Pesticide alters habitat selection and aquatic community composition

Anthropogenic chemical contamination is an important issue for conservation of aquatic ecosystems. While recent research highlights that community context can mediate the consequences of contaminant exposure, little is known about how contaminants themselves might determine this context by altering habitat selection and thus initial community composition. Here we show that the insecticide carbaryl and its commercial counterpart Sevin can affect aquatic community composition by differentially altering oviposition and colonization of experimental pools by amphibians and insects. On average, contaminated pools received 20-fold more adult beetle and heteropteran colonists and 12-fold more Culex mosquito and chironomid midge egg masses. On the other hand, ovipositing Anopheles mosquitoes and cricket frogs showed no preference and we have shown previously that gray treefrogs strongly avoid contaminated pools. Overall, initial richness doubled in contaminated pools compared with controls. By affecting colonizing taxa differently and increasing richness, the contaminant may alter the ecological context under which subsequent effects of exposure will unfold. Given that community context is important for evaluating toxicity effects, understanding the net effects of contaminants in natural systems requires an understanding of their effects on community assembly via shifts in habitat selection.     

The effect of fish and aquatic habitat complexity on amphibians

Fish introductions are considered one of the most widespread anthropogenic threats to aquatic ecosystems. Their negative impact on native amphibian communities has received increasing attention in recent years. We investigated the relationship between the introduced fish, emergent vegetation cover and native amphibians in man-made ponds generated by regulation and dam building along the Tarnava Mare Valley (Romania) during the last 40 years. We inventoried amphibians and fish inhabiting 85 permanent ponds and estimated habitat complexity focusing on emergent vegetation cover. Four amphibian species were found to be negatively associated with the presence of predatory fish. Species richness of ponds without fish and ponds without predatory fish did not differ significantly, whereas ponds containing only predatory fish had significantly lower amphibian richness. A significant positive relationship was found between the emergent vegetation cover and pond occupancy of six amphibian species and amphibian species richness. As a management recommendation, we suggest the restriction of fish introductions to non predatory fish and the maintenance of high emergent vegetation cover in the ponds. Handling editor: S. Declerck     

Disturbance and change in biodiversity

Understanding how disturbance affects biodiversity is important for both fundamental and applied reasons. Here, I investigate how disturbances with different ecological effects change biodiversity metrics. I define three main types of disturbance effects: D disturbance (shifts in mortality rate), B disturbance (shifts in reproductive rates) and K disturbance (shifts in carrying capacity). Numerous composite disturbances can be defined including any combination of these three types of ecological effects. The consequences of D, B and K disturbances, as well as of composite DBK disturbances are examined by comparing metrics before and after a disturbance, in disturbed and undisturbed communities. I use simulations of neutral communities and examine species richness, total abundance and species abundance distributions. The patterns of change in biodiversity metrics are consistent among different types of disturbance. K disturbance has the most severe effects, followed by D disturbance, and B disturbance has nearly negligible effects. Consequences of composite DBK disturbances are more complex than any of the three types of disturbance, with unimodal relationships along a disturbance gradient arising when D, B and K are negatively correlated. Importantly, regardless of disturbance type, community isolation enhances the negative consequences and hinders the positive effects of disturbances.     

Fungal biodiversity in aquatic habitats

Fungal biodiversity in freshwater, brackish and marine habitats was estimated based on reports in the literature. The taxonomic groups treated were those with species commonly found on submerged substrates in aquatic habitats: Ascomycetes (exclusive of yeasts), Basidiomycetes, Chytridiomycetes, and the non-fungal Saprolegniales in the Class Oomycetes. Based on presence/absence data for a large number and variety of aquatic habitats, about 3,000 fungal species and 138 saprolegnialean species have been reported from aquatic habitats. The greatest number of taxa comprise the Ascomycetes, including mitosporic taxa, and Chytridiomycetes. Taxa of Basidiomycetes are, for the most part, excluded from aquatic habitats. The greatest biodiversity for all groups occurs in temperate areas, followed by Asian tropical areas. This pattern may be an artifact of the location of most of the sampling effort. The least sampled geographic areas include Africa, Australia, China, South America and boreal and tropical regions worldwide. Some species overlap occurs among terrestrial and freshwater taxa but little species overlap occurs among freshwater and marine taxa. We predict that many species remain to be discovered in aquatic habitats given the few taxonomic specialists studying these fungi, the few substrate types studied intensively, and the vast geographical area not yet sampled.     

