Are biological classifications of headwater streams concordant across multiple taxonomic groups?

Abstract

Summary 1. Studies assessing human impacts on freshwater ecosystems are typically based on a single taxonomic group, often macroinvertebrates or fish. Unfortunately, the degree to which such macroinvertebrate or fish‐based surveys can be generalised across other taxonomic groups remains largely unknown. A prerequisite for useful generalisations is that different taxonomic groups exhibit concordant patterns of community structure across sites. 2. We examined the concordance among fish, benthic macroinvertebrates and bryophytes in 32 streams in a boreal catchment in Finland. Our goal was to test how consistently different taxonomic groups classify stream sites; for example, can site groupings based on macroinvertebrates be used as a surrogate for bryophyte or fish assemblage classification? 3. Our results show that community classifications in headwater streams are not concordant across taxonomic groups, at least not at the within‐river system scale. The lack of concordance reflected the fact that all three groups responded to different environmental factors. Macroinvertebrate community structure was mainly correlated with stream size and pH, whereas bryophytes were related to water colour, nutrient content and in‐stream habitat variability. Fish community structure was best described by stream depth, substrate size and water oxygen concentration. 4. Our results suggest that great care should be taken when typologies based on benthic macroinvertebrates, or any other taxonomic group, are extrapolated to other groups in creating typologies of lotic environments.

Relationships between three major stream assemblages and their environmental factors in multiple spatial scales

“…In other words, the data in our study came from a large spatial scale composed of five large river watershed and many small basins on the national scale. Thus, the current data support the idea that concordance could be found on a large spatial scale; however, concordance was not observed on a small scale, as proposed by Paavola et al (2003). Allen et al (1999) hypothesized a strong concordance with a similar body size of taxa.…”

“…However, diatoms did not show significant correlation with macroinvertebrates. Meanwhile, previous studies have revealed low assemblage concordance in streams at within-basin scales (Allen et al, 1999;Paavola et al, 2003). These differences may be due to the differences of spatial scale in the study area.…”

Applications of self‐organizing map for patterning macrofungal diversity of xerothermic swards

“…This suggests a very important role of macrofungi in semi-natural, unstable phytocoenoses, whose existence depends on intensive human activity (exploitation as pastures, and mowing of grasses). The IndVal is a particularly effective tool for ecological bioindication (MacGeoch et al 2002;Paavola et al 2003;Penczak 2009). The results of the present mycological investigations of xerothermic swards demonstrate the value of macrofungi as bioindicators that can be useful in the practical conservation of rare and endangered plant communities.…”

Concordance between Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera assemblage in streams from Cerrado – Amazonia transition

“…In a second study, Heino et al (2003) found low concordance in species richness of larvae from four groups in headwater streams (Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Plecoptera, and Chironomidae) in Finland, other studies often found low concordance in the structure and species richness in freshwater ecosystems, especially at small spatial scales (e.g. within basin Allen et al, 1999;Paavola et al, 2003;Tolonen et al, 2005). Low concordance can arise between similar-sized organisms, such as different groups of aquatic insects, because of specific requirements to use of the environment.…”