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Ohler K, Schreiner VC, Link M, Liess M, Schäfer RB. Land use changes biomass and temporal patterns of insect cross-ecosystem flows. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:81-96. [PMID: 36178427 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Emergent aquatic insects constitute an important food source for higher trophic levels, linking aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems. Little is known about how land use affects the biomass or composition of insect emergence. Previous studies are limited to individual time points or seasons, hampering understanding of annual biomass export patterns and detection of phenological changes. Over 1 year's primary emergence period, we continuously determined the biomass, abundance, and identity of >45,000 aquatic insects and recorded land-use-related environmental variables in 20 stream sites using a paired design with upstream forested sites and downstream agricultural sites. Total insect biomass and abundance were 2-7 mg day-1 m-2 and 7-36 ind day-1 m-2 higher in agricultural than forested sites. However, we found turnover of families between forested and agricultural sites, with more insects with shorter generation time in agriculture, indicating lower sensitivity to land-use-related stress because of higher recovery potential. Except for stoneflies, biomass and abundance of major orders were higher in agriculture, but their phenology differed. For different orders, emergence peaked 30 days earlier to 51 days later in agriculture than forest, whereas total abundance and biomass both peaked earlier in agriculture: 3-5 and 3-19 days, respectively. The most important land-use-related drivers were pesticide toxicity and electrical conductivity, which were differentially associated with different aquatic insect order abundances and biomass. Overall, we found that land use was related to changes in composition and phenology of aquatic insect emergence, which is likely to affect food-web dynamics in a cross-ecosystem context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Ohler
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Verena C Schreiner
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Moritz Link
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Matthias Liess
- Department of System-Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ralf B Schäfer
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
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Liu Y, Shen Y, Cheng C, Yuan W, Gao H, Guo P. Analysis of the influence paths of land use and landscape pattern on organic matter decomposition in river ecosystems: Focusing on microbial groups. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 817:152999. [PMID: 35031368 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.152999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Organic matter decomposition (OMD) is one of the important river ecosystem functions. Changes in land use and landscape pattern (LULP) have a serious influence on the OMD in neighboring river ecosystems. However, there is limited information on the influence paths of LULP on organic matter decomposition in river ecosystems. In this study, cotton strip (CS) as a substitute for investigating OMD, was introduced to the delineated catchments in Luanhe River Basin in China, meanwhile combining with remote sensing interpretation, water quality analysis, microbial sequencing, and redundancy analysis (RDA) to identify the dominant LULP metrics, water quality parameters, and microbial groups controlling the OMD. Then the structural equation models (SEMs) were used to connect these dominant controlling factors to track the influence paths of LULP on OMD in river ecosystems. RDA results indicated that construction land (CON), farmland (FAR) and landscape shape index (LSI) in LULP, total nitrogen (TN), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and pH in water quality, bacterial phyla Planctomycetes and Firmicutes, as well as fungal phyla Chytridiomycota and Basidiomycota were the dominant factors controlling the OMD (quantified by tensile strength loss (TSL) and respiration (RES)). These four microbial phyla contributed significantly to OMD. SEMs further proposed three paths to explain the mechanism of LULP influencing on OMD, which were CON - TN - Firmicutes - TSL, CON - TN - Chytridiomycota - RES, and FAR - COD - Chytridiomycota - TSL. CON promoted OMD mainly through enhancing TN content in river water to increase Firmicutes and Chytridiomycota. FAR increased Chytridiomycota by decreasing COD in river water, promoting OMD. These results will deepen our understanding of the influence of LULP on river ecosystem functions and provide valuable information for policymakers and managers to carry out watershed land planning and river management in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yibo Liu
- Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment Ministry of Education, College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China; Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing 100012, PR China
| | - Yanping Shen
- Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment Ministry of Education, College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China
| | - Cheng Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment Ministry of Education, College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China
| | - Weilin Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment Ministry of Education, College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China
| | - Hongjie Gao
- Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing 100012, PR China.
| | - Ping Guo
- Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment Ministry of Education, College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China.