Effects of artificial ultraviolet-B radiation on experimental aquatic microcosms

1. The effects of prolonged ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation on freshwater communities were studied in indoor microcosms (600 L) with artificial light sources, simulating a clear, shallow, mesotrophic aquatic ecosystem. A range of six intensities (in duplicate) of UVB radiation, ranging from 0 (control) to 9.56 kJ m⁻² day⁻¹ at the water surface, was applied for 8 weeks. The UVB radiation levels, attenuation, shading and scattering were comparable to those in Dutch shallow freshwater systems. Physical, chemical and biological variables were monitored weekly.
2. The UVB treatment did not affect the abundance, species composition or biovolume of the phytoplankton or zooplankton communities, nor did it affect the periphyton or the macroinvertebrate community. A few species showed a significant response on some of the sampling dates, but there was no negative UVB effect at the community level. Overall, the ecosystems in the microcosms were not affected by the UVB treatment.
3. In a bio-assay, a laboratory clone of Daphnia pulex , not subjected to UVB radiation, was fed with seston from the microcosms. Daphnia pulex feeding on seston from the control microcosms grew faster, had better survival and better reproduction than D. pulex feeding on seston from the UVB treated microcosms. The phytoplankton–zooplankton interaction may have been influenced by the UVB treatment.
4. The dissolved oxygen content (DOC) concentrations in the microcosms were around 5 mg L^−1. The DOC levels in Dutch systems rarely fall below 10 mg L^−1. This might provide sufficient protection against the detrimental effects of increased UVB radiation.     

生境破碎化对生物多样性的影响

生境破碎化对生物多样性和生态系统功能的影响是当前国内外生态学家研究的热点问题之一。生境破碎化导致原生境的总面积减小,产生隔离的异质种群,从而影响个体行为特性、种群间基因交换、物种间相互作用及生态过程。生境破碎化的过程引起栖息地内部食物、繁殖场所、局部小气候、边缘效应等生物和非生物条件的变化,从而影响植物种群的大小和灭绝速率、扩散和迁入、遗传和变异以及存活力等,影响动物种群的异质种群动态、适宜生境比例、灭绝阈值、种间关系等。随着景观生态学与农业科学的融合,探索利用景观布局控制害虫发生将是人类利用生境破碎化为人类服务的一条新途径。     

生产力、可靠度与物种多样性:微宇宙实验研究

近年来,生物多样性与生态系统功能的关系成为生态领域内一个重大科学问题。有一些实验研究表明,物种多样性的降低会使生态系统的生产力、稳定性等功能受损,然而对这些实验结果的解释却产生了激烈的争论,因为有两种机制-“生态位互补”和“抽样效应”都可能会产生这种结果。本项研究通过微宇宙实验探讨了物种多样性与生态系统生产力及其可靠度的关系。在10种单细胞藻类中随机抽取物种,构建具有不同物种丰富度的水生群落,并使同一物种丰富度水平的群落之间没有物种交叉,然后检测物种丰富度对群落生产力及其可靠度的作用,群落生产力以藻类干重表示,自实验开始后第4周起,每周测定1次,共测5次。结果显示：物种丰富度对群落生产力有正效应,并且这种正效应随时间推移而增强;许多混合群落的生产力超过了该群落内所有物种的单产,即发生了超产现象,在实验初期某些特定物种对一些混合群落生产力有主要贡献,而在实验后期却没有任何多物种群落的生产力受个别物种存在与否的影响,群落生产力的可靠度与物种丰富度之间不存在显著相关。从以上结果可以得知：物种多样性对群落生产力有着逐渐增强的正效应;物种多样性对生产力的正效应是生态位互补和抽样效应共同作用的结果,但随时间推移,抽取效应逐渐减弱,本顶研究支持了关于生态位互补与抽样效应在多样性正效应中共同起作用的认识,并说明了这两种机制的相对重要性随时间推移而发生改变。     

