Quantifying the relative importance of natural variables, human disturbance and spatial processes in ecological status indicators of boreal lakes

Alahuhta, Janne; Aroviita, Jukka

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.12.003

Cited by 18 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 77 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Monitoring programs are most effective when they evaluate environmental and biological dimensions across space and time (Alahuhta & Aroviita, 2016;. However, the increase in sampling number brings cost growth, while evaluate biological dimension brings the need of specialists in different biological groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is it possible to simplify environmental monitoring? Approaches with zooplankton in a hydroelectric reservoir

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cite as: Missias, A.C.A. et al. Is it possible to simplify environmental monitoring? Approaches with zooplankton in a hydroelectric reservoir. Acta Limnologica Brasiliensia, 2017, vol. 29, e8. Abstract: Aim:In order to contribute to the knowledge about the simplification of biological surveys, this study evaluated the use of substitute groups, numeric and taxonomic resolution for the three main groups of zooplankton (cladocerans, copepods and rotifers) in a Hydropower Plant (UHE). The following issues were addressed: (i) the patterns of spatial and/or temporal ordering generated between each zooplankton group are in concordance? (ii) The concordance is maintained using presence/absence data instead of density data? (iii) The identification of organisms to the species level can be replaced by genus or family level? Methods: Samples were taken in seven sample units over five campaigns between 2009 and 2010 in the UHE Serra da Mesa (Goiás, Brazil). To evaluate the correlation between each pair of matrices was used the Mantel test. Results: The results demonstrate that the replacements should not be made among the zooplanktonic groups, requiring the monitoring of three groups (copepods, cladocerans and rotifers). Furthermore, the results suggest the use of density data of individuals rather than just presence/absence of species. Finally, the results of this study indicate the possibility to use data at species level instead of data at genus or family level. Conclusion: For zooplankton community monitoring purposes only the use of taxonomic resolution showed to be efficient for this area of study, not being recommended the use of surrogate groups or numerical resolution.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is it possible to simplify environmental monitoring? Approaches with zooplankton in a hydroelectric reservoir

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The roles of environmental filtering versus spatial processes on diversity indices and bioassessment metrics have not been well enough examined (Alahuhta and Aroviita 2016, Vilmi et al 2016a. Overall, our results indicated that, at the within-lake scale, the importance of spatial processes on bioassessment metrics can be comparable to the effects of local environmental filtering processes.…”

Section: Roles Of Human-induced Factors Natural Conditions and Spatial Processes On Bioassessment Metricsmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…For example, Tolonen et al (2017) and Vilmi et al (2016a) found that the effects of spatial variables can override the influences of local environmental conditions in controlling the variation in 10 littoral macroinvertebrate diversity indices and 14 commonly-used diatom bioassessment metrics in a large boreal lake system. In addition, even in an across-lakes study, unique effects of spatial variables also significantly structured all six biological metrics (phytoplankton, macrophytes, diatoms, littoral and profundal macroinvertebrates, and fish) (Alahuhta and Aroviita 2016). As for the roles of dispersal processes, metacommunity theory suggests that both limited (i.e., dispersal limitation) and high dispersal rates (i.e., mass effects) could generate spatially-structured patterns in community structure (Brown et al 2017).…”

Section: Roles Of Human-induced Factors Natural Conditions and Spatial Processes On Bioassessment Metricsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Hence, both limited and high dispersal rates may cause spatial patterns in metacommunities, which should be considered in bioassessment through accounting for spatial autocorrelation in biological data (Heino 2013). To our knowledge, however, most previous studies were mainly concerned with community composition, whereas our understanding of how various biotic metrics are potentially affected by dispersal-related spatial processes remains limited (Alahuhta andAroviita 2016, Vilmi et al 2016a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Metacommunity ecology meets bioassessment: Assessing spatio-temporal variation in multiple facets of macroinvertebrate diversity in human-influenced large lakes

