The impact of a catastrophic storm event on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in upland headwater streams and potential implications for ecological diversity and assessment of ecological status

Feeley, Hugh B.; Davis, Stephen E.; Bruen, Michael; Blacklocke, Sean; Kelly‐Quinn, Mary

doi:10.4081/jlimnol.2012.e32

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…However, we emphasize, that the demonstrated increase in hyporheic reactive efficiency with increasing stream discharge will not be unlimited. Very intense and destructive stream discharge events with increasing turbidity and sediment mobilization may disturb the entire aquatic ecosystems and its reactivity [e.g., Resh et al ., ; Feeley et al ., ; Löfgren et al ., ]. Most likely, such events will induce a temporal decline in reaction efficiency.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beside natural flood events, human dam operations leading to downstream stream stage oscillations have an impact on stream‐groundwater systems [ Arntzen et al ., ; Sawyer et al ., ; Casas‐Mulet et al ., ]. Furthermore, the perturbations caused by flood events are relevant for microbial communities [ Holmes et al ., ] and invertebrates [ Olsen and Townsend , ; Feeley et al ., ] and to some degree are needed for a good functioning of the aquatic ecosystem [ Resh et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Single discharge events increase reactive efficiency of the hyporheic zone

Trauth

Fleckenstein

2017

Water Resources Research

106

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In this study, we investigate the impact of single stream discharge events on water exchange, solute transport, and reactions in the hyporheic zone below a natural in‐stream gravel bar. We set up a reactive transport groundwater model with streamflow scenarios that vary by event duration and peak discharge. A steady ambient groundwater flow field is assumed that results in losing, neutral, or gaining stream conditions depending on the stream stage. Across the streambed dissolved oxygen, organic carbon, and nitrate are transported into the subsurface. Additional nitrate is received from upwelling groundwater. Aerobic respiration and denitrification are simulated for scenarios with different stream solute concentrations. Results show that hyporheic exchange flux, solute transport, and consumption increase during events. However, their intensities depend highly on the interplay between event characteristics and ambient groundwater conditions. During events where reversals in the hydraulic gradient occur stream water and solutes infiltrate deeper into the aquifer where they have more time to react. For those events, the reactive efficiency of the hyporheic zone (solute consumption as fraction of influx) for aerobic respiration and denitrification is up to 2.7 and 10 times higher compared to base flow conditions. The fraction of stream nitrate load consumed in the hyporheic zone increases with stream discharge (up to 150 mg/m2/h), but remains below the value under base flow conditions for weak events. Events also increase denitrification of groundwater borne nitrate, but groundwater nitrate flux to the stream decreases by up to 33% due to temporary gradient reversals.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single discharge events increase reactive efficiency of the hyporheic zone

Trauth

Fleckenstein

2017

Water Resources Research

106

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“…The five extreme high‐rainfall events included here all resulted in flash flooding and/or a rapid increase in bankfull discharge in the Glenfinish River, accompanied by large‐scale scouring of the riverbed and upheaval and entrainment of in‐stream substrata (Twomey & Giller, ). Comparable amounts of 24‐h rainfall resulted in similarly high levels of disturbance in other Irish running waters; hence, these events can be considered as extreme for the general locale (Feeley et al ., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because extreme events are by definition rare, and often unpredictable, capturing them in natural systems is largely fortuitous (e.g. Fisher et al ., ; Lamberti et al ., ; Covich, Crowl & Heartsill‐Scalley, ; Feeley et al ., ). Furthermore, extreme climatic events (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Resilience of a stream community to extreme climatic events and long‐term recovery from a catastrophic flood

