Land use effect on invertebrate assemblages in Pampasic streams (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Abstract

Agriculture and livestock may contribute to water quality degradation in adjacent waterbodies and produce changes in the resident invertebrate composition. The objective of the present study was to assess land use effects on the stream invertebrate assemblages in rural areas of the Argentine Pampa. The four sampling events were performed at six sites in four streams of the Pampa plain; two streams were sampled inside a biosphere reserve, and another one was surrounded by extensive livestock fields. The fourth stream was sampled at three sites; the upstream site was adjacent to agricultural plots, the following site was adjacent to an intensive livestock plot and the downstream site was adjacent to extensive breeding cattle plots. Higher pesticide concentrations were found at the site adjacent to agricultural plots and higher nutrient concentrations at the sites adjacent to agricultural and intensive breeding cattle plots. The invertebrate fauna were also different at these sites. Multivariate analysis showed a relationship between nutrient concentrations and taxonomic composition. Amphipoda (Hyalella curvispina) was the dominant group in the reserve and extensive breeding cattle sites, but was not present in the agricultural site. Also, Chironomidae were absent from the agricultural site while present at other sites. Gasteropoda (Biomphalaria peregrina), Zygoptera, and Hirudinea were dominant at the most impacted agricultural and intensive breeding cattle sites.

Horticulture affects macroinvertebrate assemblages in adjacent streams (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

“…Mugni et al (2013) measured higher nutrient concentrations in a stream surrounded by a recently fertilized crop than in the same stream when that crop was not being fertilized. The nutrient concentrations in the present study revealed a wide variability, likewise reported in previous publications (e.g., Mugni et al, 2013;Solis et al, 2016Solis et al, , 2017.…”

“…Agricultural land use affects macroinvertebrate assemblages in regional streams, resulting in the disappearance or decreased abundance of sensitive groups such as Odonata and Ephemeroptera (Jergentz et al, 2004) or Amphipoda (Solis et al, 2016). Agricultural land use has been found to increase nutrient concentrations in pampean streams (Mugni et al, 2013).…”

Pesticide impact study in the peri-urban horticultural area of Gran La Plata, Argentina

“…In this sense, amphipods are model species for this type of toxicity bioassay (USEPA, 2000). Hyalella curvispina is a native South American species found in streams in the study area (Ronco et al, 2008) but not in areas impacted by agricultural activity (Solis et al, 2016), suggesting that it is a species sensitive to the presence of pesticides in sediments (Jergentz et al, 2005;Phillips et al, 2006).…”

Impacto de agroquímicos sobre los ensambles de macroinvertebrados en arroyos rurales

“…Este enfoque asume que la composición del ensamble funciona como bioindicador reflejando el estado de un cuerpo de agua (Rosenberg & Resch, 1993;Hering et al, 2004). En nuestro medio, varios autores enfocaron el estudio de los ensambles de invertebrados como bioindicadores de calidad de aguas y la aplicación de índices bióticos para detectar variados impactos, desde contaminación industrial (Gomez et al, 2008), el efecto del uso del suelo (Miserendino & Pizzolón, 1999;Rodrigues-Capítulo et al, 2001;Corigliano et al, 2005;Miserendino et al, 2008;Miserendino et al, 2011;Solis et al, 2016;Solis et al, 2017) como así también por distintos tipos de hábitats (Velasquez & Miserendino, 2003). Domínguez & Fernández (1998) determinaron el estado de los ríos de Tucumán en base a su fauna bentónica.…”