Enhanced survival of plasmid-containing Escherichia coli in aquatic microcosms

The survival of Escherichia coli K-12 J62-1 containing the antibiotic-resistance plasmid R1 and an isogenic plasmid-free strain were studied in pond water microcosms. The number of plasmid-containing cells recovered from the microcosms remained constant over a sampling period of 31 days whereas plasmid-free cell numbers declined.     

Species richness–variability relationships in multi-trophic aquatic microcosms

While species loss may affect the temporal variability of populations and communities differently in multi- versus single-trophic level communities, the nature of these differences are poorly understood. Here, we report on an experiment where we manipulated species richness of multi-trophic rock pool invertebrate communities to determine the effects of species richness, S, on the temporal variability of communities, populations, and individual species. As in single-trophic level studies, temporal variability in community abundance decreased with increasing species richness. However, in contrast to most studies in single-trophic level systems, temporal variability of populations also decreased as species richness increased. Furthermore, the variability of the constituent populations strongly correlated with variability of community abundance suggesting that, in rock pools, S affects community variability through its stabilizing effect on component populations. Our results suggest that species loss may affect population and community variability differently in multi-trophic versus single trophic level communities. If this is so, then the mechanisms proposed to underlie the effects of S on community variability in single-trophic communities may have to be supplemented by those that describe contributions to population stability in order to fully describe the patterns observed in multi-trophic communities.     

Species richness destabilizes ecosystem functioning in experimental aquatic microcosms

The relationship between species diversity and ecosystem stability has long interested ecologists, yet no consensus has been reached and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We used five unicellular algal species, cultured in all possible combinations, to assemble microcosms containing 1 to 5 algal species, on which a cold perturbation was imposed. Our aim was to find whether and how species richness begets ecosystem resistance and resilience. In the experiment, the species-rich communities produced more biomass than the species-poor ones, either in pre-, under- or post-perturbation conditions. The positive diversity–biomass relationship was weakened by the perturbation, and fully restored one week after the perturbation. The diverse communities showed greater absolute biomass reduction during the perturbation than did species-poor systems. Resistance of community, measured by the relative change in biomass from pre- to under-perturbation, decreased with species richness. All the species showed significant reduction in biomass when stressed, without any density compensation among species in diverse communities; and the ratio of biomass change in each species was independent of diversity. The overyielding effect, measured as relative yield total, remained constant from pre- to under-perturbation; and the selection and complementarity effects played equal roles for the biodiversity effect on biomass production, and their relative importance was not altered by the perturbation. These results suggest that similar responses of different species to environmental perturbations may limit the insurance effect of biodiversity, and lead to an inverse diversity–resistance relationship.     

Persistence of genetically engineeredErwinia carotovora in perturbed and unperturbed aquatic microcosms and effect on recovery of indigenous bacteria

Genetically engineeredErwinia carotovora persisted significantly longer in thermally perturbed microcosms (35 days) than in nonstressed microcosms (5 days). Decreased pressure of competitors and predators and increased nutrient availability were examined as the most probable reasons for greater vulnerability of perturbed microcosms to colonization by genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMs). Indigenous bacteria that competed with GEMs for the same nutrient sources (protein, cellulose, pectate) were present immediately after perturbation in densities one to two orders of magnitude lower than in unperturbed microcosms, but their populations increased to densities significantly higher than in unperturbed microscosms 10 to 15 days after inoculation. Predators of bacteria (protozoans, cladocerans, nematodes, and rotifers) were present during the experiment in unperturbed microcosms, while dense populations of bacteriovorous nanoflagellates developed in perturbed microcosms. Preemptive inoculation of perturbed microcosms with GEMs did not have a longlasting effect on the recovery of total, proteolytic, cellulolytic, and pectolytic bacteria in perturbed microscosms, indicating the absence of competitive exclusion.     

