scholarly journals New kid on the block: Research of alpine-lake macroinvertebrates in the Tatra Mountains enhanced by DNA barcoding and metabarcoding

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondrej Vargovčík ◽  
Zuzana Čiamporová-Zaťovičová ◽  
Fedor Čiampor Jr
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Sampling Error ◽  
Alpine Lakes ◽  
Alpine Lake ◽  
Tatra Mountains ◽  
Aquatic Communities ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Tatra Mountains

State of ecosystems and biodiversity protection are becoming the key interests for modern society due to climate change and negative human impacts (Leese 2018). Environmental changes in freshwaters are indicated also by benthic communities, especially in sensitive ecosystems like alpine lakes (Fjellheim 2009). Moreover, remoteness and isolation of alpine lakes make them a source of biodiversity, which is worth conserving (Hamerlík 2014). A promising tool for efficient large-scale monitoring of aquatic communities is DNA metabarcoding (Leese 2018). In this study, we applied metabarcoding to analyse macrozoobenthos of 12 lakes in the Tatra Mountains, using benthic bulk samples and eDNA filtered from water (Fig. 1). In compliance with recent publications, eDNA amplified with BF3/BR2 primers resulted in high percentage of non-invertebrate reads (Leese 2021). Based on in silico tests with the obtained sequences, we confirm that the recently developed EPTDr2n primer enables minimizing non-target amplification even with eDNA filtered from alpine-lake water (Elbrecht and Leese 2017). This ability is facilitated by 3’ end of the primer and we observed the two important mismatches in non-target sequences from our study (Leese 2021). Thus, our future analyses of eDNA (and bulk-sample fixative) will benefit from the new primer. Concerning bulk samples, a wide range of invertebrate taxa was assigned to the OTUs and they showed good congruence with previous studies using morphological determination (e.g. Krno 2006). Certain differences with (and among) the previous records per lake were observed, which could suggest ecological changes, but at the moment the influence of sampling error cannot be excluded. In eDNA, several taxa were congruent with the previous records, but their amount and read abundance was considerably lower due to non-target amplification. Apart from that, filling gaps in barcoding databases remains one of our priorities, as identification to species or genus level was not yet possible for some invertebrate OTUs. In addition, we subjected the NGS data to denoising and abundance-filtering in order to explore haplotype-level diversity (Andújar 2021). Although more comprehensive conclusions will be possible only after obtaining data from more lakes and years, already the two metabarcoding experiments presented here enabled us to efficiently detect within-species genetic diversity and identify a large variety of taxa, including groups that would otherwise be omitted or very challenging to identify. This underlines the potential of DNA methods to provide valuable ecological and biodiversity data across the tree of life for modern biomonitoring. This study was realized with support from VEGA 2/0030/17 and VEGA 2/0084/21.

scholarly journals The intensity of slope and fluvial processes after a catastrophic windthrow event in small catchments in the Tatra Mountains

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1405-1423
Author(s):  
Dariusz Strzyżowski ◽  
Elżbieta Gorczyca ◽  
Kazimierz Krzemień ◽  
Mirosław Żelazny
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Bedload Transport ◽  
Strong Wind ◽  
Tatra Mountains ◽  
Salvage Logging ◽  
Fluvial Processes ◽  
Wind Events ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Tatra Mountains ◽  
The Impact

AbstractStrong wind events frequently result in creating large areas of windthrow, which causes abrupt environmental changes. Bare soil surfaces within pits and root plates potentially expose soil to erosion. Absence of forest may alter the dynamics of water circulation. In this study we attempt to answer the question of whether extensive windthrows influence the magnitude of geomorphic processes in 6 small second- to third-order catchments with area ranging from 0.09 km2 to 0.8 km2. Three of the catchments were significantly affected by a windthrow which occurred in December 2013 in the Polish part of the Tatra Mountains, and the other three catchments were mostly forested and served as control catchments. We mapped the pits created by the windthrow and the linear scars created by salvage logging operations in search of any signs of erosion within them. We also mapped all post-windthrow landslides created in the windthrow-affected catchments. The impact of the windthrow on the fluvial system was investigated by measuring a set of channel characteristics and determining bedload transport intensity using painted tracers in all the windthrow-affected and control catchments. Both pits and linear scars created by harvesting tend to become overgrown by vegetation in the first several years after the windthrow. The only signs of erosion were observed in 10% of the pits located on convergent slopes. During the period from the windthrow event in 2013 until 2019, 5 very small (total area <100 m2) shallow landslides were created. The mean distance of bedload transport was similar (t-test, p=0.05) in most of the windthrow-affected and control catchments. The mapping of channels revealed many cases of root plates fallen into a channel and pits created near a channel. A significant amount of woody debris delivered into the channels influenced the activity of fluvial processes by creating alternating zones of erosion and accumulation.

