Start at zero: succession of benthic invertebrate assemblages in restored former sewage channels

Winking, Caroline; Lorenz, Armin W.; Sures, Bernd; Hering, Daniel

doi:10.1007/s00027-015-0459-7

Cited by 26 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Moreover, we observed that in the mid-term, macrobenthos recovery generally occurred, but the time employed to recover pre-flushing standard and the related trajectories appeared mostly related to the flushing season and to site specificities rather than to the sediment dose. This finding is consistent with the central role played by the functional connectivity with tributaries, already evidenced by further authors, and potentially providing refuge for fish [57] and source of recolonizing macroinvertebrates [77, 78], and which may significantly increase the biota resilience to the CSFO impacts.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Tackling reservoir siltation by controlled sediment flushing: Impact on downstream fauna and related management issues

et al. 2019

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Sediment flushing can tackle reservoirs siltation and improve sediment flux through dammed rivers. However, the increase of the sediment loading below the dam can trigger a suite of undesired ecological effects in the downstream river reaches. To limit these drawbacks, sediment flushing can be controlled, by jointly regulating the sediment concentration of the evacuated water and the streamflow in the downstream channel. In this paper, we report on ten controlled sediment flushing operations (CSFOs), carried out between 2006 and 2012 in the central Italian Alps, at four hydropower reservoirs. These CSFOs displayed specific common traits: (i) Limits were set by the local environmental authorities concerning the allowable suspended sediment concentration. (ii) Reservoirs were fully drawn-down, earth-moving equipment was used to dislodge sediment, and the downstream water discharge was increased, compared to baseflow, by operating upstream intakes. (iii) Abiotic and biotic measurements in selected downstream reaches (before, during, and after the CSFOs) represented an integral part of the operations. In contrast, significant differences characterize the hydropower facilities (elevation and storage of reservoirs, in particular) as well as the basic CSFOs parameters (i.e., season, duration, mass and grain-size of the evacuated sediment, suspended sediment concentration). The macroinvertebrate assemblages resulted noticeably impacted by the CSFOs. In the short term, a significant density drop was observed, slightly influenced by the extent of the perturbation. In contrast, the latter appeared to control the assemblages contraction in terms of richness, according to the different sensitivity to sediment stress of the different taxa. The time employed to recover pre-CSFO standard ranged from few months to just under one year, and the related patterns would seem mostly correlated to the flushing season and to further site specificities. The density of trout populations was impacted as well, thus suggesting the adoption of mitigating strategies as removal by electrofishing before, and repopulation after the CSFO.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Tackling reservoir siltation by controlled sediment flushing: Impact on downstream fauna and related management issues

et al. 2019

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“…In restored rivers where recolonization occurred from zero (i.e., former sewer channels not inhabited by benthic invertebrates except Oligochaeta), Winking, Lorenz, Sures, and Hering (2016) found unstable benthic assemblages, with high abundances of pioneer taxa (i.e., eurytopic taxa with good dispersal) in the first year after restoration: mature assemblages, similar to those of the source sites, appeared later, at least a decade after restoration. Accordingly, Hansen and Hayes (2012) reported that important attributes (i.e., taxonomic similarities and richness) of the macroinvertebrate community recovered 3–7 years following dam removal, whereas others (i.e., density) remained altered even after decades.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The year after an extraordinary sedimentation event in a regulated Alpine river: The impact on benthic macroinvertebrate communities

Salmaso

Crosa

Espa

et al. 2020

River Research & Apps

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On August 2017, a massive rock slope failure triggered an extreme sedimentation event in a regulated Alpine river. Consequently, high sediment load affected the river for about 1 month, with sediment concentration peaking up to several hundred g/L, and overall sediment yield of 0.4-0.8 Mm 3. The availability of sound pre-event data concerning benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages gave us the opportunity to assess the impact of this unusually severe sediment disturbance through before/after comparison. Within 1 month from the event, all the monitored communities displayed low density, richness and diversity, with minimum values never recorded before, particularly at the most upstream investigated reach, and where riverbed aggradation was comparatively larger. Persisting riverbed alteration was also identified as a major determinant justifying the slow recovery observed during the year after the event. Overall, the high resilience of some taxa, suited to a baseline unnatural condition, allowed the fast recolonization of the investigated river reaches. However, the recovery of other taxa, more sensitive to sediment pressure, was slow or did not occur during the monitored year.

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“…The source and upstream tributaries of the Boye are located in agricultural or forested areas and have never been used as open sewers, thus retaining near-natural conditions (Table 1). In contrast, the downstream section and tributaries which flow in urbanized areas were transformed into concrete channels at the beginning of the last century to transport domestic wastewater (Winking et al, 2014(Winking et al, , 2016. These open sewers were lifeless except for rare occurrences of Oligochaeta.…”

Section: Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It relates regional and continental-wide host specialization in microsporidians infecting amphipods to a gradient of degraded and recovering habitats across 2 German river catchments offering a unique opportunity to infer the persistence of parasites following anthropogenic disturbance and their establishment in restored rivers. One catchment, the Boye, has partly been used as an open sewer since the beginning of the last century and, starting from the 1990s, it was gradually restored (Winking et al, 2014(Winking et al, , 2016. In contrast, the Kinzig catchment has suffered from moderate hydromorphological degradation, land use and wastewater overflow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalist parasites persist in degraded environments: a lesson learned from microsporidian diversity in amphipods

et al. 2022

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The present study provides new insight into suitable microsporidian–host associations. It relates regional and continental-wide host specialization in microsporidians infecting amphipods to degraded and recovering habitats across 2 German river catchments. It provides a unique opportunity to infer the persistence of parasites following anthropogenic disturbance and their establishment in restored rivers. Amphipods were collected in 31 sampling sites with differing degradation and restoration gradients. Specimens were morphologically (hosts) and molecularly identified (host and parasites). Amphipod diversity and abundance, microsporidian diversity, host phylogenetic specificity and continental-wide β-specificity were investigated and related to each other and/or environmental variables. Fourteen microsporidian molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs), mainly generalist parasites, infecting 6 amphipod MOTUs were detected, expanding the current knowledge on the host range by 17 interactions. There was no difference in microsporidian diversity and host specificity among restored and near-natural streams (Boye) or between those located in urban and rural areas (Kinzig). Similarly, microsporidian diversity was generally not influenced by water parameters. In the Boye catchment, host densities did not influence microsporidian MOTU richness across restored and near-natural sites. High host turnover across the geographical range suggests that neither environmental conditions nor host diversity plays a significant role in the establishment into restored areas. Host diversity and environmental parameters do not indicate the persistence and dispersal of phylogenetic host generalist microsporidians in environments that experienced anthropogenic disturbance. Instead, these might depend on more complex mechanisms such as the production of resistant spores, host switching and host dispersal acting individually or conjointly.

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Start at zero: succession of benthic invertebrate assemblages in restored former sewage channels

Cited by 26 publications

References 39 publications

Tackling reservoir siltation by controlled sediment flushing: Impact on downstream fauna and related management issues

Tackling reservoir siltation by controlled sediment flushing: Impact on downstream fauna and related management issues

The year after an extraordinary sedimentation event in a regulated Alpine river: The impact on benthic macroinvertebrate communities

Generalist parasites persist in degraded environments: a lesson learned from microsporidian diversity in amphipods

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