Metrics of ecosystem status for large aquatic systems – A global comparison

Dobiesz, Norine E.; Hecky, Robert E.; Johnson, Timothy B.; Sarvala, Jouko; Dettmers, John M.; Lehtiniemi, Maiju; Rudstam, Lars G.; Madenjian, Charles P.; Witte, Frans

doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2009.11.003

Cited by 36 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 146 publications

(183 reference statements)

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“…The increased substrate availability from allochthonous material swamped the ecosystem forcing by phytoplankton, resulting in a shift toward a constant overnight pattern of respiration. Thus diel patterns of respiration, independent of average rates, are important environmental metrics; shifts in such metrics may be useful as indicators of overall ecosystem function and health (Dobiesz et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread variability in overnight patterns of ecosystem respiration linked to gradients in dissolved organic matter, residence time, and productivity in a global set of lakes

Sadro

Holtgrieve

Solomon

et al. 2014

Limnology & Oceanography

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We characterized patterns of nighttime ecosystem respiration (ER) in 23 globally-distributed lakes using freewater changes in dissolved oxygen (DO). We considered three alternative models of ER to describe overnight changes in DO: constant ER, linearly declining ER, or logistically declining ER. Variation in ER was widespread. Each model of respiration was found to best fit observed overnight DO dynamics with some degree of frequency in every lake. Constant ER occurred with an average frequency of 62% across lakes and was most commonly the best description of DO dynamics. It never occurred with a frequency , 19% in any lake and ranged up to 90% in one dystrophic lake. The average frequency across lakes with which the linear and logistic models occurred was 21% and 17%, respectively, although they ranged as low as 3% and as high as 42% in some lakes. Although data limitations restricted the majority of our analysis to summer months, annual data records from five lakes suggest there is little seasonal variation in the frequency with which patterns occurred. As our conceptual model predicted, the frequency of constant ER among lakes increased and logistic ER decreased along a gradient of increasing terrestrial influence. However, despite significant correlations with total phosphorus and photosynthetically active radiation, the effect of lake productivity on the frequency of patterns of ER among lakes was less clear. This study suggests that diel variability in ER results from complex interactions between different components of respiration and the forcing factors that govern them.Ecosystem metabolism is an important metric of carbon flux (Tansley 1935;Lindeman 1942;Odum 1956), especially in aquatic systems where terrestrial inputs often result in higher net carbon fluxes on an areal basis than in the surrounding landscape (Cole et al. 2007). Despite the longstanding recognition that respiration in aquatic systems can vary on diel time scales (Jackson and McFadden 1954), studies of ecosystem respiration have emphasized daily rates, often assuming a constant pattern rather than variability at shorter time scales. Yet short time scale patterns may reveal much about the mechanisms driving ecosystem metabolism and the interactions among the components of respiration that structure them.It is useful to conceptualize whole-ecosystem respiration as the sum of its relative components. The model suggested by del Giorgio and Williams (2005) deconstructs whole-system respiration (R total ) into autotrophic (R a ), heterotrophic (R h ), and baseline (R b ) terms: R total 5 R a + R h + R b(a) + R b(h) , where higher autotrophic respiration (R a ) is associated with active photosynthesis and growth metabolism, and heterotrophic respiration (R h ) is the substrate-limited respiration of labile organic matter linked directly to autochthonous or allochthonous sources. In contrast, baseline respiration (R b ) is lower, fueled largely by the physiological maintenance metabolism of autotrophs (R b(a) ) and microbial metabolis...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread variability in overnight patterns of ecosystem respiration linked to gradients in dissolved organic matter, residence time, and productivity in a global set of lakes

Sadro

Holtgrieve

Solomon

et al. 2014

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…All forms of influences on an ecosystem alter the distributions and abundances of species [38]. Each species might react differently to specific impacts, for example the response of Baetis spp.…”

Section: Potential To Discriminate Overall Human Impact (Ie To Idementioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting Invertebrate Species Change in Running Waters: An Approach Based on the Sufficient Sample Size Principle

