A guideline to frame stressor effects in freshwater ecosystems

Perujo, Núria; Brink, Paul J. Van den; Segner, Helmut; Mantyka‐Pringle, Chrystal; Sabater, Sergi; Birk, Sebastian; Bruder, Andreas; Romero, Ferran; Acuña, Vicenç

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146112

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The term stressor was applied following Perujo et al [30]. Multiple stressors included (i) hydromorphological (No1-10, Annex 2), (ii) chemical variables (No11-18, Annex 2), and (iii) combined drivers (No19-36, Annex 2).…”

Section: Stressorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic Stressors in Upland Rivers: Aquatic Macrophyte Responses. A Case Study from Bulgaria

Gecheva

Pall²,

Todorov

et al. 2021

Plants

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Upland rivers across Europe still exhibit undisturbed conditions and represent a treasure that we cannot afford to lose. We hypothesize that the combination of pristine and modified conditions could demonstrate biological responses along the stressor gradients. Thus, the response of aquatic macrophyte communities to anthropogenic stressors along upland rivers in Bulgaria was studied. Six stressors were selected out of 36 parameters grouped into hydromorphological, chemical variables and combined drivers (catchment land use). The stressors strongly affected species richness on the basis of biological type (bryophytes vs. vascular plants) and ecomorphological type (hydrophytes vs. helophytes). Hydrological alteration expressed by the change of the river’s base flow and altered riparian habitats has led to a suppression of bryophytes and a dominance of riverbank plant communities. Seventy-five percent of mountain sites were lacking bryophytes, and the vegetation at semi-mountainous sites was dominated by vascular plants. It can be concluded that hydropeaking, organic and inorganic pollution, and discontinuous urban structures caused important modifications in the aquatic macrophyte assemblages. Macrophyte abundance and the biological and ecomorphological type of aquatic macrophytes reflect multi-stressor effects in upland rivers.

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Section: Stressorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic Stressors in Upland Rivers: Aquatic Macrophyte Responses. A Case Study from Bulgaria

Gecheva

Pall²,

Todorov

et al. 2021

Plants

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“…These results that should be taken in account by ecosystem conservation managers and policymakers. Although these patterns are relatively consistent, our conclusions regarding the impact on biodiversity must be cautiously analysed, as we focus on bacterial biodiversity, and different patterns might have been detected if focusing on the fish community or the amphibia inhabiting the NSH (Perujo et al., 2021; Schafft et al., 2021). Thus, further research is needed to continue studying the impact of biodiversity related to recreational activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural swimming holes, at the crossroad between conservation and recreation

Acuña,

Auró,

Campillo

et al. 2023

Freshwater Biology

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Natural swimming holes (NSH) are commonly the only habitats with water throughout the year in semi‐arid climates, thus becoming refuges for freshwater biota. However, human crowds also gather in NSH during the warm season, threatening biodiversity. Our goal was to analyse the drivers of recreation (e.g., distance to roads, river flow) in NSH, assess the relationship between visitation and impacts on water quality (dissolved organic carbon, ammonium, caffeine, and the sunscreen agent 2‐ethylhexyl 4‐methoxycinnamate) and bacterial biodiversity (as indicator of biodiversity), and to develop a method to determine the carrying capacity (i.e. maximum number of visitors per day to avoid an impact in biodiversity) of each NSH. Results suggest that recreation impacts both water quality and biodiversity, and that changes in biodiversity were especially fast when increasing recreation from none to low. Although the study is limited by the low number of case‐studies, and the consideration of only bacterial biodiversity, we believe that recreation should be banned or severely restricted in those NSH with high conservation value, whereas a recreation cap using river flow and upstream water quality should be used for those NSH with lower conservation value.

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“…However, relationships between anthropogenic pressures and indicators are not always non-linear, aggravating the projection of magnitude or direction of impact. For instance, the temporal and spatial dimension of pressures as well as ecosystem sensitivity are mediating factors (Perujo et al, 2021), while also interaction among multiple pressures may occur (Jackson et al, 2016). Ecological effects of such interactions have already been reported for mountain lakes, for example, in context of nutrient introduction and warming (Oleksy et al, 2020).…”

Section: Uncertaintiesmentioning

confidence: 98%