Diatom tolerance metrics to identify total phosphorus as candidate cause of aquatic life impairment in Connecticut, USA freshwater streams

Becker, Mary; Becker, Timothy J.; Bellucci, Christopher J.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.05.046

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In this study, the dominant species (or genera) Melosira varians is generally considered to be tolerant of low light and ice cover [8]. Nutrient addition, it was shown, can increase the benthic diatom abundance in template rivers [12]. In this study, benthic diatom Achnanthidium, Encyonema and Gomphonema were co-dominants in highest nutrient state stations (group-3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…It is interesting to note that Achnanthidium minutissimum replaces Melosira varians as the dominant taxon in group-3, which had the highest nutrient conditions. Achnanthidium minutissimum was reported to have a wide range of tolerance for temperature, acidity, conductivity and higher primary productivity [12] and was capable of dominating in the fast flow of lotic environments during ice melt [33]. In our study, group-3 stations are located in downstream of LLRB, which present highest EC, Chl-a, TN and TP concentrations (Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…The results suggest that TP enhances the capability of Achnanthidium minutissimum and Gomphonema acuminatum to adapt in bad conditions and we infer these species have a potential ability to indicate eutrophication during ice-covered period. The effects of TP on the ecological distribution of diatoms have been revealed in freshwater [12], marine [35], and estuaries ecosystems [13]. General N:P ratio was the key issue to dynamic phytoplankton diversity pattern in aquatic ecosystem [35].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, most studies have focused on developing tools for assessing environmental changes of aquatic ecosystem [9,10]. Diatoms have been widely applied for this purpose and used in bio-monitoring studies in peatlands [11], rivers [12] and lakes [5] as they can tolerate low light levels and low water temperatures, and they can respond rapidly to environmental change [13]. Specifically, the distribution of diatoms in rivers can reflect the combined effects of environmental gradients and reveal the health of river ecosystems [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Diatoms have been widely applied for this purpose and used in bio-monitoring studies in peatlands [11], rivers [12] and lakes [5] as they can tolerate low light levels and low water temperatures, and they can respond rapidly to environmental change [13]. Specifically, the distribution of diatoms in rivers can reflect the combined effects of environmental gradients and reveal the health of river ecosystems [12]. Increasing intensity of agricultural land practices affects rivers, and these impacts would closely limit diatom community assembly [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diatom Taxonomic Composition as a Biological Indicator of the Ecological Health and Status of a River Basin under Agricultural Influence

Lü

Liu

Fan

2020

Water

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The Lalin River Basin (LLRB) is a major drainage basin in northeastern China, that has been significantly influenced by agricultural activities. This study focused on exploring diatom taxonomic composition linked to environmental factors at the taxonomic levels of genus and species during ice-covered periods. Nine sampling stations were divided into three groups based on trophic state index (TSI). hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and redundancy analysis (RDA) were performed to identify diatom distribution patterns and their relationships to environmental factors. Diatom richness, composition and distribution were analyzed at the levels of genus and species. Our results showed the epipelagic diatom Melosira varians was very abundant at most stations. Benthic diatoms Achnanthidium minutissimum, Encyonema minutum and Gomphonema parvulum were dominant in group-3, which had the highest trophic states. HCA showed the similarity of diatom taxonomic composition spatial distribution patterns between genus and species levels. RDA revealed that the key factors related to genus level distributions are COD, TP and EC, while TP was the key factor in structuring diatom taxonomic composition at the level of species. These results suggest identification of diatoms at genus level can be used as a potential indicator to assess ecological health status of agricultural-influenced rivers during ice cover periods. Further research is necessary to explore the utility of genus level diatom composition as a biological indicator in rivers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diatom Taxonomic Composition as a Biological Indicator of the Ecological Health and Status of a River Basin under Agricultural Influence

Lü

Liu

Fan

2020

Water

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DNA metabarcoding effectively quantifies diatom responses to nutrients in streams

Smucker

Pilgrim

Nietch

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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Nutrient pollution from human activities remains a common problem facing stream ecosystems. Identifying ecological responses to phosphorus and nitrogen can inform decisions affecting the protection and management of streams and their watersheds. Diatoms are particularly useful because they are a highly diverse group of unicellular algae found in nearly all aquatic environments and are sensitive responders to increased nutrient concentrations. Here, we used DNA metabarcoding of stream diatoms as an approach to quantifying effects of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN). Threshold indicator taxa analysis (TITAN) identified operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that increased or decreased along TP and TN gradients along with nutrient concentrations at which assemblages had substantial changes in the occurrences and relative abundances of OTUs. Boosted regression trees showed that relative abundances of gene sequence reads for OTUs identified by TITAN as low P, high P, low N, or high N diatoms had strong relationships with nutrient concentrations, which provided support for potentially using these groups of diatoms as metrics in monitoring programs. Gradient forest analysis provided complementary information by characterizing multi-taxa assemblage change using multiple predictors and results from random forest models for each OTU. Collectively, these analyses showed that notable changes in diatom assemblage structure and OTUs began around 20 µg TP/L, low P diatoms decreased substantially and community change points occurred from 75 to 150 µg/L, and high P diatoms became increasingly dominant from 150 to 300 µg/L. Diatoms also responded to TN with large decreases in low N diatoms occurring from 280 to 525 µg TN/L and a transition to dominance by high N diatoms from 525-850 µg/L. These diatom responses to TP and TN could be used to inform protection efforts (i.e., antidegradation) and management goals (i.e., nutrient reduction) in streams and watersheds. Our results add to the growing support for using diatom metabarcoding in monitoring programs.

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Effects of pollution on freshwater aquatic organisms

Amoatey

Baawain

2019

Water Environment Research

174

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This paper presents the reviews of scientific papers published in 2018 issues on the effects of anthropogenic pollution on the aquatic organisms dwelling in freshwater ecosystem at global scale. The first part of the study provides the summary of relevant literature reviews followed by field and survey based studies. The second part is based on categories of different classes/sources of pollutants which affect freshwater organism. This is composed of several sections including metals and metalloids, wastewater and effluents, sediments, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, flame retardants, persistent organic pollutants, pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs, emerging contaminants, pesticides, herbicides, and endocrine disruptors. The final part of the study highlights the reviews of published research work on new pollutants such as microplastics and engineered nanoparticles which affect the freshwater organisms.Practitioner points Heavy metals concentrations should be assessed at nano‐scale in aquatic environment. Air pollutants could have long‐term effects on freshwater ecosystem. Future studies should focus on bioremediations of freshwater pollution.

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Diatom tolerance metrics to identify total phosphorus as candidate cause of aquatic life impairment in Connecticut, USA freshwater streams

Cited by 12 publications

References 27 publications

Diatom Taxonomic Composition as a Biological Indicator of the Ecological Health and Status of a River Basin under Agricultural Influence

Diatom Taxonomic Composition as a Biological Indicator of the Ecological Health and Status of a River Basin under Agricultural Influence

DNA metabarcoding effectively quantifies diatom responses to nutrients in streams

Effects of pollution on freshwater aquatic organisms

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