Early successional pathways in the Tatra Mountains (Slovakia) forest ecosystems following natural disturbances

Biologia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf Šoltés ◽  
Jozef Školek ◽  
Zuzana Homolová ◽  
Zuzana Kyselová
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Tatra Mountains ◽  
Successional Stage ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Disturbed Forest ◽  
Burnt Areas ◽  
The Tatra Mountains

AbstractLarge scale windstorms disturbed forest ecosystems in the Tatra Mountains in 2004, and were followed by a severe fire in 2005. A long-term study on the vegetation successional dynamics of the area was launched immediately after the 2005 event. Relevé plots were established under five different disturbance and management treatments: windthrow left, windthrow removed, hydrologically managed, burnt and reference. We used weighted Ellenberg’s indicator plant values for ordination analyses of the following environmental gradients: light, temperature, continentality, moisture, acidity, nitrogen. Successional patterns depended on the management treatment. Heavily burnt areas were colonized by plants disseminated by airborn diasporas, mainly by Chamaerion angustifolium, less burnt or unburnt localities were settled by plants germinating from the soil seed bank or by plants surviving by root system. Nitrophilous weed vegetation invaded plots with increased moisture (fallen or standing overstory vegetation or irrigated by man-made system) and nitrogen (burnt or windthrow removal). The felled-area species were recorded in each plot. Abundant natural regeneration was observed in plots with increased moisture. The moss layer disappeared soon after the disturbance events. The results presented here refer to a very early successional stage, new insights into initial successional paterns are gained.

scholarly journals Innovative finance to deliver adequate marine biodiversity knowledge for high seas and deep ocean governance beyond national jurisdiction.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Thiele
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Biodiversity Knowledge ◽  
Ocean Governance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
High Seas

Torsten Thiele, Ocean Governance, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany [email protected] High seas and deep sea governance is progressing through the UN BBNJ process. At the same time the International Seabed Authority is developing a Mining Code for the Area. Both processes are in need of adequate marine biodiversity knowledge to ensure that the governance regimes address adequately the challenges of human impacts on these critical ecosystems. The chosen management structures need to reflect the complexity and connectivity of marine life. They have to be enforceable, practicable and cost-effective. Such solutions will require significant funding, which can be delivered at scale if the financing model chosen is robust and has the right incentives for private sector participation. A well-structured and funded marine biodiversity knowledge infrastructure would have a wide range of benefits beyond the role as a key part of an ocean governance system. It could be base for a broader public-private partnership for ocean regeneration, delivering large-scale science, research and conservation objectives. Innovative finance is a mechanism to put such an effective policy and legal response in place, but needs to be developed and supported in cooperation with the marine science community. This talk will cover ocean policy issues as well as the innovative finance approach.

scholarly journals Covariation in population trends and demography reveals targets for conservation action

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1946) ◽  
pp. 20202955
Author(s):  
Catriona A. Morrison ◽  
Simon J. Butler ◽  
Robert A. Robinson ◽  
Jacquie A. Clark ◽  
Juan Arizaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Population Trends ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Wide Range

