Duration and frequency of non‐flow periods affect the abundance and diversity of stream meiofauna

Majdi, Nabil; Colls, Miriam; Weiss, Linette; Acuña, Vicenç; Sabater, Sergi; Traunspurger, Walter

doi:10.1111/fwb.13587

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(113 reference statements)

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“…microbial conditioning vs. macroinvertebrate shredding leaf litter). In addition, compared to both microorganisms and macroinvertebrates, the contribution of meiofauna to organic matter decomposition in freshwater ecosystems remains poorly characterized (Majdi et al, 2020, but see Wang et al, 2020. These size biases limit incorporation of quantitative measurements of energy and biomass flow through communities when studying decomposition phenomena.…”

Section: Perspective: Unifying a Theoretical And Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The riverine bioreactor: An integrative perspective on biological decomposition of organic matter across riverine habitats

Peralta‐Maraver

Stubbington

Arnon

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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We review the biologically driven decomposition processes that take place in riverine ecosystems.• We identify important gaps in our understanding of decomposition processes in rivers from temperate and tropical biomes. • We propose a novel analytical approach to predict decomposition processes from metabolic scaling theory. • Using metadata from 30 rivers, we demonstrate that the slope of community size spectra can predict rates of decomposition.

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Section: Perspective: Unifying a Theoretical And Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The riverine bioreactor: An integrative perspective on biological decomposition of organic matter across riverine habitats

Peralta‐Maraver

Stubbington

Arnon

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Especially during these low flows, dissolved oxygen levels are falling, and water temperature spikes. For intermittent streams, Majdi et al (2020) state that the meiofauna community could recover after drying out of the streambed quickly. However, species communities unadapted to such dry events might face trouble to regain vitality fast.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of drought conditions and their impacts in a headwater stream in the Central European lower mountain ranges

Kaule

Frei

2022

Reg Environ Change

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Headwaters represent a significant fraction of the global stream length and are important for streamflow quality and quantity. Since climate change is predicted to affect runoff generation processes fundamentally, it is essential to understand potential consequences for the water availability in headwater catchments. The Lehstenbach catchment, located in the Fichtel Mountains (Germany), represents many headwater catchments in the lower mountain ranges in Central Europe. This study’s primary objective is to predict and analyze potential shifts in the catchment’s water balance, estimate periods of hydrological drought conditions, and their characteristics. For this purpose, we used an integrated process-based hydrological model to represent surface/groundwater interactions and runoff generation mechanisms for the Lehstenbach catchment until 2100, using a Regional Climate Model Ensemble. The simulations indicate decreased water availability in summer and autumn, mainly due to increased evapotranspiration rates. The Minimum Environmental Flow (MEF), a quantitative measure of aquatic species’ exposition to abnormally low streamflow conditions, implies an increase of low flow conditions towards 2100. A first estimate indicates a possible increase of hydrological drought duration and intensity in the future. These findings suggest severe impacts on ecosystem health and services, such as decreasing water availability, leading to consequences like forest and wetland degradation and declining biodiversity. These findings can be used to implement suitable mitigation strategies to reduce climate change effects on the headwater ecosystems, such as water shortage for irrigation and drinking water supply and loss of flora and fauna.

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“…Similar processes of ecological filtering in response to has been observed in meiofaunal groups dwelling in hard substrate or marine algae and phanerogams exposed to different degrees of turbulence, such as marine mites (Riesgo et al, 2010;Martínez, García-Gómez, et al, 2021). In freshwater, a certain degree of trait selection has been demonstrated in the nematode communities dwelling in sediments between intermittent and permanent streams (Majdi et al, 2020), as well as in the communities associated to mosses (Kreuzinger-Janik et al, 2021). However, evidence for ecological selection of traits is also present in other groups, including free-living (Jaturapruek et al 2021) and epibiont bdelloid rotifers (Fontaneto & Ambrosini, 2010), as well as Cycliophora (Baker et al, 2007).…”

Section: Patterns Of Functional Diversity: Species Traits Vary Across...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The swash zone selects functionally specialized assemblages of beach interstitial meiofauna (Platyhelminthes, Proseriata)

Martinez,

Fontaneto,

Curini-Galetti

2023

Preprint

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Life is not a beach for those animals that survive in the rough ecological conditions found in marine sandy beaches—and yet, microscopic animals thrive on them. We explore the drivers for meiofaunal diversity in beaches by analysing taxonomic and functional patterns of 348 flatworm communities across 116 reflective beaches in the Western Mediterranean, totalling 152 species (61.2% new to Science). First, we confirm that species richness does not differ between beach hydrodynamic levels (swash, shoaling and surf) but rather depends on the characteristics of each beach. Second, we demonstrate that species composition across those levels depends on the species traits, in addition to geographical and abiotic factors. Third, we highlight that the species functional space has a lower richness than expected and a lower redundancy in the wave-exposed swash level compared to the shoaling and subtidal levels, suggesting a trait-based ecological filtering. Finally, we show that those differences depend on the higher frequency of hydrodynamics-related traits in the species of the swash level. Our results suggest that the rough hydrodynamic conditions in the swash level favour a unique combination of species traits, which might be linked to ecological speciation in flatworms but also in other interstitial animals.

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Duration and frequency of non‐flow periods affect the abundance and diversity of stream meiofauna

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 13 publications

References 73 publications

The riverine bioreactor: An integrative perspective on biological decomposition of organic matter across riverine habitats

The riverine bioreactor: An integrative perspective on biological decomposition of organic matter across riverine habitats

Analysis of drought conditions and their impacts in a headwater stream in the Central European lower mountain ranges

The swash zone selects functionally specialized assemblages of beach interstitial meiofauna (Platyhelminthes, Proseriata)

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