The Variation of Size Distributions of Benthic Communities Across a Range of Irrigating Ponds and Canals of North Yorkshire, UK

Bibi, Hamida; Rraffaelli, Dave; Sharif, Muhammad

doi:10.17582/journal.sja/2022/38.1.137.148

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…In this sense, it is important to indicate that some of the streams sampled in the present study drain naturally or artificially (human infrastructure) into La Mica Lake (Figure 1), and the water is used as drinking water for the city of Quito, so it complies with the quality standards imposed by Ecuadorian regulations [51]. The validity and usefulness of the BMWP-Col index is amply exemplified in some studies, not only in tropical high-altitude streams [38,42,77,91,103,105], but also in other types of aquatic ecosystems [106][107][108][109]. In the present work, for example, site AL3 had a poor ecological condition, as only 14 individuals belonging to two taxa were found, which is explained by the fact that this site is a concrete channel, generating a negative impact on the population of aquatic insects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Taxonomic and Feeding Trait-Based Analysis of Macroinvertebrates in the Antisana River Basin (Ecuadorian Andean Region)

Cabrera-García,

Goethals,

Lock

et al. 2023

Biology

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High-elevation tropical streams are under increasing threat from human activities and climate change. Specifically, Ecuadorian Andean streams require priority actions such as bioassessment (e.g., biodiversity and functional ecology of macroinvertebrates) in order to generate adequate environmental management policies. Therefore, we investigated the distribution and composition of the macroinvertebrate taxa and their functional feeding groups in relation to the environmental variables in the Antisana river basin (Andean–Ecuadorian Region). We sampled macroinvertebrates from 15 locations to assess ecological conditions (ECs), expressed as the Biological Monitoring Working Party Colombia (BMWP-Col) classes, the Andean Biotic Index (ABI) and the Andean–Amazon Biotic Index (AAMBI). Results indicate that dissolved oxygen saturation, elevation, nutrient concentration and conductivity contributed significantly to the composition of the taxa and functional feeding groups (FFGs). Taxa diversity and FFGs were more abundant in the best EC sites. Shredders (SH) were, overall, dominant and abundant at sites with medium-high ECs. Scrapers constituted the second most prevalent assemblage, exerting dominance at moderate ecological conditions (high altitude and high oxygen saturation). Collector–gathers (CGs) are less sensitive to contamination than the previous two groups but were equally abundant at medium-high EC sites. Collector–filterers (CFs) and parasites (PAs) were less abundant, although the presence of the former was slightly related to better environmental conditions. Predators (PRs) were almost absent throughout the study, but they were collected from poor EC sites. CGs, PAs and PRs showed more tolerance to the presence of human disturbances (e.g., hydraulic constructions or slope erosion). The BMWP-Col index seems to be the best fit for this ecosystem, showing a significant difference in FFG between the index classes, compared to the other indices evaluated. The results of this investigation may be regarded as a fundamental starting point and used in future bioassessment work in other similar ecosystems, particularly high-altitude tropical Ecuadorian streams.

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