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Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions
As increased growth and development put pressure on freshwater systems in Arctic environments, there is a need to maintain a meaningful and feasible framework for monitoring water quality. A useful tool for monitoring the ecological health of aquatic systems is by means of the analysis and inference...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8293736/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34306657 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7798 |
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author | Medeiros, A. S. Williams, A. Milošević, D. |
author_facet | Medeiros, A. S. Williams, A. Milošević, D. |
author_sort | Medeiros, A. S. |
collection | PubMed |
description | As increased growth and development put pressure on freshwater systems in Arctic environments, there is a need to maintain a meaningful and feasible framework for monitoring water quality. A useful tool for monitoring the ecological health of aquatic systems is by means of the analysis and inferences made from benthic invertebrates in a biomonitoring approach. Biomonitoring of rivers and streams within the Arctic has been under‐represented in research efforts. Here, we investigate an approach for monitoring biological impairment in Arctic streams from anthropogenic land use at two streams with different exposure to urban development in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Arctic Canada. Sites upstream of development, at midpoint locations, and at the mouth of each waterbody were sampled during 6 campaigns (2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019) to address spatial and temporal variability of the macroinvertebrate community. The influence of taxonomic resolution scaling was also examined in order to understand the sensitivity of macroinvertebrates as indicators in Arctic aquatic systems. We demonstrate that standard biological metrics were effective in indicating biological impairment downstream of sources of point‐source pollutants. A mixed‐design ANOVA for repeated measures also found strong interannual variability; however, we did not detect intra‐annual variation from seasonal factors. When examining metrics at the highest taxonomic resolution possible, the sensitivity of metrics increased. Likewise, when trait‐based metrics (α functional diversity) were applied to indicators identified at high taxonomic resolution, a significant difference was found between reference and impacted sites. Our results show that even though Arctic systems have lower diversity and constrained life‐history characteristics compared to temperate ecosystems, biomonitoring is not only possible, but also equally effective in detecting trends from anthropogenic activities. Thus, biomonitoring approaches in Arctic environments are likely a useful means for providing rapid and cost‐effective means of assessing future environmental impact. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8293736 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-82937362021-07-23 Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions Medeiros, A. S. Williams, A. Milošević, D. Ecol Evol Original Research As increased growth and development put pressure on freshwater systems in Arctic environments, there is a need to maintain a meaningful and feasible framework for monitoring water quality. A useful tool for monitoring the ecological health of aquatic systems is by means of the analysis and inferences made from benthic invertebrates in a biomonitoring approach. Biomonitoring of rivers and streams within the Arctic has been under‐represented in research efforts. Here, we investigate an approach for monitoring biological impairment in Arctic streams from anthropogenic land use at two streams with different exposure to urban development in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Arctic Canada. Sites upstream of development, at midpoint locations, and at the mouth of each waterbody were sampled during 6 campaigns (2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019) to address spatial and temporal variability of the macroinvertebrate community. The influence of taxonomic resolution scaling was also examined in order to understand the sensitivity of macroinvertebrates as indicators in Arctic aquatic systems. We demonstrate that standard biological metrics were effective in indicating biological impairment downstream of sources of point‐source pollutants. A mixed‐design ANOVA for repeated measures also found strong interannual variability; however, we did not detect intra‐annual variation from seasonal factors. When examining metrics at the highest taxonomic resolution possible, the sensitivity of metrics increased. Likewise, when trait‐based metrics (α functional diversity) were applied to indicators identified at high taxonomic resolution, a significant difference was found between reference and impacted sites. Our results show that even though Arctic systems have lower diversity and constrained life‐history characteristics compared to temperate ecosystems, biomonitoring is not only possible, but also equally effective in detecting trends from anthropogenic activities. Thus, biomonitoring approaches in Arctic environments are likely a useful means for providing rapid and cost‐effective means of assessing future environmental impact. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-06-26 /pmc/articles/PMC8293736/ /pubmed/34306657 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7798 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Original Research Medeiros, A. S. Williams, A. Milošević, D. Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions |
title | Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions |
title_full | Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions |
title_fullStr | Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions |
title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions |
title_short | Assessment of ecological impairment of Arctic streams: Challenges and future directions |
title_sort | assessment of ecological impairment of arctic streams: challenges and future directions |
topic | Original Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8293736/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34306657 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7798 |
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