Land use effects on water quality, habitat, and macroinvertebrate and diatom communities in African highland streams

Dalu, Tatenda; Mwedzi, Tongayi; Wasserman, Ryan; Madzivanzira, Takudzwa C.; Nhiwatiwa, Tamuka

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157346

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The AGR and GRAS sites had lower levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, and higher levels of electrical conductivity, dissolved organic carbon and the ratio of C: N. These patterns have previously been reported in other Afrotropical rivers (Kroese et al, 2020;Dalu et al, 2022), but limited comparative data exist for Afromontane-savanna rivers. Specifically, the influence of land use and livestock grazing on water quality in rivers in semi-arid landscapes has been done anecdotally without basin-wide comparisons.…”

Section: Influence Of Land Use On Water Qualitymentioning

confidence: 54%

Drivers of water quality in Afromontane-savanna rivers

Wanderi

Gettel

Singer

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Although several studies have investigated the relationships between water quality in rivers and the types of land use within their catchments, many aspects of these relationships remain unclear in Afromontane-savanna rivers, especially the interactions between catchment land use, seasonality and stream size. Afromontane-savanna catchments present a unique situation where headwater regions and lowlands have experienced more dramatic land cover change, but mid-elevation regions remained rather natural. We examined the influence of seasonality, catchment land use and stream size, including their interactions, on water physico-chemistry, nutrients and major ions in the Afromontane-savanna Mara River in Kenya, using data collected from 2010 to 2018 at >150 sampling sites in the Kenyan part of the river. We developed generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to explore the influence of seasonality (dry and wet seasons), land use (forest, mixed, agriculture and grasslands), stream size (stream orders 1–7), and their interactions on river water quality. Water quality variables included physico-chemical measures (pH, dissolved oxygen [DO] concentration, temperature, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids [TDS], turbidity, total suspended solids [TSS] and particulate organic matter [POM]), nutrients (NH4+, NO3−, total dissolved nitrogen [TDN], total nitrogen [TN], soluble reactive phosphorus [SRP], total phosphorus [TP] and dissolved organic carbon), and major ions (Cl−, F−, SO42−, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+, HCO3− and Si). There were clear differences in average values of most water quality variables among land uses with sites in savanna grasslands having high levels of major ions, ammonium and P, while agricultural sites had higher dissolved fraction of N (except ammonium). Stream order was a poor predictor of water quality, and most parameters did not display any relationship (either linear or non-linear) with stream size. Our results can be used to efficiently enhance water quality by developing strategies for stream restoration and management based on the predomination type of land use in the catchments.

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Section: Influence Of Land Use On Water Qualitymentioning

confidence: 54%

Drivers of water quality in Afromontane-savanna rivers

Wanderi

Gettel

Singer

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…The aquatic biodiversity is rapidly changing due to eutrophication, with potentially large and even irreversible consequences in the ecosystem structure and functioning worldwide (Dalu et al, 2022 ; Kattel, 2022 ; Qin et al, 2013 ; Reid et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). Especially the freshwater ecosystems have become the most vulnerable and threatened in regions where humans have persistently intensified their use for various purposes (Reid et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macroinvertebrate diversity and ecosystem functioning across the eutrophication gradients of the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River lakes (China)

Cai

Dong

Kattel

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Biodiversity, which strengthens ecosystem stability, ecosystem function, and ecosystem services, is threatened by anthropogenic perturbation and climate change worldwide. However, despite the study of the role of biodiversity in multiple facets of freshwater ecosystems, the linkages between macroinvertebrates diversity and ecosystem functioning have not yet been well‐assessed in eutrophication gradients of lowland river‐floodplain systems. In this study, we have examined the relationship between macroinvertebrates diversity (species diversity, functional diversity, phylogenetic diversity) and macroinvertebrates biomass across the three typically featured eutrophication gradients: “MACROPHYTE,” “TRANSITION,” and “PHYTOPLANKTON,” of floodplain lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (China). Our results suggest that macroinvertebrates diversity in three different lacustrine conditions, biomass, and the relationship between diversity and biomass varied along eutrophication gradients. Functional richness and variance (divergence in taxon community) were the two important macroinvertebrate diversity indices, which accounted for the largest amount of variation in the biomass (63% in PHYTOPLANKTON lakes and 57% in MACROPHYTE lakes, respectively). We also found that the macrophyte coverage is more important than the relative abundance in maintaining the macroinvertebrates diversity and biomass in lowland Yangtze floodplain lake systems, while the relative abundance of macrophyte would change the BEF relationship. Our results demonstrate the functional performance of Yangtze River lakes, which would change with increased nutrient loading and decreased macrophyte coverage and would highlight the significance of the restoration of macrophytes to reduce nutrient loads.

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“…These habitat features, in turn, are influenced by both natural factors at the watershed scale and anthropogenic disturbances [67]. While species dispersal in space promotes species movement and colonization in new locations, environmental selection can still alter community composition [68]. In the middle and lower reaches of the stream, human activities have influenced changes in water environmental factors.…”

Section: Effects Of Water Environment Characteristics and Connectivit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioassessment of Macroinvertebrate Communities Influenced by Gradients of Human Activities

Li,

Yang

et al. 2024

Insects

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This study explores the impact of anthropogenic land use changes on the macroinvertebrate community structure in the streams of the Cangshan Mountains. Through field collections of macroinvertebrates, measurement of water environments, and delineation of riparian zone land use in eight streams, we analyzed the relationship between land use types, stream water environments, and macroinvertebrate diversities. The results demonstrate urban land use type and water temperature are the key environmental factors driving the differences in macroinvertebrate communities up-, mid-, and downstream. The disturbed streams had lower aquatic biodiversity than those in their natural state, showing a decrease in disturbance-sensitive aquatic insect taxa and a more similar community structure. In the natural woodland area, species distributions may be constrained by watershed segmentation and present more complex community characteristics.

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Land use effects on water quality, habitat, and macroinvertebrate and diatom communities in African highland streams

Cited by 18 publications

References 47 publications

Drivers of water quality in Afromontane-savanna rivers

Drivers of water quality in Afromontane-savanna rivers

Macroinvertebrate diversity and ecosystem functioning across the eutrophication gradients of the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River lakes (China)

Bioassessment of Macroinvertebrate Communities Influenced by Gradients of Human Activities

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