Bongard¹

2011

TOEBMJ

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Abstract:The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is in need of a practical method and index suitable for comparing the ecological status of invertebrate fauna in rivers throughout Europe. The uncertainties that characterize lotic sampling methods can be omitted by increasing sampling effort up to a species detection probability threshold. We describe a statistical model which provides the background for applying a sampling protocol aiming to record the total number of common and abundant species. Methods, sample standards and sorting time become less significant to the result as long as the total sample is sufficiently large to detect common species. An index called the Intercalibrated Benthic Invertebrate Biodiversity Index -IBIBI -is proposed based on Observed / Expected species ratios for EPT groups. The Ecological Quality Ratio thus obtained may then be adjusted to WFD's ecological status scale within each region or river type across Europe, which then can be compared and intercalibrated. Although offering a possible solution to the problem of intercalibration, further studies are needed.

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“…Indeed, the whole ecosystem is influenced by climate change , Cózar et al 2012) and has been degraded through eutrophication (Dobiesz et al 2010), which impoverishes the system by driving an irreversible decline in biodiversity (Seehausen et al 1997a). Beyond a certain threshold, eutrophication threatens to cause a more general collapse of stocks, not only of Nile perch (Kolding et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled human and natural system dynamics as key to the sustainability of Lake Victoria’s ecosystem services

Downing¹,

Nes²,

Balirwa³

et al. 2014

E&S

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ABSTRACT. East Africa's Lake Victoria provides resources and services to millions of people on the lake's shores and abroad. In particular, the lake's fisheries are an important source of protein, employment, and international economic connections for the whole region. Nonetheless, stock dynamics are poorly understood and currently unpredictable. Furthermore, fishery dynamics are intricately connected to other supporting services of the lake as well as to lakeshore societies and economies. Much research has been carried out piecemeal on different aspects of Lake Victoria's system; e.g., societies, biodiversity, fisheries, and eutrophication. However, to disentangle drivers and dynamics of change in this complex system, we need to put these pieces together and analyze the system as a whole. We did so by first building a qualitative model of the lake's social-ecological system. We then investigated the model system through a qualitative loop analysis, and finally examined effects of changes on the system state and structure. The model and its contextual analysis allowed us to investigate system-wide chain reactions resulting from disturbances. Importantly, we built a tool that can be used to analyze the cascading effects of management options and establish the requirements for their success. We found that high connectedness of the system at the exploitation level, through fisheries having multiple target stocks, can increase the stocks' vulnerability to exploitation but reduce society's vulnerability to variability in individual stocks. We describe how there are multiple pathways to any change in the system, which makes it difficult to identify the root cause of changes but also broadens the management toolkit. Also, we illustrate how nutrient enrichment is not a self-regulating process, and that explicit management is necessary to halt or reverse eutrophication. This model is simple and usable to assess system-wide effects of management policies, and can serve as a paving stone for future quantitative analyses of system dynamics at local scales.

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Metrics of ecosystem status for large aquatic systems – A global comparison

Cited by 36 publications

References 146 publications

Widespread variability in overnight patterns of ecosystem respiration linked to gradients in dissolved organic matter, residence time, and productivity in a global set of lakes

Widespread variability in overnight patterns of ecosystem respiration linked to gradients in dissolved organic matter, residence time, and productivity in a global set of lakes

Detecting Invertebrate Species Change in Running Waters: An Approach Based on the Sufficient Sample Size Principle

Coupled human and natural system dynamics as key to the sustainability of Lake Victoria’s ecosystem services

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Metrics of ecosystem status for large aquatic systems – A global comparison

Cited by 36 publications

References 146 publications

Widespread variability in overnight patterns of ecosystem respiration linked to gradients in dissolved organic matter, residence time, and productivity in a global set of lakes

Widespread variability in overnight patterns of ecosystem respiration linked to gradients in dissolved organic matter, residence time, and productivity in a global set of lakes

Detecting Invertebrate Species Change in Running Waters: An Approach Based on the Sufficient Sample Size Principle

Coupled human and natural system dynamics as key to the sustainability of Lake Victoria&#8217;s ecosystem services

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Coupled human and natural system dynamics as key to the sustainability of Lake Victoria’s ecosystem services