Influence of river regulation and instream habitat on invertebrate assemblage' structure and function.

Autor: Calapez AR; Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal. Electronic address: anacalapez@gmail.com., Serra SRQ; Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal., Rivaes R; Forest Research Centre (CEF), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal., Aguiar FC; Forest Research Centre (CEF), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal., Feio MJ; Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2021 Nov 10; Vol. 794, pp. 148696. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jun 26.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148696
Abstrakt: Dams modify geomorphology, water quantity, quality and timing of stream flows affecting ecosystem functioning and aquatic biota. In this study, we addressed the structural and functional macroinvertebrate community alterations in different instream mesohabitats of two Portuguese rivers impaired by dams. We sampled macroinvertebrates in riffles, runs and pools of river sites downstream of the dams (i.e. regulated; n = 24) and in sites without the influence of the dams (i.e. unregulated; n = 7), assessing a total of 64 mesohabitats, following late spring-early summer regular flows. We found a distinct taxonomic structure and trait composition of macroinvertebrate assemblages between regulated and unregulated flow sites, and also between mesohabitats in which the differences were more evident. When analysing each mesohabitat individually, the effect of flow regulation was detected only in run-type mesohabitats for both taxonomic and trait composition, leading us to infer that a selective macroinvertebrate assessment on run mesohabitats would be a valuable contribution to detect regulated flow effects on ecosystems impaired by dams. Additionally, there is evidence that respiration and locomotion traits could be effective tools to identify damming flow alterations. This study supports that the quality assessments of rivers impacted by dams could benefit from a sampling approach focused on run mesohabitats and the detection of some key traits, which would improve assessment accuracy.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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