role when describing how and where they feed. This is the basis for the functional feeding group (FFG) method that was initially developed in the early 1960s. Taxonomy is applied only to the level of detail that allows assignment to one of five functional feeding group categories: detrital shredders, scrapers, filtering collectors, gatherers, and predators. The aim of this short communication, originating from the presentation of R.W. Merritt at the Biomonitoring Symposium in Rome, 2015, is to promote the use of a functional approach in biomonitoring, especially in Italian and European lotic systems. Here, we present two case studies and we discuss the advantages of the method, especially considering the great availability of quantitative data on macroinvertebrates after the implementation of the WFD 2000/60. We are confident that the increase of functional assessment of ecosystem attributes could have important and direct repercussions in the understanding and management of running waters.

scholarly journals Downscaling a global climate model to simulate climate change impacts on US regional and urban air quality

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 2517-2549 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Trail ◽  
A. P. Tsimpidi ◽  
P. Liu ◽  
K. Tsigaridis ◽  
Y. Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Southeastern Us ◽  
The Us

Abstract. Climate change can exacerbate future regional air pollution events by making conditions more favorable to form high levels of ozone. In this study, we use spectral nudging with WRF to downscale NASA earth system GISS modelE2 results during the years 2006 to 2010 and 2048 to 2052 over the continental United States in order to compare the resulting meteorological fields from the air quality perspective during the four seasons of five-year historic and future climatological periods. GISS results are used as initial and boundary conditions by the WRF RCM to produce hourly meteorological fields. The downscaling technique and choice of physics parameterizations used are evaluated by comparing them with in situ observations. This study investigates changes of similar regional climate conditions down to a 12 km by 12 km resolution, as well as the effect of evolving climate conditions on the air quality at major US cities. The high resolution simulations produce somewhat different results than the coarse resolution simulations in some regions. Also, through the analysis of the meteorological variables that most strongly influence air quality, we find consistent changes in regional climate that would enhance ozone levels in four regions of the US during fall (Western US, Texas, Northeastern, and Southeastern US), one region during summer (Texas), and one region where changes potentially would lead to better air quality during spring (northeast). We also find that daily peak temperatures tend to increase in most major cities in the US which would increase the risk of health problems associated with heat stress. Future work will address a more comprehensive assessment of emissions and chemistry involved in the formation and removal of air pollutants.

scholarly journals Contribution of beta diversity in shaping stream macroinvertebrate communities among hydro-ecoregions

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 957-971
Author(s):  
Tiziano Bo ◽  
Alberto Doretto ◽  
Marco Levrino ◽  
Stefano Fenoglio
Keyword(s):  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Benthic Communities ◽  
Sampling Site ◽  
Wiener Index ◽  
Variance Partitioning ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Aquatic Communities ◽  
Species Sorting

Abstract Rivers are heterogeneous and patchy-structured systems in which regional biodiversity of aquatic communities typically varies as a function of local habitat conditions and spatial gradients. Understanding which environmental and spatial constraints shape the diversity and composition of benthic communities is therefore a pivotal challenge for basic and applied research in river ecology. In this study, benthic invertebrates were collected from 27 sites across three hydro-ecoregions with the aim of investigating patterns in α- and β diversity. We first assessed the contribution to regional biodiversity of different and nested spatial scales, ranging from micro-habitat to hydro-ecoregion. Then, we tested differences in α diversity, taxonomic composition and ecological uniqueness among hydro-ecoregions. Variance partitioning analysis was used to evaluate the mechanistic effects of environmental and spatial variables on the composition of macroinvertebrate communities. Macroinvertebrate diversity was significantly affected by all the spatial scales, with a differential contribution according to the type of metric. Sampling site was the spatial scale that mostly contributed to the total richness, while the micro-habitat level explained the largest proportion of variance in Shannon–Wiener index. We found significant differences in the taxonomic composition, with 39 invertebrate families significantly associated with one or two hydro-ecoregions. However, effects of environmental and spatial controls were context dependent, indicating that the mechanisms that promote beta diversity probably differ among hydro-ecoregions. Evidence for species sorting, due to natural areas and stream order, was observed for macroinvertebrate communities in alpine streams, while spatial and land-use variables played a weak role in other geographical contexts.

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