Cai

Zhang

et al. 2019

Ecological Indicators

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Metacommunity theory emphasizes that local communities are jointly affected by environmental filtering and spatial processes. However, the roles of spatial processes are often given insufficient attention in bioassessment practices, which may bias the assessments of ecological status based on biotic metrics. Here, we quantified the relative importance and the seasonal stability of spatial processes, natural conditions and human-induced factors in structuring variation in different bioassessment metrics based on macroinvertebrate communities. Our study systems were two extensively sampled large and shallow lakes with strong nutrient gradients related to human disturbance. The roles of different drivers were examined for three kinds of indicators: general diversity, trait-based and taxonomic distinctness metrics, and their performance in characterizing human disturbance was evaluated.Overall, human-induced and spatial factors were all important in explaining variation in the three types of bioassessment metrics. Contrary to our expectations, however, we found that the importance of spatial processes on bioassessment metrics can be comparable to the effects of local environmental conditions at the within-lake scale. Furthermore, the results showed substantial seasonal variability in the relative roles of different drivers, which might be linked to life-cycle seasonality of macroinvertebrates. As expected, trait-based metrics generally were best associated with human-induced variables in both lakes, whereas general diversity and taxonomic distinctness metrics performed poorly. The low effectiveness of taxonomic distinctness metrics might due to low species richness associated with high nutrient levels. To conclude, our results suggest that bioassessment cannot exclusively rely on the idea of environmental filtering even if we focus on fine spatial scales. We hence strongly urge that spatial processes, natural drivers and temporal variability should be better considered in combination in the development and application of bioassessment approaches. In addition, taxonomic distinctness measures should be used with caution, especially for the ecosystems and organism groups typically characterized by low species richness.

show abstract

“…Land use in adjacent areas has been studied to be significantly associated with the deterioration of water quality in ponds, affecting plant species diversity (Søndergaard et al, 2005;Declerck et al, 2006;Akasaka at al. 2010;Alahuhta and Aroviita, 2016). Periodic pond drainage and low fish density have been seen to facilitate diverse plant taxa (Lemmens et al, 2013), and sediment removal coupled with periodic drainage can be a strategy to mitigate the loss of wetland plant species of high (Sayer et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait-based evaluation of plant assemblages in traditional farm ponds in Korea: Ecological and management implications

Yoon

Kim²,

Choi

et al. 2019

J Limnol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Korean traditional farm pond called dumbeong is an important rural landscape element that supports local biodiversity and is useful in irrigating agricultural fields during dry periods. This study assesses how plant communities in dumbeongs respond to adjacent land use, water depth, open-water surface, and nutrient levels and irrigation usage. Plant functional and species groups, based on trait and species data respectively from 20 dumbeongs in Seocheon-gun, South Korea, were classified by hierarchical analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling. Relationships between the plant community composition and explanatory variables at both the species and functional group levels were tested through redundancy analysis. The results showed that irrigation usage prevented nutrient accumulation and water depth reduction of the ponds, and we found water depth was the only significant factor that determined plant composition at both species and functional group levels. The plant functional groups were more useful than plant species in predicting plant composition in dumbeongs, owing to their collective response to water depth and open-water surface. Our results demonstrate that management practices of dumbeong, such as periodic drainage, sediment removal and control of dominant plant species, alter its plant communities and thus need to be considered for biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes.

show abstract

Quantifying the relative importance of natural variables, human disturbance and spatial processes in ecological status indicators of boreal lakes

Cited by 18 publications

References 77 publications

Is it possible to simplify environmental monitoring? Approaches with zooplankton in a hydroelectric reservoir

Is it possible to simplify environmental monitoring? Approaches with zooplankton in a hydroelectric reservoir

Metacommunity ecology meets bioassessment: Assessing spatio-temporal variation in multiple facets of macroinvertebrate diversity in human-influenced large lakes

Trait-based evaluation of plant assemblages in traditional farm ponds in Korea: Ecological and management implications

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About