Spatial synchrony of zooplankton during the impoundment of amazonic reservoir

Vieira, Maisa Carvalho; Roitman, Isaac; Barbosa, Hugo de Oliveira; Velho, Luiz Felipe Machado; Vieira, Ludgero Cardoso Galli

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.11.040

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Not surprisingly, understanding causes and patterns of spatial and temporal variation in ecological communities is a major goal of Community Ecology that informs ecosystem conservation (Socolar et al, 2016). When describing impacts of dam constructions, before and after sampling design is a common approach (Agostinho et al, 2008;Vieira et al, 2019). Indeed, although causal inference and impact evaluation in ecology is difficult, before and after sampling design is the most suitable to infer anthropogenic impacts, such as reservoir damming.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zooplankton trajectory before, during and after a hydropower dam construction

2020

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Aim Understanding the impact of anthropogenic activities is central for supporting management and conservation efforts. In aquatic ecosystems, the construction of dams for hydroelectric power plants is a major environmental change that turns the riverine ecosystem into a reservoir lake. Such environmental deep alteration causes profound impacts in biota. The goal of this study is to make a comprehensive description of zooplankton trajectory following the construction of a reservoir in the transition from the hotspot Cerrado to Amazon, Central Brazil. Methods We used data sampled before, during and after the formation of the reservoir lake in 10 sampling units each period. We evaluated compositional changes, shifts in spatial organization, and a variation in beta-diversity from before to after the dam constructions using a set of multivariate analyses. We evaluated effects for Rotifers, Copepods and Cladocerans separately. Results Compositional changes were evident for all zooplankton groups: Rotifers, Copepods and Cladocerans. Besides, spatial community organization was also affected but depending on the beta-diversity facet and data resolution – mainly turnover using abundance data, except for Copepods. Finally, an increase in nestedness occurred for all groups during the formation of the reservoir lake. Conclusions In summary, our study showed the deep impacts for zooplankton that the formation of a reservoir lake causes. We innovate by making a complete assessment, which indicate clearly the complexity of evidencing impacts in aquatic communities. We also suggest that long-term monitoring should continue in reservoirs for scientific purposes. The changes in biota also make clear that the construction of dams should be accompanied by preservation of other pristine riverine ecosystems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zooplankton trajectory before, during and after a hydropower dam construction

2020

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“…A handful of studies in freshwater ecosystems have found that the synchrony of water temperature is high compared with other environmental variables (Caliman et al, 2010; Lodi et al, 2018; Lopes et al, 2018; Vieira et al, 2019; Zanon et al, 2018). This is mostly related to energy influx and the relative uniformity of heat irradiance over a range of spatial scales, which reflect on the temperature of the water body (Magnuson et al, 1990; Vogt et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecific variation in fish spatial synchrony relates to reproductive traits in a highly fragmented river

et al. 2022

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Spatial synchrony occurs when the abundance of populations in different locations rise and fall together. This pattern is caused mainly by dispersal and spatially correlated environmental stochasticity. The levels of spatial synchrony can vary between species, yet little is known about which species traits can explain this interspecific variation. In addition, traits may have different degrees of influence on spatial synchrony levels because of their differences in plasticity. We hypothesized that conservative traits—reproductive and morphological—will best explain interspecific variation in synchrony, while those that may vary according to the environment—feeding and habitat preference—will be weakly related to this interspecific variation. We evaluated the spatial synchrony of freshwater fish species in a highly fragmented river in the Neotropical region and related the levels of synchrony to seven predictors: diet, reproductive traits (migration, fecundation, parental care and spawning), position in the water column, niche breadth, body size, body shape and average temporal occurrence of each species. The fish species showed low levels of spatial synchrony but a high interspecific variation (correlation values ranging from −0.11 to 0.41). We found that this variation was mainly related to species' reproductive traits, that is, sedentary species with partial spawning and without parental care had higher mean spatial synchrony than species with the opposite characteristics. In contrast, more plastic traits (diet and habitat preferences) were poor predictors of mean spatial synchrony. We speculate that, despite the low spatial synchrony found, if extreme impacts continue to occur in the basin at the regional scale, it may negatively affect local fish populations in a synchronous manner, resulting in increased risk of simultaneous declines.

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