Effects of broad-scale geological changes on patterns in macroinvertebrate assemblages

Challenges using extrapolated family-level macroinvertebrate metrics in moderately disturbed tropical streams: a case-study from Belize

“…2). The strength of geological influence is not surprising given observations elsewhere (Neff & Jackson, 2011), especially since our data confirmed our study streams were Nonetheless, significant variation in PC1 scores among all treatment categories indicated that human activity had altered stream condition. Yet, in calcareous streams there was little evidence that associated environmental change was strongly related to composition or biotic metrics.…”

“…We hypothesized that family metrics would vary in relation to decreasing forested condition along a gradient from subsistence/non mechanized farming to residential 4 activities to commercial agriculture. Our study catchments were environmentally heterogeneous (Carrie et al, 2015) and since environmental and subsequent biological change can be associated with natural as well as anthropogenic gradients (Neff & Jackson, 2011), we expected to observe a response to both gradients. Ability to detect anthropogenic environmental change can be confounded by natural variation, particularly where disturbance effects are subtle and natural variability large (Hawkins et al, 2000, Metzeling et al, 2006, so we controlled for season, stream order and altitude and located our treatment categories separately within streams of different geological types (i.e., treatment group was nested within categories reflecting upstream geological influence).…”

Evaluating macroinvertebrate community shifts in the confluence of freestone and limestone streams

“…These physical and chemical changes due to geology have been shown to have corresponding effects on the biological community of the aquatic system (Glazier and Gooch, 1987;Dow et al, 2006;Kratzer et al, 2006;Neff and Jackson, 2011;Batzer and Ruhí, 2013). Streams of different geological origin have innately different levels of macroinvertebrate diversity.…”

“…Streams of different geological origin have innately different levels of macroinvertebrate diversity. In comparison to sandstone or freestone-based streams, limestone streams tend to N o n -c o m m e r c i a l u s e o n l y have naturally lower diversity, including reduced aquatic insect populations, and higher overall community density due to high abundances of tolerant species (Sutcliffe and Carrick, 1973;Krueger and Waters, 1983;Glazier and Gooch, 1987;Glazier, 1991;Ross et al, 2008;Botts, 2009;Neff and Jackson, 2011). This may be due to a number of characteristics that differ between the streams.…”

On the Iberian endemism Eurylophella iberica Keffermuller and Da Terra 1978 (Ephemeroptera, Ephemerellidae): current and future potential distributions, and assessment of the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network on its protection

“…However, the lithological composition of the substratum influences the conductivity and pH of aquatic systems and may affect the distribution patterns of aquatic species (e.g., Bonada et al 2005;Neff and Jackson 2011). Therefore, the percentage of each grid cell with an acidic surface geology (i.e.…”