Wildlife conservation policies directed at common and widespread, but declining, species are difficult to design and implement effectively, as multiple environmental changes are likely to contribute to population declines. Conservation actions ultimately aim to influence demographic rates, but targeting actions towards feasible improvements in these is challenging in widespread species with ranges that encompass a wide range of environmental conditions. Across Europe, sharp declines in the abundance of migratory landbirds have driven international calls for action, but actions that could feasibly contribute to population recovery have yet to be identified. Targeted actions to improve conditions on poor-quality sites could be an effective approach, but only if local conditions consistently influence local demography and hence population trends. Using long-term measures of abundance and demography of breeding birds at survey sites across Europe, we show that co-occurring species with differing migration behaviours have similar directions of local population trends and magnitudes of productivity, but not survival rates. Targeted actions to boost local productivity within Europe, alongside large-scale (non-targeted) environmental protection across non-breeding ranges, could therefore help address the urgent need to halt migrant landbird declines. Such demographic routes to recovery are likely to be increasingly needed to address global wildlife declines.

scholarly journals Modelling reversibility of central European mountain lakes from acidification: Part II – the Tatra Mountains

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kopácek ◽  
B. J. Cosby ◽  
V. Majer ◽  
E. Stuchlík ◽  
J. Veselý
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
N Uptake ◽  
Sorption Isotherms ◽  
Base Cations ◽  
Alpine Lakes ◽  
Partial Recovery ◽  
Tatra Mountains ◽  
Nitrogen Emissions ◽  
The Tatra Mountains

Abstract. A dynamic, process-based model of surface water acidification, MAGIC7, has been applied to four representative alpine lakes in the Tatra Mountains (Slovakia and Poland). The model was calibrated for a set of 12 to 22-year experimental records of lake water composition. Surface water and soil chemistry were reconstructed from 1860 to 2002 and forecast to 2050 based on the reduction in sulphur and nitrogen emissions presupposed by the Gothenburg Protocol. Relatively small changes in the soil C:N ratios were not sufficient to simulate observed changes in NO3‾ concentrations, so an alternative empirical approach of changes in terrestrial N uptake was applied. Measured sulphate sorption isotherms did not allow calibration of the pattern of sulphate response in the lakes, indicating that other mechanisms of S release were also important. The lake water chemistry exhibited significant changes during both the acidification advance (1860 to 1980s) and retreat (1980s to 2010). An increase in lake water concentrations of strong acid anions (SAA; 104–149 μeq l–1) was balanced by a decline in HCO3‾ (13–62 μeq l–1) and an increase in base cations (BC; 42–72 μeq l–1), H+ (0-18 μeq l–1), and Alin+ (0–26 μeq l–1). The carbonate buffering system was depleted in three lakes. In contrast, lake water concentrations of SAA, BC, H+, and Alin+ decreased by 57–82, 28–42, 0–11, and 0–22 μeq l–1, respectively, the carbonate buffering system was re-established, and HCO3‾ increased by 1–21 μeq l–1 during the chemical reversal from atmospheric acidification (by 2000). The MAGIC7 model forecasts a slight continuation in this reversal for the next decade and new steady-state conditions thereafter. Gran alkalinity should come back to 1950s levels (0–71 μeq l–1) in all lakes after 2010. Partial recovery of the soil pool of exchangeable base cations can be expected in one catchment, while only conservation of the current conditions is predicted for three lakes. Even though the pre-industrial alkalinity values of 16–80 μeq l–1 will not be reached due to the insufficient recovery of soil quality, the ongoing chemical improvement of water should be sufficient for biological recovery of most alpine lakes in the Tatra Mountains. Keywords: MAGIC, atmospheric deposition, sulphate, nitrate, base cations, aluminium, alkalinity, pH

scholarly journals Shoreline Displacement, Coastal Environments and Human Subsistence in the Hanö Bay Region during The Mesolithic

Quaternary ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Hansson ◽  
Adam Boethius ◽  
Dan Hammarlund ◽  
Per Lagerås ◽  
Ola Magnell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Coastal Environments ◽  
Coastal Lake ◽  
Coastal Landscape ◽  
Settlement Development ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Shoreline Displacement ◽  
Human Subsistence

