Functional diversity measures revealed impacts of non-native species and habitat degradation on species-poor freshwater fish assemblages

Colin, Nicole; Villéger, Sébastien; Wilkes, Martin; Sostoa, Adolfo de; Maceda‐Veiga, Alberto

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.316

Cited by 59 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Many riverine species native to the Iberian Peninsula are considered well adapted to the natural, Mediterranean climatic and hydrologic regimes, characterized by marked floods and droughts (Gasith & Resh, ). Consequently, anthropogenic impacts including habitat degradation, river regulation, water pollution and land use are considered major threats to the native fish fauna (Almeida, Alcaraz‐Hernández, Merciai, Benejam, & García‐Berthou, ; Benejam et al, ; Maceda‐Veiga, ; Santiago et al, ), are associated with community shifts and dominance in abundance of alien species (Aparicio, Vargas, Olmo, & Sostoa, ; Sommerwerk, Wolter, Freyhof, & Tockner, ) and might lead to marked changes in functional diversity (Colin, Villéger, Wilkes, Sostoa, & Maceda‐Veiga, ; Toussaint et al, ). In addition, climate change is considered a major threat to many, particularly endemic, fishes in the Mediterranean region (Jarić, Lennox, Kalinkat, Cvijanović, & Radinger, ; Maceda‐Veiga, ) and might facilitate the spread of alien species (e.g., Murphy, Grenouillet, & García‐Berthou, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental filtering governs the spatial distribution of alien fishes in a large, human‐impacted Mediterranean river

Radinger

Alcaraz‐Hernández

García‐Berthou

2019

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim:To analyse the occurrence and abundance of native versus alien fish species in relation to climate, land use, hydrologic alteration and habitat fragmentation in a heavily invaded and human-impacted riverine ecosystem. To test whether co-occurrence patterns of native versus alien species are structured by environmental filtering or biotic associations.Location: Mediterranean, Iberian Peninsula, Ebro River catchment. Methods:We modelled freshwater fish distributions and their association with environmental conditions using a hurdle model-like approach involving boosted regression trees. Additionally, we applied a joint species distribution model to quantify the co-occurrence of native versus alien fish species that can be attributed to shared environmental responses or potentially to biotic interactions. Results:Our results point to environmental factors, rather than biotic associations, as major correlates of the increase of alien and the decline of native fishes in the Ebro River. We observed contrasting patterns of native versus alien species along the upstream-downstream gradient. Alien species dominated in the lower reaches associated with warmer temperatures, higher shares of intensive land use and appeared facilitated by dams and river regulation. Native species richness was highest in the larger tributaries followed by a strong decline in the main stem which was related to the river network position and land use type. Fragmentation played a subordinate role in explaining fish richness and abundance patterns.Main conclusions: Given the strong association with temperature, a further range expansion of alien fishes in the Ebro with future climate change may be expected.More local-scale factors related to habitat degradation and hydrologic alteration will further exacerbate the invasion success of many alien fishes. Further multiple, independent species introductions might mask isolation and fragmentation effects of dams on the future spread and distribution of alien fish. K E Y W O R D Sboosted regression trees, Ebro River, environmental filtering, freshwater fish, habitat degradation, invasive alien species, joint species distribution model, native species decline, species co-occurrence

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental filtering governs the spatial distribution of alien fishes in a large, human‐impacted Mediterranean river

Radinger

Alcaraz‐Hernández

García‐Berthou

2019

Diversity and Distributions

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“…As a result, functional diversity is increasingly studied in different taxonomical groups (e.g. birds; Hidasi‐Neto, Barlow & Cianciaruso, ; Monnet et al ., ; Sitters et al ., ; fish; Wu et al ., ; Colin et al ., ; Teichert et al ., and mammals; Flynn et al ., ; Ahumada et al ., ; Chillo & Ojeda, ) and on regional and global levels (Safi et al ., ; Magioli et al ., ; González‐Maya et al ., ; Mazel et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers affecting mammal community structure and functional diversity under varied conservation efforts in a tropical rainforest in Cameroon