Trophic and functional cascades in tropical versus temperate aquatic microcosms

Inverse trophic cascades are a well explored and common consequence of the local depletion or extinction of top predators in natural ecosystems. Despite a large body of research, the cascading effects of predator removal on ecosystem functions are not as well understood. Developing microcosm experiments, we explored food web changes in trophic structure and ecosystem functioning following biomass removal of top predators in representative temperate and tropical rock pool communities that contained similar assemblages of zooplankton and benthic invertebrates. We observed changes in species abundances following predator removal in both temperate and tropical communities, in line with expected inverse effects of a trophic cascade, where predation release benefits the predator’s preys and competitors and impacts the preys of the latter. We also observed several changes at the community and ecosystem levels including a decrease in total abundance and mean trophic level of the community, and changes in chlorophyll-a and total dissolved particles. Our results also showed an increase in variability of both community and ecosystem processes following the removal of predators. These results illustrate how predator removal can lead to inverse trophic cascades both in structural and functioning properties, and can increase variability of ecosystem processes. Although observed patterns were consistent between tropical and temperate communities following an inverse cascade pattern, changes were more pronounced in the temperate community. Therefore, aquatic food webs may have inherent traits that condition ecosystem responses to changes in top-down trophic control and render some aquatic ecosystems especially sensitive to the removals of top predators.     

Quantifying habitat complexity in aquatic ecosystems

1. Many aquatic studies have attempted to relate biological features, such as species diversity, abundance, brain size and behaviour, to measures of habitat complexity. Previous measures of habitat complexity have ranged from simple, habitat‐specific variables, such as the number of twigs in a stream, to quantitative parameters of surface topography, such as rugosity. 2. We present a new video‐based technique, called optical intensity, for assaying habitat complexity in aquatic ecosystems. Optical intensity is a visual, quantitative technique modifiable for any scale or for a nested analysis. We field‐tested the technique in Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania, on 38 quadrats (5 × 5 m) to determine if three freshwater habitats (sand, rock and intermediate) were quantitatively different. 3. A comparison of the values obtained from optical intensity with a previous measure of surface topography (rugosity) showed that the two corresponded well and revealed clear differences among habitats. Both the new measure and rugosity were positively correlated with species diversity, species richness and abundance. Finally, whether used alone or in combination, both measures had predictive value for fish community parameters. 4. This new measure should prove useful to researchers exploring habitat complexity in both marine and freshwater systems.     

Primary and secondary effects of methabenzthiazuron on plankton communities in aquatic outdoor microcosms

The primary and secondary effects of methabenzthiazuron on plankton were studied in outdoor microcosms (6 m3) for five months. Macrophytes, phytoplankton, zooplankton and the emergence of insects were examined. The herbicide was added to nine of the twelve mesocosms in concentrations ranging from 10 to 3371 μg a.i. l−1 in a single application. The other three ponds were used as untreated controls. Phytoplankton population dynamics fluctuated depending on light intensity, temperature, nutrients, competition and herbicide concentrations. Primary production was temporarily inhibited at test concentrations from 89 to 3371 μg l−1. Cryptophyta (Phytoflagellata) showed also a recovery at the higher concentrations during the study period. Other primary producers did not recover at these concentrations, as expected from the disappearance curve of the active ingredient at these concentrations. This was also indicated by structural indices such as the diversity, eveness and similarity index. The lower concentrations evoked no or only short-term, weak responses. Chemical water parameters were strongly influenced by the absence of macrophytes (Elodea canadensis) at the high application rates, which also caused significant changes in zooplankton communities. No effects were observed on macro-invertebrates and benthic organisms. In conclusion, noticeable effects were detected only at concentrations clearly above the effect threshold known from standard laboratory tests with aquatic primary producers. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Use of extensive habitat inventories in biodiversity studies

