Different responses of taxonomic and functional structures of stream macroinvertebrate communities to local stressors and regional factors in a subtropical biodiversity hotspot

Abstract

Examining the relative contribution of local environmental stressors and regional factors in structuring biological communities is essential for biodiversity conservation and environmental assessment, yet their relative roles for different community facets remain elusive. Here, we examined the responses of taxonomic and functional structure of stream macroinvertebrate communities to local and regional factors across a human-induced environmental gradient in the Han River Basin, one subtropical biodiversity hotspot in China. Our objectives were: 1) to examine if functional traits were as effective as traditional taxonomic measures in differentiating anthropogenic disturbances; 2) to compare the relative importance of environmental versus spatial variables and catchment-scale versus reach-scale variables for the two community facets. We found that both species and trait compositions performed well in differentiating anthropogenic disturbances, indicating that both taxonomic and functional structures of macroinvertebrate communities were altered by human activities. Particularly, traits including voltinism, development, adult life duration, dispersal ability, respiration, body size, rheophily, habit and trophic groups appeared to be 1. Download : Download high-res image (101KB) 2. Download : Download full-size image

Trait‐based diatom functional diversity as an appropriate tool for understanding the effects of environmental changes in soda pans

“…The variance in functional diversity metrics explained by environmental variables was five times higher when a trait‐based approach was applied (95.4%), as against species‐based community analyses (18.1%, Stenger‐Kovács et al, ). The strong relationship of functional diversity to environmental variables had previously been highlighted by other studies which drew attention to their important role in shaping functional structure (Li et al, ; Teittinen et al, ). This means that in soda pans environment selects, consequently, deterministic processes are characteristic (Szabó et al, ), and environmental filtering causes a functional convergence pattern; species with similar ecological strategies and adaptations (suited traits) coexist (Cornwell & Ackerly, ; Petchey, Evans, Fishburn, & Gaston, ; Weiher & Keddy, ) as is also the case among periphytic algae in a floodplain conservation area (Bichoff, Osório, Ruwer, Dunck, & Rodrigues, ).…”

“…However, functional diversity metrics (He et al, 2015) have rarely been used recently, even though they promise to improve our knowledge of community and ecosystem responses to environmental changes at different scales (Péru & Dolédec, 2010). Furthermore, functional diversity can be a good indicator of ecosystem stability (Schneider et al, 2017) and can be strongly correlated with DNAbased phylogenetic diversity (Li et al, 2019) through ecological traits as phylogenetic signals (Keck, Rimet, Franc, & Bouchez, 2016;Keck et al, 2018;Winter, Devictor, & Schweiger, 2013). Consequently, functional diversity can play an effective role in conservation management using phylogenetic tools (Webb, Ackerly, McPeek, & Donoghue, 2002).…”

Impacts of multiple anthropogenic stressors on stream macroinvertebrate community composition and functional diversity

“…All invertebrates were assigned into five trait groups, which were subsequently divided into 22 trait categories, using a binary code (Li et al., 2019). Adult beetles (which were rare) and insect pupae were excluded from this classification.…”

Effects of Environmental Variables and Habitat Integrity on the Structure of the Aquatic Insect Communities of Streams in the Cerrado-Caatinga Ecotone in Northeastern Brazil

“…Aquatic insects are among the organisms most affected by fluctuations in the environmental conditions of streams, given that their life cycles are intimately related to aquatic environments, and that they are extremely sensitive to environmental and physicochemical changes (Nessimian et al 2008, Li et al 2019, Shabani et al 2019. The aquatic insects of the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) have aquatic immature stages and adults with terrestrial behavior that are often found perched in the marginal vegetation or on stones in the vicinity of the bodies of water in which their immature stages are found (Holzenthal et al 2007, Froehlich 2009.…”