The effect of drought on benthic invertebrate communities in a lowland river

Extence, Chris A.

doi:10.1007/bf00008269

Cited by 90 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Collier and Quinn, 2003;Robinson et al, 2004) and short duration droughts (e.g. Hynes, 1958;Extence 1981;Ledger and Hildrew 2001;Lake, 2003). However, the recovery pattern associated with supra-seasonal droughts has not been widely reported (Lake 2003) and data demonstrating the extended duration of faunal recovery over two years were limited to a small number of sites until now (e.g., Wood et al, 2000;Wood and Armitage 2004;Wright et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macroinvertebrate community response to inter‐annual and regional river flow regime dynamics

Monk

Wood

Hannah

et al. 2008

River Research & Apps

127

117

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Spatio‐temporal variability in river flow is a fundamental control on instream habitat structure and riverine ecosystem biodiversity and integrity. However, long‐term riverine ecological time‐series to test hypotheses about hydrology–ecology interactions in a broader temporal context are rare, and studies spanning multiple rivers are often limited in their temporal coverage to less than five years. To address this research gap, a unique spatio‐temporal hydroecological analysis was conducted of long‐term instream ecological responses (1990–2000) to river flow regime variability at 83 sites across England and Wales. The results demonstrate clear hydroecological associations at the national scale (all data). In addition, significant differences in ecological response are recorded between three ‘regions’ identified (RM1–3*) associated with characteristics of the flow regime. The effect of two major supra‐seasonal droughts (1990–1992 and 1996–1997) on inter‐annual (IA) variability of the LIFE scores is evident with both events showing a gradual decline before and recovery of LIFE scores after the low flow period. The instream community response to high magnitude flow regimes (1994 and 1995) is also apparent, although these associations are less striking. The results demonstrate classification of rivers into flow regime regions offers a way to help unravel complex hydroecological associations. The approach adopted herein could easily be adapted for other geographical locations, where datasets are available. Such work is imperative to understand flow regime–ecology interactions in a longer term, wider spatial context and so assess future hydroecological responses to climate change and anthropogenic modification of riverine ecosystems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macroinvertebrate community response to inter‐annual and regional river flow regime dynamics

Monk

Wood

Hannah

et al. 2008

River Research & Apps

127

117

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“…Whilst the impact of such a reduction in water level has been investigated for river invertebrate communities (Extence 1981, Chessman & Robinson 1987 and anadromous fish species (Heggenes et al 1996, Armstrong et al 1998, little consideration has been paid to the wider consequence of drought-induced reduction of freshwater flow on the distribution of estuarine invertebrates. investigated the effect of low flows on tidal freshwater macroinvertebrates at the head of an estuary, and noted dramatic changes in community composition with small increases in salinity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects on invertebrate populations of drought-induced changes in estuarine water quality

Attrill¹,

Power²

2000

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Between the years 1989 and 1992, severe drought conditions occurred in the Thames estuary catchment, significantly reducing freshwater flows into the estuary and affecting estuarine water quality. Long-term data assembled for water quality between 1977 and 1992 were combined with invertebrate abundance data obtained from the intake screens of West Thurrock power station over the same period. This allowed an examination of the influence of drought-induced changes in water-quality parameters on the populations of the most abundant mobile estuarine invertebrates. For 8 invertebrate species, seasonal and monthly means for pre-drought (1977 to 1988) and drought (1989 to 1992) abundances were calculated and tested for significant differences. Time-series data were used to estimate regression models explaining observed variations in populations of Carcinus maenas, Crangon crangon and Gammarus spp. during both periods. Stability tests were used to establish significant differences in pre-drought and drought models. Significant mean seasonal and monthly differences were found for C. maenas and Gammarus spp. in both winter and summer, with significant summer differences being apparent for C. crangon and Palaemon longirostris. Regression analyses confirmed these results for the modelled species and highlighted the significance of drought-related changes in temperature for all 3 crustaceans, with dissolved oxygen being an additional significant variable for C. crangon. The reported significant changes in abundance of the studied species during drought conditions have important implications for the structure and dynamics of estuarine food webs, as C. maenas, Gammarus spp., and particularly C. crangon, are either important predators on invertebrates and juvenile fish or major food items for estuarine fish species.KEY WORDS: Thames · Drought · Models · Carcinus maenas · Crangon crangon · Gammarus · Crustacea · Cnidaria · Ctenophora · Temperature · OxygenResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

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“…Although highly variable, the survival of invertebrates generally continued to decline with increased duration of exposure. Many studies have found losses of invertebrates caused by decreasing discharges from power generating plants causing stranding (Fisher and LaVoy 1972;Kroger 1973;Extence 1981;Corrarino and Brusven 1983) and desiccation (Powell 1958;Pearson et.al. 1968) of macroinvertebrates in shallow shoreline areas.…”

Section: Artificial Exposuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other invertebrates, such as the caddisfly Cheumatopsyche (Hydropsychidae family), have been found to persist or even flourish under hydropeaking discharges because they burrow into the substrate during lower water levels (Trotzky and Gregory 1974;Brusven and MacPhee 1976;Brusven and Trihey 1978;Ward and Short 1978). Extence (1981) also indicated that uncased (relatively mobile) caddisfly larvae were relatively resistant to stranding mortality. Our tile surfaces served only as a relative index of potential vertical movement and escapement from desiccation; however, natural substrate sampling would likely quantify this macroinvertebrate migratory component more accurately.…”

Section: Artificial Exposuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Juvenile Fall Chinook Salmon Stranding on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, 1999 Annual Report.

Nugent¹

2002

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The effect of drought on benthic invertebrate communities in a lowland river

Cited by 90 publications

References 14 publications

Macroinvertebrate community response to inter‐annual and regional river flow regime dynamics

Macroinvertebrate community response to inter‐annual and regional river flow regime dynamics

Effects on invertebrate populations of drought-induced changes in estuarine water quality

Evaluation of Juvenile Fall Chinook Salmon Stranding on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, 1999 Annual Report.

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