Epilithic biomass and metabolism in a north Iberian stream

Elosegui, Arturo; Pozo, Jesús

doi:10.1007/s000270050021

Cited by 20 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In the Agüera stream, discharges below 30m 3 /s measured at the mouth do not affect very much to periphytic biomass, whereas larger floods scour most of it (Elósegui & Pozo 1998), presumably because this is the threshold for bed-moving spates.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 90%

“…1 ge of environmental conditions as possible, and repeating whenever possible the sites of two previous studies, one in 1990-91 (Elósegui & Pozo 1998), and the other in 1992-93 (López de Luzuriaga 1995). Site 2, at the headwaters, has low nutrient contents and a dense canopy of alder, oak and hazelnut; it was also studied by Elósegui & Pozo (1998).…”

Section: Site Selectionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The uplands are covered by unimproved pasture, and the lowlands by meadows and arable land. Most reaches of the Agüera stream are covered by deciduous riparian forests, although their extent and maturity is highly variable (Elósegui & Pozo 1998, Díez et al 2001. New leaves grow in April, and abscission occurs mainly in November.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have shown that during low flow periods the spatial distribution of periphyton is determined by the nutrient content and light availability, whereas temporal variations are mainly controlled by floods (Elósegui & Pozo 1998, López de Luzuriaga 1995. In the Agüera stream, discharges below 30m 3 /s measured at the mouth do not affect very much to periphytic biomass, whereas larger floods scour most of it (Elósegui & Pozo 1998), presumably because this is the threshold for bed-moving spates.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spates are disturbances that slough and reset algal biomass to low values, and periphytic communities can recover more or less, depending on the length of periods between floods and on the light and nutrient levels available during these periods (Elósegui & Pozo 1998). In torrential systems, periphytic biomass can exhibit large inter-annual variations as a result of differences in rainfall patterns (Uehlinger et al 1996, Uehlinger 2000.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental control of seasonal and inter-annual variations of periphytic biomass in a North Iberian stream

Izagirre

Elosegi

2005

Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Lim.

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). Sampling sites showed large differences in cover, conductivity and nutrient contents, as well as some inter-annual differences, resulting from changes in discharge and in human activities. Most environmental variables showed low seasonality, main variations being produced by floods. Solar radiation changed little during 2001 -2002, because of the coincidence of a sunny winter followed by a cloudy summer, and seasonal differences in riparian cover resulted in more sunlight reaching the streambed of closed sites during winter, and small differences at the open ones. The growth and abscission of riparian leaves results in a strong light regime at the closed sites, with more sunlight during winter, but this pattern changes from year to year, depending on the weather. Spatial differences and highest values of periphytic biomass were much lower than those measured in 1990 -91, because of contrasting weather patterns. Variables controlling periphytic biomass in the Agüera change from reach to reach. At open sites flow is the main temporal controller, whereas at closed sites the effects of light availability prevail, thus giving more similar seasonal patterns from year to year. Nutrients seem to play a minor role in temporal variations.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Site Selectionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Environmental control of seasonal and inter-annual variations of periphytic biomass in a North Iberian stream

Izagirre

Elosegi

2005

Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Lim.

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Influence of Inorganic Substrata Size, Leaf Litter and Woody Debris Removal on Benthic Invertebrates Resistance to Floods in Two Contrasting Headwater Streams

Imbert

González

Basaguren

et al. 2005

Internat. Rev. Hydrobiol.

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We studied the influence of inorganic substrata size, leaf litter and woody debris removal on the resistance of benthic invertebrates to floods in two contrasting forested headwater streams of the Agüera basin (northern Spain): Cuchillo stream (stream bed dominated by cobbles and pebbles) and Salderrey stream (stream bed dominated by bedrock and boulders). Generally, floods had a greater effect on benthic invertebrates resistance in the Salderrey stream, apparently due to the high presence of loose substrata overlaying bedrock and the higher scouring of sediment in this stream. Unlike Salderrey stream total number of individuals of Simuliidae, Echinogammarus tarragonensis and Protonemura spp. in riffles greatly increased at the reach scale in the Cuchillo stream after two floods, suggesting that Cuchillo was more retentive than Salderrey. A positive relationship between substrata size and invertebrate resistance to floods was found in the Cuchillo stream but not in the Salderrey stream. It appears that the flood disturbances in the Salderrey stream were too strong to find an increase in resistance as substrata size increased. Invertebrate resistance on leaf litter and resistance predictability were also higher in the Cuchillo stream; the former result suggests that retention of leaf packs was greater in the Cuchillo stream. The lack of a statistically significant effect of woody debris removal may imply that the composition and stability of inorganic substrata have more influence on invertebrate resistance to floods than woody debris at the reach scale in these headwater streams dominated by relatively stable substrata.

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Identification of a minimal adequate model to describe the biomass dynamics of river epilithon

Boulêtreau

Izagirre

Garabetian

et al. 2007

River Research & Apps

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The present study sought to identify a minimal adequate model to describe the biomass dynamics of river epilithon, a functional indicator of river health. Identification of minimal adequate models is particularly necessary in river management, given the reduced number of variables authorities are willing to measure routinely. A model previously developed for epilithon dynamics in a pre-alpine river was applied to epilithon biomasses recorded in contrasting hydrological, trophic and light conditions at various sites in the Agüera stream (Spain) over 3 years (11 case studies). A model selection tool, the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), was used to determine the optimal combination of parameters. In nine of 11 case studies, the best model described epilithon biomass dynamics as the equilibrium between phototrophic growth and discharge-dependent loss and ignored light, temperature and nutrient influences. The best adequate minimal model i.e. the model that is the best trade-off between goodness-of-fit and model simplicity performed best, in years in which clearly contrasting short low and high water periods occurred. During years with less marked hydrodynamics, many other abiotic or biotic processes influenced epilithon biomass dynamics. In these cases, weaker goodness-of-fit had to be accepted to avoid excessively increasing model complexity. RESULTSResults of AIC statistics for each sub-model at every study site are listed in Table III. The set of candidate sub-models (R) varied between years: in 2001 R was 7; in 1990 R was 6 because discharge was always lower than critical and subsequently k cat was never activated; and in 1992 R was 5, as phosphate and temperature data were not available and thus k P and b were not activated. One single sub-model was clearly the best of all: in 7 of 11 study 46 S. BOULÊ TREAU ET AL. i < 2 and to an evidence ratio < 2.7 are in bold. The selected 'best' sub-model is italicized.

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Epilithic biomass and metabolism in a north Iberian stream

Cited by 20 publications

References 47 publications

Environmental control of seasonal and inter-annual variations of periphytic biomass in a North Iberian stream

Environmental control of seasonal and inter-annual variations of periphytic biomass in a North Iberian stream

Influence of Inorganic Substrata Size, Leaf Litter and Woody Debris Removal on Benthic Invertebrates Resistance to Floods in Two Contrasting Headwater Streams

Identification of a minimal adequate model to describe the biomass dynamics of river epilithon

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