Aim The application of deconstructive approaches in aquatic ecology has been increasing recently. Especially for phytoplankton, some functional classifications summarize similar traits of a group of species to understand organisms’ response to landscape variability. One of these approaches deals with phytoplankton functional classification based on morphology (MBFG - Morphologically Based Functional Groups). Focusing on this approach, we systematic mapping the scientific literature to reveal this functional framework´s applications for freshwater phytoplankton. Methods For this study, we selected from the Thomson ISI Web of Science database all articles published between 2010 and 2018 dealing with MBFG. We recorded 179 manuscripts citing the phytoplankton functional classification based on morphology and, among them, we excluded three due to lack of access to information. Results A clear temporal trend occurred with an increase in citations involving the morphological approach, with Brazil, Uruguay, and China as the countries with the highest number of studies. Of the total records, 60 manuscripts applied morphological classification in their studies, of which 23 manuscripts comprised comparative studies with other functional approaches. Most applications were for phytoplankton in lakes, with biomass being the most used metric for framing taxa in MBFG. The most often recorded groups are MBFG IV (medium-sized organisms without specialization), VII (large mucilaginous colonies), and III (large filamentous organisms with aerotopes). Conclusion This study showed an increasing trend in the number of studies that used the functional approach based on MBFG. We believe that deconstructive approaches, such as MBFG, help assess issues of interest in phytoplankton ecology.
Chemicals from anthropogenic activities such as domestic sewage, pesticide leaching, and improper chemical disposal have caused groundwater contamination. The presence of these emerging contaminants in the aquatic environment can change water quality and biota composition. Thus, this study investigates the effect of two emerging contaminants, anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac (DCF) and antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SMX), on the aquatic environment, evaluating the phytoplankton community structure. A microcosm experiment was conducted with 16 sampling units, each one with 500 mL of water sample containing phytoplankton exposed to these drugs at different concentrations (0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mg L −1 ). The experiment lasted 15 days, and samples were collected on days 0, 3, 5, 7, and 14 to evaluate the phytoplankton community, the concentrations of the drugs, and the nutrients in the samples. Six phytoplankton groups were identified, and diatoms and green algae were the most diverse and abundant groups. For the entire community, we identified differences between the days of the experiment, varying in the diversity and density of organisms, but not between the concentrations of the two drugs. Evaluating the groups separately, we identified differences in the abundance of cyanobacteria for the treatment with diclofenac and desmids for the treatment with sulfamethoxazole. We demonstrated that the presence of pharmaceuticals in freshwater ecosystems can somehow affect the phytoplankton community, especially the diversity and abundance of cyanobacteria and desmids. Therefore, our study indicates the importance of evaluating the presence of pharmaceuticals in freshwater ecosystems and their influence on aquatic organisms, as well as pharmaceuticals may be changing the structure of the aquatic environment.
As áreas de conservação desempenham um papel importante para conter a perda de habitat e a biodiversidade. No entanto, pouco se sabe sobre a influência dessas áreas nos ecossistemas aquáticos e, principalmente, na comunidade fitoplanctônica. Aqui, exploramos a riqueza, abundância e traços funcionais do fitoplâncton em diferentes ecossistemas aquáticos em uma área protegida em Niquelândia, Goiás (no Cerrado brasileiro). Nós amostramos quatro lagoas, seis riachos e um rio, durante a estação chuvosa e registramos 78 táxons. Nas lagoas predominaram as algas verdes, flagelados mixotróficos e desmídias, enquanto nos riachos e rio predominaram as diatomáceas, as algas verdes e os flagelados mixotróficos. Diferenças entre ambientes lóticos e lênticos foram evidenciadas, para riqueza e densidade, tanto para táxons quanto para traços funcionais. Os traços funcionais mais frequentes nas lagoas foram flagelos e mixotrofia, enquanto que nos riachos e rio, a presença de sílica também foi importante. A maioria das algas registradas foram unicelulares, nanoplanctônicas e com células ovóides e esféricas. Assim, avaliar a diversidade fitoplanctônica é o primeiro passo para o monitoramento de ecossistemas aquáticos em áreas de conservação e para a avaliação de seus efeitos nesses ambientes. Portanto, com esses resultados será possível comparar ecossistemas em áreas protegidas com ecossistemas semelhantes em áreas desprotegidas.
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