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Stehle S, Manfrin A, Feckler A, Graf T, Joschko TJ, Jupke J, Noss C, Rösch V, Schirmel J, Schmidt T, Zubrod JP, Schulz R. Structural and functional development of twelve newly established floodplain pond mesocosms. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8674. [PMID: 35309751 PMCID: PMC8902662 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecosystems are complex structures with interacting abiotic and biotic processes evolving with ongoing succession. However, limited knowledge exists on the very initial phase of ecosystem development and colonization. Here, we report results of a comprehensive ecosystem development monitoring for twelve floodplain pond mesocosms (FPM; 23.5 m × 7.5 m × 1.5 m each) located in south-western Germany. In total, 20 abiotic and biotic parameters, including structural and functional variables, were monitored for 21 months after establishment of the FPMs. The results showed evolving ecosystem development and primary succession in all FPMs, with fluctuating abiotic conditions over time. Principal component analyses and redundancy analyses revealed season and succession time (i.e., time since ecosystem establishment) to be significant drivers of changes in environmental conditions. Initial colonization of both aquatic (i.e., water bodies) and terrestrial (i.e., riparian land areas) parts of the pond ecosystems occurred within the first month, with subsequent season-specific increases in richness and abundance for aquatic and terrestrial taxa over the entire study period. Abiotic environmental conditions and aquatic and terrestrial communities showed increasing interpond variations over time, that is, increasing heterogeneity among the FPMs due to natural environmental divergence. However, both functional variables assessed (i.e., aquatic and terrestrial litter decomposition) showed opposite patterns as litter decomposition rates slightly decreased over time and interpond differences converged with successional ecosystem developments. Overall, our results provide rare insights into the abiotic and biotic conditions and processes during the initial stages of freshwater ecosystem formation, as well as into structural and functional developments of the aquatic and terrestrial environment of newly established pond ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Stehle
- Eusserthal Ecosystem Research StationUniversity Koblenz‐LandauEusserthalGermany
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
| | - Alessandro Manfrin
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
| | - Alexander Feckler
- Eusserthal Ecosystem Research StationUniversity Koblenz‐LandauEusserthalGermany
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
| | - Tobias Graf
- Eusserthal Ecosystem Research StationUniversity Koblenz‐LandauEusserthalGermany
| | - Tanja J. Joschko
- Eusserthal Ecosystem Research StationUniversity Koblenz‐LandauEusserthalGermany
| | - Jonathan Jupke
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
| | - Christian Noss
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
- Federal Waterways Engineering and Research InstituteKarlsruheGermany
| | - Verena Rösch
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
| | - Jens Schirmel
- Eusserthal Ecosystem Research StationUniversity Koblenz‐LandauEusserthalGermany
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
| | - Thomas Schmidt
- Eusserthal Ecosystem Research StationUniversity Koblenz‐LandauEusserthalGermany
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
| | - Jochen P. Zubrod
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
- Zubrod Environmental Data ScienceLandauGermany
| | - Ralf Schulz
- Eusserthal Ecosystem Research StationUniversity Koblenz‐LandauEusserthalGermany
- iES LandauInstitute for Environmental SciencesUniversity Koblenz‐LandauLandauGermany
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Zúñiga-Sarango W, Gaona FP, Reyes-Castillo V, Iñiguez-Armijos C. Disrupting the Biodiversity–Ecosystem Function Relationship: Response of Shredders and Leaf Breakdown to Urbanization in Andean Streams. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.592404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Berger E, Haase P, Kuemmerlen M, Leps M, Schäfer RB, Sundermann A. Water quality variables and pollution sources shaping stream macroinvertebrate communities. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2017; 587-588:1-10. [PMID: 28190575 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2016] [Revised: 01/18/2017] [Accepted: 02/04/2017] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
