Aquatic insect functional diversity and nutrient content in urban streams in a medium‐sized city

Lundquist, Matthew J.; Zhu, Weixing

doi:10.1002/ecs2.2284

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The sites that have larger insect populations may also be supporting larger populations of other important aquatic fauna. For example, larvae of Hydropsyche are relatively large compared to the other insect taxa collected in the present study and may be an important food source for other organisms in the river (Lundquist and Zhu 2018, Walters et al 2009). The sites with larger insect populations could also act as a source of colonizers for restoration projects of downstream sites that are more urbanized (Sundermann et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Patterns of Aquatic Insect Biodiversity in the Highly Urbanized Bronx River, NY

Lundquist

Scott

2023

Northeastern Naturalist

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aquatic insects are important components of stream food webs and are greatly impacted by anthropogenic disturbances, including urbanization. Successful restoration of urban rivers is contingent on the growth of aquatic insect populations from colonizers from local, less-disturbed streams. However, rivers in highly urbanized watersheds may not have nearby source populations, and therefore must rely only on individuals already surviving in the river. At the regional level, urbanization is a homogenizing process, but the impacts could be heterogeneous at the local level. Therefore, some sites within highly urban rivers might support higher local biodiversity and provide source populations for restoration projects focused on other sites in the river. In this study, we collected aquatic insects from sites within the Bronx River, a highly urbanized river in the New York City metropolitan area, NY, in the summers of 2021 and 2022. We found that while taxonomic richness was similar among sites, insect abundance and dominant taxa, particularly members of Hydropsychidae (Trichoptera), varied significantly among sites. These findings suggest sites within the Bronx River are not homogenous and that some sites within the river harbor larger populations of aquatic insects and may be integral to the success of future conservation projects. This pattern of within-river heterogeneity may exist in other urban rivers and deserves consideration in determining conservation goals and the planning of stream-restoration projects.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Patterns of Aquatic Insect Biodiversity in the Highly Urbanized Bronx River, NY

Lundquist

Scott

2023

Northeastern Naturalist

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Organisms generally develop life history strategies that result in abilities to withstand adverse environmental conditions (Hershkovitz & Gasith, 2013). In impacted locations, communities tend to have smaller organisms, as a possible physiological response to environmental changes, however, there is no consensus in the literature on whether this relationship between disturbance and individual size is really clear (Gomes et al, 2018;Lundquist & Zhu, 2018;Malacarne et al, 2023;Collyer et al, 2023). Furthermore, resistant organisms to disturbed environments tend to feed on fine or dissolved particles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agriculture affects functional diversity of aquatic insects in Subtropical Atlantic Forest streams

Hepp,

Milesi,

Picolotto

et al. 2023

Acta Limnol. Bras.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim We evaluated the effects of native vegetation and agricultural activities on functional characteristics of aquatic insects’ assemblages in Atlantic Forest streams southern Brazil. Methods We collected information on land uses, riparian zone structural characteristics, and limnological variables of ten streams to characterize their environmental quality. In the same streams, we collected aquatic insects (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) and determined their functional characteristics (e.g. food habits, mobility, shape, and body size). The information for each trait category was quantified using a fuzzy code technique. To test the environmental conditions on aquatic insect functional attributes, we used an RLQ analysis. Results In our study, only five environmental variables showed variation in streams (temperature, pH, DO, native vegetation, and agriculture use). We collected a total of 2591 organisms distributed in 21 EPT genera. We observed that the functional attributes of EPT formed distinct groups in relation to the stream categories defined by the measured environmental variables. We observed that shredders and larger and flattened organisms were associated with natural streams. These attributes were associated with the genera Phylloicus, Anacroneuria, Tupiperla, and Farrodes. On the other hand, we observed greater proportions of scrapers, with spherical bodies and shelter builders in streams impacted by agriculture. The most frequent genera in these streams were Itaura, Wormaldia and Helicopsyche. Conclusions The modification of natural landscapes by agricultural areas caused significant functional changes in the aquatic invertebrate communities. Since aquatic insects participate effectively in ecological processes, alterations in the functional characteristics of these communities can cause changes in the streams’ functioning.

show abstract

“…The use of aquatic insect to assess the quality of water provides necessary information to take actions regarding environment management (Hossain et al, 2015). Anthropogenic activities, especially climate change and urbanization are the continues threat for the aquatic ecosystem, that effects the insect diversity (Lundquist and Zhu, 2018).…”

Section: Composition Of Aquatic Insectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and diversity of aquatic insects in different water bodies of Qatar

Alkhayat

Ahmad

Rahim³

et al. 2024

Braz. J. Biol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aquatic insect fauna remains an important tool for bio indication of environmental disturbance, while maintaining a healthy aquatic system. The purpose of the study was to document and to identify the diversity and distribution patterns of aquatic insect, a highly ignored aspect from the Qatar. Following the standard procedures, the samples were collected from aquatic habitats during the period October 2015 to May 2017 on monthly basis. A total of 11,287 individuals, belonging to 6 orders were captured. Dipterans were the abundant with the percentages of 71.01 (n=8,015), while the lowest percentage was observed for Coleoptera 0.04 (n=05). Twelve insects families were identified, among these five were reported under Diptera, followed by Hemiptera (03), while Coleoptera, Tricoptera, Odonata, and Ephemeroptera were represented by single families. Among the selected localities, Dipterans were collected from 10 stations, followed by Hemiptera (9), Coleoptera (4), Odonota (4), Ephemeroptera (3) and Trichoptera (1) respectively. Among the water bodies samples, streams were the most preferred habitats (n=2,767), while drinking water pools were the least (27). Moreover, the highest Simpson diversity index of 1.48 and lowest of 0.47 was recorded for flooded sewage pool and plastic containers respectively, while the low evenness values were observed for ponds, and less than 1 Margalef’s diversity values were seen for all habitats. This study documents the patterns of the diversity and distribution of aquatic insects, and provides a baseline for the future studies from Qatar.

show abstract

Aquatic insect functional diversity and nutrient content in urban streams in a medium‐sized city

Cited by 10 publications

References 34 publications

Patterns of Aquatic Insect Biodiversity in the Highly Urbanized Bronx River, NY

Patterns of Aquatic Insect Biodiversity in the Highly Urbanized Bronx River, NY

Agriculture affects functional diversity of aquatic insects in Subtropical Atlantic Forest streams

Distribution and diversity of aquatic insects in different water bodies of Qatar

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About