Climate change and biological indicators: detection, attribution, and management implications for aquatic ecosystems

Barbour, Michael T.; Bierwagen, Britta G.; Hamilton, Andrew; Aumen, Nicholas G.

doi:10.1899/10-117.1

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…Climate change represents an amalgam of potential stressors, among which rising temperature is prominent (Woodward et al ., ). It is generally held that freshwaters will be particularly vulnerable to climate change (Moore et al ., ; Ryan & Ryan, ; Wrona et al ., ; Barbour et al ., ), and if management proceeds in ignorance of interactions among rising temperature and other stressors, ‘ecological surprises’ (unexpected outcomes) may result and mitigation and restoration efforts may be thwarted (Barbour et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate warming and agricultural stressors interact to determine stream macroinvertebrate community dynamics

Piggott

Townsend

Matthaei

2015

Global Change Biology

160

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Global climate change is likely to modify the ecological consequences of currently acting stressors, but potentially important interactions between climate warming and land-use related stressors remain largely unknown. Agriculture affects streams and rivers worldwide, including via nutrient enrichment and increased fine sediment input. We manipulated nutrients (simulating agricultural run-off) and deposited fine sediment (simulating agricultural erosion) (two levels each) and water temperature (eight levels, 0-6°C above ambient) simultaneously in 128 streamside mesocosms to determine the individual and combined effects of the three stressors on macroinvertebrate community dynamics (community composition and body size structure of benthic, drift and insect emergence assemblages). All three stressors had pervasive individual effects, but in combination often produced additive or antagonistic outcomes. Changes in benthic community composition showed a complex interplay among habitat quality (with or without sediment), resource availability (with or without nutrient enrichment) and the behavioural/physiological tendency to drift or emerge as temperature rose. The presence of sediment and raised temperature both resulted in a community of smaller organisms. Deposited fine sediment strongly increased the propensity to drift. Stressor effects were most prominent in the benthic assemblage, frequently reflected by opposite patterns in individuals quitting the benthos (in terms of their propensity to drift or emerge). Of particular importance is that community measures of stream health routinely used around the world (taxon richness, EPT richness and diversity) all showed complex three-way interactions, with either a consistently stronger temperature response or a reversal of its direction when one or both agricultural stressors were also in operation. The negative effects of added fine sediment, which were often stronger at raised temperatures, suggest that streams already impacted by high sediment loads may be further degraded under a warming climate. However, the degree to which this will occur may also depend on in-stream nutrient conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate warming and agricultural stressors interact to determine stream macroinvertebrate community dynamics

Piggott

Townsend

Matthaei

2015

Global Change Biology

160

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Management Options for Heavy Metals and Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI) in the Zarqa River Basin of Jordan for Efficient Water Resources Use

Shammout

2024

Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

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Ecological status assessment in mediterranean rivers: complexities and challenges in developing tools for assessing ecological status and defining reference conditions

Dallas

2012

Hydrobiologia

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Awareness of sustainable management of water and its biological resources is rising in West Africa, but application of effective tools for biomonitoring and detecting habitats at risk in aquatic ecosystems is limited. In this study, we provide key environmental descrip-tors to characterize reference sites by applying the following Ba priori criteria^ (physical and chemical, hydro-morphological, and land use parameters) by exploring their potential to determine suitable reference sites. Using data collected from 44 sites, we identified 37 criteria that reliably identify reference conditions in semi-arid rivers by reflecting the impacts of multiple pressures ranging from low to very high intensity of human uses and impairments. We integrated all these impacts in an overall pressures index, which showed that protected areas can reasonably be considered as credible reference sites as far as they show low overall impact levels from cumulative pressures. We recommend that development of bio-indicator standards should be based on the collection and integration of all the available information, especially quantitative, spatially-explicit data, from benthic macroinvertebrates and fish. Rigorous standardization of bio-indicator protocols will make them more easily applicable for management and conservation of aquatic ecosystem resources in semi-arid zones of Africa.

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Climate change and biological indicators: detection, attribution, and management implications for aquatic ecosystems

Cited by 6 publications

References 17 publications

Climate warming and agricultural stressors interact to determine stream macroinvertebrate community dynamics

Climate warming and agricultural stressors interact to determine stream macroinvertebrate community dynamics

Management Options for Heavy Metals and Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI) in the Zarqa River Basin of Jordan for Efficient Water Resources Use

Ecological status assessment in mediterranean rivers: complexities and challenges in developing tools for assessing ecological status and defining reference conditions

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