Large monitoring programs exist in many countries and are necessary to assess present and past biodiversity status and to evaluate the consequences of habitat degradation or destruction. Using such an extensive data set of the floristic richness in the Paris Ile-de-France region (France), we compared different sampling efforts and protocols in different habitat units to highlight the best methods for assessing the actual plant biodiversity. Our results indicate that existing data can be used for a general understanding of site differences, but analysts should be aware of the limitations of the data due to non-random selection of sites, inconsistent observer knowledge, and inconsistent sampling period. The average species diversity recorded in a specific habitat does not necessarily reflect its actual diversity, unless the monitoring effort was very strong. Overall, increasing the sampling effort in a given region allows improvement of the (1) number of habitats visited, (2) the total sampled area for a given habitat type, (3) the number of seasons investigated. Our results indicate that the sampling effort should be planned with respect to these functional, spatial and temporal heterogeneities, and to the question examined. While the effort should be applied to as many habitats as possible for the purpose of capturing a large proportion of regional diversity, or comparing different regions, inventories should be conducted in different seasons for the purpose of comparing species richness in different habitats.     

Efficacy in aquatic microcosms of a genetically engineered pseudomonad applicable for bioremediation

A genetically engineered microorganism (GEM), Pseudomonas sp. B13 FRI (pFRC20P) (abbreviated FR120), has previously been engineered to simultaneously mineralize mixtures of methylated and chlorinated benzoic acids and phenols through a modified ortho cleavage pathway. In this study, its performance was investigated both in different types of aquatic microcosms and in pure culture to determine (1) if under simulated in situ conditions the genetically engineered pathway effectively removes mixtures of model pollutants simultaneously, quickly, and completely; (2) where the optimum pollutant concentration range for this activity lies; and (3) how physical, chemical, and biological factors in the microcosms influence degradation rates. Growth and degradation parameters of FR 120 in pure culture were determined with 3-chlorobenzoate (3CB), 4-methylbenzoate (4MB), and equimolar mixtures of both as carbon sources. These substrates were degraded simultaneously, albeit with different degradation velocities, by FR120. The optimum growth concentrations for 3CB and 4MB were 3.0 mm and 2.1 mm, respectively, and the inhibition constants (K_i) were 11 mm (3CB) and 6 mm (4MB). The pathway was induced at low concentrations of substrate (> 1 [m). The first order degradation constants (k_l) were determined with respect to substrate concentration, cell density, and temperature. In aquatic microcosms inoculated with FR120, first order degradation constants and half lives of target chemicals were calculated based on the total amount of aromatics recovered. Half lives ranged from 1.3 days to 3.0 days, depending on the target chemical and the type of microcosm. Degradation constants determined in pure culture were extrapolated to the densities of FR120, substrate concentrations, and temperature occurring in the microcosm experiments, and used to calculate theoretical half lives. In water microcosms, theoretical and observed half lives corresponded well, indicating that FR120 functioned optimally in this environment. In whole core sediment microcosms, and especially at low cell densities, the observed degradation activity was in some cases considerably higher than expected from pure culture degradation rates. This suggests that environmental conditions in the sediment were more favorable to the degradation of substituted aromatics than those in pure culture. The physiological characteristics of FR120 and its performance in aquatic microcosms make it a good candidate for bioremediation at sites contamninated with mixtures of chlorinated and methylated aromatics. Correspondence to: I. Wagner-Döbler     

Amazon aquatic biodiversity imperiled by oil spills

Oil exploitation poses a significant threat to freshwater biodiversity, and future plans to develop petroleum leases in the Amazon Basin should be seem with caution. A series of oil spills have significantly affected biodiversity and human activities in some Amazonian basins, indicating that disturbances by petroleum activities will increase in the region, particularly in upper basins and river headwaters. Measures are needed to reduce the risk of spills and to minimize their impacts. More fundamentally, changes in decision making are needed that give proper weight to these impacts.