Laméris

Tagg

Kuenbou

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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As well as leading to a loss of biodiversity (i.e. species richness and abundance), human activities also affect ecosystem functioning. Documenting how the suite of ecological roles changes following disturbance provides a complementary source of information for conservation management. To this end, we measured mammal diversity in terms of community structure (i.e. abundance, composition and species richness) and functional diversity in three sites differing in conservation effort in a tropical rainforest in Cameroon. Results show that sites without primary or secondary conservation efforts had lower mammal abundances and an altered mammal composition but similar species richness compared to better‐protected areas. In terms of functional diversity, we found more variation of traits (i.e. FDis) in the site with primary conservation and higher abundances of functionally unique species (i.e. FOri) in sites with either primary or secondary conservation efforts. We found no overall difference in the abundance of specialist and generalist species between sites (i.e. FSpe). We identified several drivers affecting abundance, species richness and functional diversity of mammal communities, although there did not appear to be a common driver affecting all mammal diversity measures in a similar way. Our results suggest that, in addition to preserving mammal abundance and community composition, conservation efforts (both primary and secondary) are able to contribute to maintaining higher levels of functional diversity compared to areas devoid of conservation. We demonstrate that functional diversity metrics can provide valuable additional information about the status of mammal communities that can be used to better inform conservation management.

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“…Functional responses have been increasingly tested in bioassessment and primary ecological research (e.g. Belmar et al., 2019; Mondy et al., 2012), being recently identified as a promising approach for the assessment of impacts associated with biological invasion (Colin et al., 2018; Mathers, White, Guareschi, et al., 2020), but to date rarely used (Flood et al., 2020). To integrate environmental management and invasive species research better, wide‐ranging studies considering multiple components of communities have been proposed (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive species influence macroinvertebrate biomonitoring tools and functional diversity in British rivers

Guareschi

Laini

England

et al. 2020

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Biological invasions could have major implications for the management and conservation of freshwater systems if they lead to a misclassification of waterbodies. However, there is limited understanding of the sensitivity of existing biomonitoring tools to invasive species in rivers; and even less known regarding how they influence community taxonomic and functional measures. This research explores the response of freshwater macroinvertebrate communities to biological invasion using taxonomic and functional indices. Utilising a long‐term dataset (spanning 2000–2019, 5,988 samples) from rivers in England, the performance of four biomonitoring tools (WHPT, WHPT‐ASPT, LIFE and PSI) and two community functional indices (functional richness and redundancy) was examined before and after the colonisation of the invasive species, Dikerogammarus haemobaphes (Eichwald, 1841; Crustacea: Gammaridae). This species represents a recent (first record 2012) and highly successful invader, allowing its range expansion within waterbodies to be examined in detail. Spatial (national and basin level) and seasonal (spring and autumn) effects were investigated using a before–after control–impact (BACI) experimental framework and linear mixed effects models. Results indicated that invasion by D. haemobaphes resulted in significant reductions to the WHPT index and functional diversity metrics (richness and redundancy) while more subtle patterns were observed for other metrics. Analysis of seasonal and individual river basins (River Trent and R. Thames) identified largely consistent responses. The establishment of D. haemobaphes also resulted in some modifications to the functional composition of aquatic communities primarily associated with voltinism and resistance features. Synthesis and applications. Our findings indicate that Dikerogammarus haemobaphes should be considered a significant pressure to riverine communities. These results have implications for biomonitoring, which informs managerial actions as effects may not be detected using a single taxonomic index. Community functional measures are useful in characterising the effects of invasive species and may form a valuable part of the ‘toolbox’ used for studying biological invasions in rivers. The research illustrates the need to consider the wider threats posed by invasive species on the long‐term integrity of freshwaters and the efficacy of freshwater biomonitoring tools.

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Functional diversity measures revealed impacts of non-native species and habitat degradation on species-poor freshwater fish assemblages

Cited by 59 publications

References 79 publications

Environmental filtering governs the spatial distribution of alien fishes in a large, human‐impacted Mediterranean river

Environmental filtering governs the spatial distribution of alien fishes in a large, human‐impacted Mediterranean river

Drivers affecting mammal community structure and functional diversity under varied conservation efforts in a tropical rainforest in Cameroon

Invasive species influence macroinvertebrate biomonitoring tools and functional diversity in British rivers

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