Water quality evaluation of two urban streams in Northwest Uruguay: are national regulations for urban stream quality sufficient?

Alvareda, Elena; Lucas, Christine; Paradiso, Mercedes; Piperno, Adriana; Gamazo, Pablo; Erasun, Vanessa; Russo, Paola; Saracho, Andrés; Banega, Rafael; Sapriza, Gonzalo; Mello, Franco Teixeira de

doi:10.1007/s10661-020-08614-6

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…In order to further evaluate the effect of human activities we compare streams that run through urban areas and areas of extensive cattle ranching. In this scenario, considering the implications of each land use, and that in our country most urban streams receive untreated sewage water [36], we expect to find a higher incidence of plastic pollution in the diet of fish belonging to urban watersheds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incidence of Watershed Land Use on the Consumption of Meso and Microplastics by Fish Communities in Uruguayan Lowland Streams

Vidal

Lozoya²,

Tesitore

et al. 2021

Water

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Physical-chemical and biologicaldiversity of streams are influenced by the land use in their watersheds. Plastics currently make up the most important waste asset, representing an important part of the transported and accumulated material in water courses. This work analyzes the consumption of plastics debris by the fish communities in streams with two contrasting types of land use. We worked with threestreams impacted by urbanization and threeby extensive ranching. The stomach and intestinal contents of 309 individuals of 29 species were analyzed, by a modified alkaline digestion, and observed under a stereo microscope with polarized light. A total of 373 plastic itemswere found, of which the majority corresponded to fibers (318). A significant difference was found between the percentage of individuals that consumed plastic debrisbetween both systems (51.6% in ranchers and 76.6% in urban, p = 0.014 Mood’s Median), but no difference was found in the average ingested per individual. This study establishes the first baseline on plastic debris consumption by fish in Uruguayan streams, showing the extent of the plastic and microplastic pollution problem. Although there are differences between the analyzed sites, we also observed significant contamination in streams far from urbanization.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incidence of Watershed Land Use on the Consumption of Meso and Microplastics by Fish Communities in Uruguayan Lowland Streams

Vidal

Lozoya²,

Tesitore

et al. 2021

Water

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“…mportantly, the higher values of area and percentagem of urbanization in the studied streams were 10 km² and 40 %, respectively, indicating a moderated urbanization pressure in these streams (Walsh et al 2005), which demonstrate that these streams are sensitive to urbanization. Despite this, cities have advanced over the natural streams in the studied region, causing its deterioration over recent years (Alvareda et al 2020). Our results indicate that, as urbanization pressure on natural streams increases, this should cause further trophic deterioration in these environments, with drastic consequences on its functioning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Urbanization decreased the multitrophic fish richness and ecosystem functioning in neotropical streams

Moi

Mello

2021

Preprint

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Urbanization is regarded a major global threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Streams are among the most severely affected ecosystems due to worldwide urbanization. An increase in urbanization causes water quality deterioration and loss of habitat heterogeneity in streams. However, it is unclear how water quality deterioration and loss of habitat heterogeneity due to urbanization affect multitrophic diversity and performance of ecosystem functioning. We conducted 2,400 samplings in six streams across Uruguay to investigate how increases in urbanization (area and percentage of urbanization) affect the richness of three trophic groups of fishes and the standing stock biomass of the streams. We investigated the direct and indirect effects, mediated by water quality deterioration and habitat heterogeneity of the urbanization on carnivore, omnivore, and detritivore fish richness and standing stock biomass of streams. The increase in urbanization (area and percentagem) in the streams significantly decreased the richness of carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores fishes. The increase in urbanization also strongly decreased habitat heterogeneity and increased water quality deterioration, which indirectly decreased the carnivore, omnivore, and detritivore fish richness. Urbanization also had strong negative effects on the standing stock biomass of the streams. Our study illustrates that urbanization promotes water quality deterioration and loss of habitat heterogeneity in streams, which indirectly causes loss of multitrophic fish richness and biomass production of streams.

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“…The growth of agriculture has increased the input of pesticides, phosphorus and nitrogen into Uruguayan freshwaters (Goyenola et al 2015, Ernst et al 2018, Soutullo et al 2020, Alcántara et al 2022. Urban and industrial land uses significantly impact water bodies because sewage treatment is still rudimentary and leads to inputs of hydrocarbons, nutrients, pesticides (Paul & Meyer 2001, Walsh et al 2005) and contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, hormones and drugs of abuse (Griffero et al 2019, Alvareda et al 2020, mainly in the southern part of the country (Benejam et al 2016).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization impacts water quality and the use of microhabitats by fish in subtropical agricultural streams

Barrios

Mello

2022

Envir. Conserv.

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Summary Land-use changes have negative effects on stream conditions and fish assemblages, but their effects on water quality and the use of microhabitats by fish in subtropical lowland streams are unclear. We evaluated the effects of urban patches (two urban streams) in an agricultural matrix (two ‘agricultural’ streams) on water quality, microhabitat diversity and fish assemblages, as well as the selection of microhabitat types by fish in the Arroyo Colorado basin (Uruguay). Physicochemical water parameters were measured, the fish sampled using electrofishing, microhabitat diversity, occupancy of microhabitats by fish and the most important microhabitat types for fish species were analysed. Agricultural streams presented higher water quality and microhabitat diversity, and most of the microhabitats were occupied by fish. Microhabitats with medium substrate sizes and running water prevailed in urban streams, while the presence of macrophytes, shallow waters and different substrate sizes were common in agricultural streams. The most important microhabitats used by fish species were not the most abundant, highlighting the fragility of streams resulting from the loss of appropriate conditions. Understanding how different degrees of deterioration in streams affect water quality and microhabitat–fish interactions is essential for the designing of effective monitoring and restoration programmes.

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Water quality evaluation of two urban streams in Northwest Uruguay: are national regulations for urban stream quality sufficient?

Cited by 15 publications

References 53 publications

Incidence of Watershed Land Use on the Consumption of Meso and Microplastics by Fish Communities in Uruguayan Lowland Streams

Incidence of Watershed Land Use on the Consumption of Meso and Microplastics by Fish Communities in Uruguayan Lowland Streams

Urbanization decreased the multitrophic fish richness and ecosystem functioning in neotropical streams

Urbanization impacts water quality and the use of microhabitats by fish in subtropical agricultural streams

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