In 2015, over 90 percent of German rivers failed to reach a good ecological status as demanded by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Deficits in water quality, mainly from diffuse pollution such as agricultural run-off, but also from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), have been suggested as important drivers of this decline in ecological quality. We modelled six macroinvertebrate based metrics indicating ecological quality for 184 streams in response to a) PCA-derived water quality gradients, b) individual water quality variables and c) catchment land use and wastewater exposure indices as pollution drivers. The aim was to evaluate the relative importance of key water quality variables and their sources. Indicator substances (i.e. carbamazepine and caffeine indicating wastewater exposure; herbicides indicating agricultural run-off) represented micropollutants in the analyses and successfully related water quality variables to pollution sources. Arable and urban catchment land covers were strongly associated with reduced ecological quality. Electric conductivity, oxygen concentration, caffeine, silicate and toxic units with respect to pesticides were identified as the most significant in-stream predictors in this order. Our results underline the importance to manage diffuse pollution, if ecological quality is to be improved. However, we also found a clear impact of wastewater on ecological quality through caffeine. Thus, improvement of WWTPs, especially preventing the release of poorly treated wastewater, will benefit freshwater communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Berger
- Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Clamecystrasse 12, 63571 Gelnhausen, Germany; Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Faculty of Biology, Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Peter Haase
- Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Clamecystrasse 12, 63571 Gelnhausen, Germany; University of Duisburg-Essen, Faculty of Biology, Department of River and Floodplain Ecology, Essen, Germany
| | - Mathias Kuemmerlen
- Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Clamecystrasse 12, 63571 Gelnhausen, Germany
| | - Moritz Leps
- Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Clamecystrasse 12, 63571 Gelnhausen, Germany
| | - Ralf Bernhard Schäfer
- Quantitative Landscape Ecology, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany
| | - Andrea Sundermann
- Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Clamecystrasse 12, 63571 Gelnhausen, Germany; Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Faculty of Biology, Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Englert D, Zubrod JP, Schulz R, Bundschuh M. Variability in ecosystem structure and functioning in a low order stream: Implications of land use and season. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2015; 538:341-349. [PMID: 26312408 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.08.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2015] [Revised: 08/11/2015] [Accepted: 08/11/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Human activity can degrade the habitat quality for aquatic communities, which ultimately impacts the functions these communities provide. Disentangling the complex interaction between environmental and anthropogenic parameters as well as their alteration both along the stream channel, over the seasons, and finally their impact in the aquatic ecosystem represents a fundamental challenge for environmental scientists. Therefore, the present study investigates the implications of successive land uses (i.e., vineyard, urban area, highway and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)) on structural and functional endpoints related to the ecosystem process of leaf litter breakdown during a winter and summer season in a five km stretch of a second-order stream in southern Germany. This sequence of the different land uses caused, among others, a downstream decline of the ecological status from "high" to "bad" judged based on the SPEARpesticides index together with significant shifts in the macroinvertebrate community composition, which coincided with substantial impairments (up to 100%) in the macroinvertebrate-mediated leaf decomposition. These effects, seem to be mainly driven by alterations in water quality rather than morphological modifications of the stream's habitat since the key shredder Gammarus was not in direct contact with the local habitat during in situ bioassays but showed similar response patterns than the other endpoints. While the relative effect size for most endpoints deviated considerably (sometimes above 2-fold) among seasons, the general response pattern pointed to reductions in energy supply for local and downstream communities. Although the present study focused on a single low-order stream with the main purpose of describing the impact of different land uses on various levels of biological organization, which limits the direct transferability and thus applicability of results to other stream ecosystems, the findings point to the need to develop adequate management strategies mitigating land use specific exposures during all seasons to protect ecosystem integrity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominic Englert
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau Campus, Fortstrasse 7, 76829 Landau, Germany.
| | - Jochen P Zubrod
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau Campus, Fortstrasse 7, 76829 Landau, Germany.
| | - Ralf Schulz
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau Campus, Fortstrasse 7, 76829 Landau, Germany.
| | - Mirco Bundschuh
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau Campus, Fortstrasse 7, 76829 Landau, Germany; Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
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