The role of solid waste materials as habitats for macroinvertebrates in a lowland dam reservoir

Abstract

Because of the increasing anthropogenic pressure, the amount of solid waste discarded in water is growing considerably. It can affect aquatic organisms, modifying their distribution and abundance. This study was designed to investigate the effect of several types of solid waste (bottles, textiles, bundles of string, pieces of polythene and rubber) upon the taxonomic composition and biodiversity of macroinvertebrates inhabiting the near-shore zone (up to 1-m depth) of the Włocławek Reservoir (the River Vistula, central Poland). The epifauna developing on these materials was compared with organisms living on natural substrata: bare sandy bottom (from which the waste was collected), macrophytes and sandy bottom overgrown by plants. The communities inhabiting the artificial substrata (except strings) were much more diverse (in terms of taxon richness, Shannon-Wiener index and evenness) than the surrounding bare sandy bottom. The biodiversity on the waste was similar to that found on the macrophytes and bottom among them, located nearby. The most suitable materials appeared to be bottles, providing shelters in their interiors. The artificial substrata differed considerably from all natural habitats with respect to taxonomic composition, though they were more similar to the macrophytes than to the bottom sediments. Furthermore, the variability among the assemblages developing on the particular waste objects, even of the same type, was much larger than that observed on the macrophytes, indicating the patchy nature of the former habitat. Thus, discarded waste can constitute alternative habitats for invertebrates, especially when natural substrata are unsuitable (e.g. sandy bottom), but they cannot fully replace natural substrata, such as plants, in their habitat-forming role in ecosystems.

Settlement preferences of leeches (Clitellata: Hirudinida) for different artificial substrates

“…This tendency is consistent with observations of other authors (Pawłowski, 1936;Mann, 1962;Sawyer, 1986;Czarnecka et al, 2009;Koperski, 2010) and confirms preferences for the hard surfaces. Leeches less frequently colonize a soft substrate, subjected to the movements of water masses.…”

“…Much has been written about their use as a tool in the assessment of aquatic environment quality (De Pauw et al, 1994;Czerniawska-Kusza, 2004;MacDonald et al, 2012;Loke et al, 2014) or biomass production of phyto and zoobenthos (Moura et al, 2007;Plá & Alveal, 2012). In relation to inland waters, research has mainly focused on their habitat-creation role and concerns entire groups of benthic fauna (De Pauw et al, 1986, De Pauw et al, 1994Czerniawska-Kusza, 2004;Poznańska et al, 2009;Czarnecka et al, 2009). Studies about the preferences of particular species are still rare and tend to focus on sessile organisms (Czarnołęski et al, 2004;Kobak, 2004;Kobak & Januszewska, 2006;Porter & Marsden, 2008;Richards & Beger, 2011;Braccia et al, 2014;Spagnolo et al, 2014).…”

“…To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time such an analysis has been conducted on this group of organisms. According to the literature, some taxa are more numerous on artificial substrates in relation to the natural bottom (Czarnecka et al, 2009); this particularly applies to thigmotactic organisms, which include leeches (Czerniawska-Kusza, 2004). In general, they inhabit tightfitting places to achieve maximum body contact (Bisson & Torre, 2011).…”

“…changing the nature of the substrate, creating barriers), resulting in the disappearance of certain taxa and a decline in local biodiversity (Beaven et al, 2000;Brauns et al, 2007). However, most often they create new habitats and increase the space available for many plants and invertebrates (Winston, 1982;Chapman & Clynick, 2006;Jatulewicz, 2007;Czarnecka et al, 2009). Matysiak (1985), Bertman & Bielecki (1997), CzerniawskaKusza (2004) have shown that leeches find favourable conditions for life on anthropogenic wastes and often prefer them, especially when the bottom is not suitable, e.g.…”

“…Matysiak (1985), Bertman & Bielecki (1997), CzerniawskaKusza (2004) have shown that leeches find favourable conditions for life on anthropogenic wastes and often prefer them, especially when the bottom is not suitable, e.g. sandy bottom (Czarnecka et al, 2009). Artificial substrates may also play a prominent role in the reproduction of leeches.…”