A Littoral Fauna Index for assessing the impact of lakeshore alterations in Alpine lakes

Abstract

Lakeshore deterioration is a major threat to the ecological integrity of lakes worldwide. In this study, the relationship between littoral benthic invertebrates and the Lakeshore Modification Index (LMI) was examined. The influence of the taxonomic resolution on littoral benthic invertebrate community response to LMI was assessed using the results of the canonical correspondence analysis and the relationship between the taxa richness, Shannon–Wiener diversity index and the LMI. Benthic invertebrates were sampled in summer between 2006 and 2011 in two natural and two artificial Alpine lakes using a littoral microhabitat type sampling scheme. Ordination analyses show a similar explanation power when the lowest available taxonomic level was used in comparison with the family level. Taxa richness and the Shannon–Wiener diversity index indicate that lakeshore modifications impair littoral biological conditions with a loss of richness and diversity independently of lake type and used taxonomic level. For 64 families, a lakeshore modification indicative value between one and nine were set on the basis of distribution among five lakeshore modification classes. A Littoral Fauna Index (LFI) was then derived by summation of the lakeshore modification indicative values recorded at each site. A validation dataset from natural and artificial lakes confirmed the good relationships between LMI and LFI but revealed some differences in the relationships. The results show that the impacts of lakeshore modifications can be assessed using littoral benthic invertebrate assemblages with a family‐level‐based LFI, which makes this method cost effective and appropriate for routine monitoring. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Developing a standard approach for assessing the hydromorphology of lakes in Europe

“…In Slovenia, studies with LMI focusing mainly on human impact confirmed a relationship between lake-shore modification and benthic invertebrate taxa (Šiling & Urbanič, 2016;Urbanič, 2014;Urbanič et al, 2012). A more comprehensive study was conducted in Italy, as a part of an EU LIFE+ project (LIFE08 ENV/IT/000413 INHABIT) covering 12 representative lakes (including reservoirs) in Piedmont and…”

“…Many of the hydromorphological characteristics that influence macrophytes in lakes will, by extension, affect other organisms, such as invertebrates. Yet, there are relatively few studies that directly link macroinvertebrate communities in lakes to hydromorphological factors (but see McGoff et al, ; Peterlin & Urbanič, ; Smith, Maitland, & Pennock, ; Urbanič, ; Urbanič, Petkovska, & Pavlin, ).…”

“…Yet, there are relatively few studies that directly link macroinvertebrate communities in lakes to hydromorphological factors (but see McGoff et al, 2013;Peterlin & Urbanič, 2013;Smith, Maitland, & Pennock, 1987;Urbanič, 2014;Urbanič, Petkovska, & Pavlin, 2012).…”

Do lake littoral benthic invertebrates respond differently to eutrophication, hydromorphological alteration, land use and fish stocking?

“…In calculation of highest and lowest environmental group specific species score, extremes and outliers were not considered. In order to determine the relationship between recognized environmental gradients and littoral benthic assemblage structure in more detail, we determined taxa tolerance values that are frequently used in bioassessment (e.g., Zelinka and Marvan, 1961;Urbanič, 2014b). We determined tolerance values using the pCCA ordination axis species tolerance (root mean squared deviation for species) according to 3 Results…”

“…Settlement on lake shores and numerous activities makes the littoral a highly threatened zone in lakes (Vadeboncoeur et al, 2001;Jenkins, 2003;Peterlin and Urbanič, 2013). Anthropogenic disturbances, such as eutrophication (White and Irvine, 2003;Donohue et al, 2009b;Bazzanti et al, 2012), fish stocking (Pierce and Hinrichs, 1997;Leppä et al, 2003), hydromorphological alterations (Gabel et al, 2012;Jurca et al, 2012;Peterlin and Urbanič, 2013;McGoff et al, 2013;Urbanič, 2014b) and land use (McGoff and Sandin, 2012), may have profound effects more on the littoral zone than the profundal, and thus warrant closer considerations in lake assessments.…”