Southern Scandinavia experienced significant environmental changes during the early Holocene. Shoreline displacement reconstructions and results from several zooarchaeological studies were used to describe the environmental changes and the associated human subsistence and settlement development in the Hanö Bay region of southern Sweden during the Mesolithic. GIS-based palaeogeographic reconstructions building on shoreline displacement records from eastern Skåne and western Blekinge together with a sediment sequence from an infilled coastal lake were used to describe the environmental changes during five key periods. The results show a rapid transformation of the coastal landscape during the Mesolithic. During this time, the investigated coastal settlements indicate a shift towards a more sedentary lifestyle and a subsistence focused on large-scale freshwater fishing. The development of permanent settlements coincided with an extended period of coastline stability and the development of rich coastal environments in a more closed forest vegetation. This study provides a regional synthesis of the shoreline displacement, coastal landscape dynamics and settlement development during the Mesolithic. It also demonstrates a new way of combining zooarchaeological and palaeoecological approaches, which can produce multi-faceted and highly resolved palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in a wide range of settings.

scholarly journals Small lakes in big landscape: External drivers of littoral ecosystem in high elevation lakes

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragos G Zaharescu ◽  
Carmen I Burghelea ◽  
Peter S Hooda ◽  
Richard N Lester ◽  
Antonio Palanca-Soler
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Alpine Lakes ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Water Conductivity ◽  
Geographical Scale ◽  
Water Ph

In low nutrient alpine lakes, the littoral zone is the most productive part of the ecosystem, and it is a biodiversity hotspot. It is not entirely clear how the scale and physical heterogeneity of surrounding catchment, its ecological composition, and larger landscape gradients work together to sustain littoral communities. A total of 114 alpine lakes in the central Pyrenees were surveyed to evaluate the functional connectivity between catchment physical and ecological elements and littoral zoobenthos, and ascertain their effect on community formation. At each lake, the zoobenthic composition was assessed together with geolocation (altitude, latitude and longitude), catchment hydrodynamics, geomorphology, topography, riparian vegetation composition, the presence of trout and frogs, water pH and conductivity. Uni- and multidimensional fuzzy set ordination models integrating benthic biota and environmental variables revealed that at geographical scale longitude surpassed altitude in its effect on the littoral ecosystem, reflecting a sharp transition between Atlantic and Mediterranean bioregions. Topography (through its control of catchment type, summer snow coverage, and connectivity with other lakes) was the largest catchment-scale driver, followed by hydrodynamics (waterbody size, type and inflow/outflow volumes). Locally, riparian plant composition significantly related to littoral community structure, richness and morphotype diversity. These variables, directly and indirectly, create habitats for aquatic and terrestrial stages of invertebrates, and control nutrient and water cycles. Three ecologically diverse associations characterised distinct lake sets. Vertebrate predation, water conductivity and pH (broad measures of total dissolved ions/nutrients and their bioavailability) had no major influence on littoral taxa. The work provides exhaustive information from relatively pristine sites, which unveil a strong connection between littoral ecosystem and catchment heterogeneity at scales beyond the local environment. This underpins their role as sensors of local and large-scale environmental changes, and can be used to evaluate further impacts.

scholarly journals Innovative finance to deliver adequate marine biodiversity knowledge for high seas and deep ocean governance beyond national jurisdiction.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Thiele
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Biodiversity Knowledge ◽  
Ocean Governance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
High Seas

Torsten Thiele, Ocean Governance, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany [email protected] High seas and deep sea governance is progressing through the UN BBNJ process. At the same time the International Seabed Authority is developing a Mining Code for the Area. Both processes are in need of adequate marine biodiversity knowledge to ensure that the governance regimes address adequately the challenges of human impacts on these critical ecosystems. The chosen management structures need to reflect the complexity and connectivity of marine life. They have to be enforceable, practicable and cost-effective. Such solutions will require significant funding, which can be delivered at scale if the financing model chosen is robust and has the right incentives for private sector participation. A well-structured and funded marine biodiversity knowledge infrastructure would have a wide range of benefits beyond the role as a key part of an ocean governance system. It could be base for a broader public-private partnership for ocean regeneration, delivering large-scale science, research and conservation objectives. Innovative finance is a mechanism to put such an effective policy and legal response in place, but needs to be developed and supported in cooperation with the marine science community. This talk will cover ocean policy issues as well as the innovative finance approach.

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