Global review reveals how disparate study motivations, analytical designs, and focal ions limit understanding of salinization effects on freshwater animals

Walker, Richard H.; Belvin, Abigail C.; Mouser, Joshua B.; Pennino, Amanda; Plont, Stephen; Robinson, Christopher D.; Smith, Lucy B.; Thapa, Jyoti; Zipper, Carl E.; Angermeier, Paul L.; Entrekin, Sally A.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164061

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 127 publications

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“…Additionally, our population-level results in a lab setting may not be the same in mesocosms or in a field setting. Differences between lab and field responses have been shown for road salt (e.g., Sinclair & Arnott, 2018;van Meter et al, 2011;Walker et al, 2023) and should be more fully explored for different salt alternatives (e.g., Coldsnow & Relyea, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invertebrates from naturally brackish areas are less impacted by road salt and alternative deicers

Stander,

Cahill

2024

Invertebrate Biology

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Road salt (NaCl) is the most common deicer used to melt snow and ice from roadways in cold climates, but its use results in runoff of sodium and chloride ions into sewers and into soil and freshwater ecosystems. Road salt causes harmful effects on wetland habitats, which host an abundance of macroinvertebrate species. Alternatives to road salt, such as beet juice, are commercially available, but their impact on invertebrates is less well studied. We examined the impact of road salt alternatives on four invertebrate species (Daphnia pulex, Eisenia fetida, Heterocypris sp., and Culicoides sp. larvae), some of which come from a naturally brackish area. Our expectation was that road salt alternatives (beet salt, molasses, pickle juice, and sand) would be less toxic to the animals than traditional road salt. This study comprised two experiments: the first exposed individuals of the four invertebrate species to road salt alternatives, and the second exposed the invertebrates to a range of road salt concentrations. Only individuals of D. pulex were negatively impacted by road salt. The other invertebrates were not significantly affected by any salt alternative, demonstrating interspecific differences in response to salt. Species found in naturally salty environments were more tolerant of both road salt and alternatives. This research shows species‐ and habitat‐specific responses to road salt alternatives, which has implications for municipalities looking to salt roads without negatively impacting freshwater ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invertebrates from naturally brackish areas are less impacted by road salt and alternative deicers

Stander,

Cahill

2024

Invertebrate Biology

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“…Previous studies have shown that increased salt concentration can compromise the growth, reproduction, and survival of organisms (Ghazy et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2023). Consequently, impacts on community structure, shifts in species composition, and alteration of food web structure also occur (Castillo et al., 2018; Moffett et al., 2023; van Meter et al., 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing determines zooplankton community responses to multiple stressors

Sun,

Arnott

2024

Global Change Biology

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Human activities and climate change cause abiotic factors to fluctuate through time, sometimes passing thresholds for organismal reproduction and survival. Multiple stressors can independently or interactively impact organisms; however, few studies have examined how they interact when they overlap spatially but occur asynchronously. Fluctuations in salinity have been found in freshwater habitats worldwide. Meanwhile, heatwaves have become more frequent and extreme. High salinity pulses and heatwaves are often decoupled in time but can still collectively impact freshwater zooplankton. The time intervals between them, during which population growth and community recovery could happen, can influence combined effects, but no one has examined these effects. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to examine how different recovery times (0‐, 3‐, 6‐week) between salt treatment and heatwave exposure influence their combined effects. We hypothesized that antagonistic effects would appear when having short recovery time, because previous study found that similar species were affected by the two stressors, but effects would become additive with longer recovery time since fully recovered communities would respond to heatwave similar to undisturbed communities. Our findings showed that, when combined, the two‐stressor joint impacts changed from antagonistic to additive with increased recovery time between stressors. Surprisingly, full compositional recovery was not achieved despite a recovery period that was long enough for population growth, suggesting legacy effects from earlier treatment. The recovery was mainly driven by small organisms, such as rotifers and small cladocerans. As a result, communities recovering from previous salt exposure responded differently to heatwaves than undisturbed communities, leading to similar zooplankton communities regardless of the recovery time between stressors. Our research bolsters the understanding and management of multiple‐stressor issues by revealing that prior exposure to one stressor has long‐lasting impacts on community recovery that can lead to unexpected joint effects of multiple stressors.

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Die Bedeutung der Nitratdynamik in Grubenseen in trockeneren Regionen

McCullough

2024

Mine Water Environ

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Global review reveals how disparate study motivations, analytical designs, and focal ions limit understanding of salinization effects on freshwater animals

Cited by 4 publications

References 127 publications

Invertebrates from naturally brackish areas are less impacted by road salt and alternative deicers

Invertebrates from naturally brackish areas are less impacted by road salt and alternative deicers

Timing determines zooplankton community responses to multiple stressors

Die Bedeutung der Nitratdynamik in Grubenseen in trockeneren Regionen

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