et al. 2015

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Summary Floods and droughts are predicted to increase in intensity, duration and frequency in many future climate scenarios, yet long‐term data that track before‐and‐after responses of natural communities remain scarce. We explored the impacts of a series of extreme events, including a particularly catastrophic flood, over 13 years in the Glenfinish River in Ireland. Overall, seasonal cycles of absolute and relative abundance were the strongest temporal signal in the data, and the community as a whole was relatively persistent. At interannual scales, a core of c. 15 taxa were present throughout most of the time series, which spanned >10 generations for most taxa, whereas extreme events had negligible or weak effects, with two notable exceptions. The catastrophic 1986 summer flood triggered a 10‐fold decline in abundance: although most populations returned to their pre‐disturbance state in <3 years, some took up to a decade to recover. In 1988–1989, two contrasting extreme low‐rainfall and storm events occurred within a year and were associated with far more marked compositional and functional shifts than were seen in the 1986 flood, although abundance was not so strongly affected. Contrasting extreme events that occur close to one another in time and/or at atypical times of year (e.g. floods in summer, when base flow is low) can have particularly strong effects, whereas at other times even the most extreme events may leave little longer‐term footprint. Therefore, both the temporal context and the magnitude of events determine the biota's response. Effects of the events also varied across taxa and organisational levels: the more r‐selected taxa (e.g. Chironomidae) were relatively unaffected compared with the larger, more K‐selected taxa. Community‐level responses were mostly driven by shifts in relative abundances, rather than species loss or turnover, and the functional diversity of species traits was more resilient still. The apparent stability in relative abundances of functional groups in the face of significant variation at the species level is suggestive of high functional redundancy, but without exhaustive further analyses using null‐model approaches, this remains unproved. In turn, relatively high levels of redundancy and the reshuffling of species with similar traits could confer resilience in the face of all but the most extreme events.

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“…A clear distinction in the richness and diversity in the aquatic invertebrate community has also been found between dry and rainy periods. For example, Rios-Touma et al (2011) observed a higher richness and diversity of the aquatic invertebrate community during the dry season in the Piburja stream (Ecuador), and Feeley et al (2012) noted that high water levels due to increased rainfall induced significant losses in the richness and diversity of the invertebrate community. However, some studies have demonstrated that responses in invertebrate communities are probably not directly coupled to precipitation, but occur via related changes in stream characteristics, such as the carriage of sediments and organisms, due to an increase in current velocity and water flow (Oliveira et al 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal variation in the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera community in response to environmental drivers in a subtropical stream

Schmitt¹,

Siegloch²,

Silva³

et al. 2016

J. Insect Biodiversity

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Aquatic insects are important elements in the ecological dynamics of lotic systems and their distribution in these environments can be driven by several environmental factors. Based in this assumption the aim of this study was to evaluate which environmental variables act as structural driver of the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) community. We hypothesize that community structure will display strong temporal alterations due to characteristics in subtropical regions. We evaluated the effect of water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, depth, current velocity and rainfall on the distribution of EPT community. The insects were sampled using the litter bags incubation in a third-order subtropical stream located on Santa Catarina Island, Southern Brazil. The abundance of EPT was monitored for 24 months between January 2012 and December 2013. We identified 530 EPT specimens belonging to 11 families and 20 genera. The community showed a significant variation along the monitored time, mainly attributed to Trichoptera order. In addition to the results of this work the Ecnomidae family, Austrotinodes and Neotrichia genera represent new records for Santa Catarina State. Environmental variables varied significantly during the study time and depth and rainfall were the mainly environmental drivers acting under the community structure. We also observed a negatively correlation among rainfall and EPT community, especially to Trichoptera, which showed a strong temporal variation. In this study the EPT community displays a strong temporal variation along the monitored time, mainly attributed to rainfall events, characteristic of subtropical region. We also suggest that body adaptations also have an influence in the EPT community structure, once under flood event conditions these adaptations may offer advantage or disadvantage to invertebrate establishment, as pointed in the Trichoptera order.

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The impact of a catastrophic storm event on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in upland headwater streams and potential implications for ecological diversity and assessment of ecological status

Abstract: ABSTRACT

Cited by 21 publications

References 49 publications

Single discharge events increase reactive efficiency of the hyporheic zone

Single discharge events increase reactive efficiency of the hyporheic zone

Resilience of a stream community to extreme climatic events and long‐term recovery from a catastrophic flood

Temporal variation in the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera community in response to environmental drivers in a subtropical stream

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