Deeper knowledge of shallow waters: reviewing the invertebrate fauna of southern African temporary wetlands

Bird, Matthew S.; Mlambo, Musa C.; Wasserman, Ryan J.; Dalu, Tatenda; Holland, Alexandra J.; Day, Jenny A.; Villet, Martin H.; Bilton, David T.; Barber-James, Helen M.; Brendonck, Luc

doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3772-z

Cited by 48 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 226 publications

(283 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Wetlands are amongst the most productive ecosystems in the world, harboring high diversities of aquatic and semiaquatic biota [1][2][3][4]. However, historically, wetlands have been regarded as "wastelands", and such a view has led to the degradation and pollution of wetlands, which in turn compromises contemporary ecosystem function [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal Distribution and Sediment Quality Variation across Sediment Depths of a Subtropical Ramsar Declared Wetland

Dalu

Tshivhase

Cuthbert

et al. 2020

Water

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The study of wetlands is particularly important as these systems act as natural water purifiers and thus can act as sinks for contaminated particles. Wetland sediments are important as they provide an indication of potential contamination across temporal and spatial scales. The current study aimed to investigate the distributions of selected metals and nutrients in different sites in relation to sediment depth, and identify relationships among sediment metals. Significant differences in nutrient (i.e., N, P) and metal (i.e., K, Mg, Na, Fe, Cu, B) concentrations were found across study sites, whereas nutrients (i.e., N, P) and metals (i.e., Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn) were significantly different with sediment depths. When compared against Canadian sediment standards, most of the assessed metals were within the “no effect” level across the different sites and depths. The K, Ca, and Mg concentration showed extreme contamination across all sites and depths. The enrichment factor values for K, Ca, and Mg showed extremely high enrichment levels for all sites and sediment depths. The Na, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and B concentration showed mostly background enrichment levels. All sediments across the different sites and sediment depths indicated deterioration of sediment quality. Pearson correlations suggest that most metals might have originated in a similar source as that of Mn and B, owing to a lack of significant differences. These results provide baseline information for the general management of the Nylsvley Wetland in relation to sediment metal pollution. The specific sources of metal contaminants also require further elucidation to further inform management efforts.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal Distribution and Sediment Quality Variation across Sediment Depths of a Subtropical Ramsar Declared Wetland

Dalu

Tshivhase

Cuthbert

et al. 2020

Water

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Propagules are deposited in the topsoil layer, and can lie dormant for decades (Bird et al . ), waiting for the wet conditions to return. During this time, environmental perturbations such as fire can affect their composition, viability and hatching success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The negative impacts of fire on the resurrection ecology of invertebrates from temporary wetlands in Cape Flats Sand Fynbos in the Western Cape, South Africa

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fire is an important environmental disturbance in Mediterranean-climate regions; however, its intensity and frequency are predicted to increase under climate change scenarios with unknown implications for ecosystems in these regions. Temporary wetlands, with their periodic wet and dry phases, are considered one of the most productive systems in the world and their invertebrate communities form a crucial diet component for higher trophic levels. The effect of fire on the hatching success of invertebrate propagules from temporary wetlands in the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (Cape Town, South Africa) was investigated. Homogenised soil samples from these wetlands were either experimentally subjected to vegetation fires (treatment samples) or were left as is (control samples). The results revealed that fire had a significant negative impact on invertebrate hatching success, as revealed by analyses of the different diversity measures (e.g. taxon richness, Shannon diversity and Pielou's evenness) and community composition. Proper management of fire, especially in the Mediterraneanclimate regions, which replicates the natural fire intervals typical of the area (10-15 years) and avoids unregulated or accidental fires, is essential to ensuring future protection of these critical biodiversity hotspots created by the temporary wetlands.

show abstract

“…Many terrestrial insects have a larval aquatic life stage including dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), mosquitoes and flies (Diptera) and mayflies (Ephemeroptera) [8][9][10] and are therefore considered aquatic invertebrates in their larval phase. Truly aquatic or 'permanent' aquatic invertebrates complete all of their life stages in the aquatic environment and include zooplankton such as water fleas (Cladocera), micro-crustaceans (Copepoda) and fairy shrimp (Anostraca) as well as larger macroinvertebrates such as freshwater snails (Mollusca) and crabs (Potamonautidae) Conserving Freshwater Biodiversity in an African Subtropical Wetland: South Africa's Lower… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93752 [10][11][12]. Aquatic invertebrates are present in most freshwater ecosystems and respond rapidly to a broad range of physical and chemical environmental conditions such as changes in habitat condition or water chemistry [7,13].…”

Section: Biodiversity Of Aquatic Organisms From the Lower Phongolo Rimentioning

confidence: 99%

Conserving Freshwater Biodiversity in an African Subtropical Wetland: South Africa’s Lower Phongolo River and Floodplain

Acosta¹,

Netherlands²,

Retief³

et al. 2021

Managing Wildlife in a Changing World

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Freshwater biodiversity is under constant threat from a range of anthropogenic stressors. Using South Africa's Phongolo River and floodplain (PRF) as a study case, the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the conservation and management of freshwater biodiversity in a highly diverse subtropical ecosystem. The PRF is the largest floodplain system in South Africa which is severely threatened by irregularly controlled flood releases from a large upstream dam, prolonged drought, deteriorating water quality, organic pollutants and the increasing dependence of the local communities. Based on a decade of survey of the PRF conducted from 2010 to 2020, this chapter highlights the current diversity of aquatic organisms (invertebrates, fishes, frogs and their parasitic fauna), followed by an overview of their biological and physical stressors. The current challenges in the management of the aquatic biodiversity of this region and a way forward to conservation strategies are also addressed in this chapter.

show abstract

Deeper knowledge of shallow waters: reviewing the invertebrate fauna of southern African temporary wetlands

Abstract: Deeper knowledge of shallow waters: reviewing the invertebrate fauna of southern African temporary wetlands Bird, MS

Cited by 48 publications

References 226 publications

Metal Distribution and Sediment Quality Variation across Sediment Depths of a Subtropical Ramsar Declared Wetland

Metal Distribution and Sediment Quality Variation across Sediment Depths of a Subtropical Ramsar Declared Wetland

The negative impacts of fire on the resurrection ecology of invertebrates from temporary wetlands in Cape Flats Sand Fynbos in the Western Cape, South Africa

Conserving Freshwater Biodiversity in an African Subtropical Wetland: South Africa’s Lower Phongolo River and Floodplain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About