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The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe
SIMPLE SUMMARY: The majority of European lowland rivers are under the impact of multiple stressors (water quality, hydromorphological alterations, land-use), however, the consequences of these influences on mayflies have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, we studied mayfly assemblages and the...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9146438/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35621771 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13050436 |
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author | Vilenica, Marina Vidaković Maoduš, Iva Mihaljević, Zlatko |
author_facet | Vilenica, Marina Vidaković Maoduš, Iva Mihaljević, Zlatko |
author_sort | Vilenica, Marina |
collection | PubMed |
description | SIMPLE SUMMARY: The majority of European lowland rivers are under the impact of multiple stressors (water quality, hydromorphological alterations, land-use), however, the consequences of these influences on mayflies have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, we studied mayfly assemblages and their relationship to environmental factors along a mid-sized lowland river in Croatia. No significant differences in mayfly species richness and their functional traits were observed among the three habitat groups with different levels of hydromorphological alterations (near-natural, moderately altered, and severely altered habitats). This could be related to the river’s connection to the numerous tributaries, and the variety of available microhabitats along the studied system, despite the existing hydromorphological pressures. A stronger relationship was found between mayflies and the water physico-chemical characteristics (water temperature, water velocity, oxygen content, and nutrient (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorous) concentrations) and agricultural and urban land-use. These results can contribute to the planning of management and conservation activities for lowland rivers and their biota according to the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive. ABSTRACT: Historically, rivers have been anthropogenically modified for different purposes worldwide (e.g., flood control, drinking water abstraction, and land drainage). Although the majority of European lowland rivers are under the impact of multiple stressors (water quality, hydromorphological alterations, land-use), the consequences of these influences on aquatic macroinvertebrates, including mayflies, have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, with the aim of providing additional data on the response of mayflies to anthropogenic disturbances in riverine habitats, we studied mayfly assemblages and their relationship to environmental factors along a mid-sized lowland river in Croatia. No significant differences in mayfly species richness and their functional traits were observed among the three habitat groups with different levels of hydromorphological alterations (near-natural, moderately altered, and severely altered habitats). This could be related to the river’s connection to the numerous tributaries, and the variety of available microhabitats along the studied system, despite the existing hydromorphological pressures. A stronger relationship was found between mayflies and the physico-chemical water characteristics and land-use. Water temperature, water velocity, oxygen content, and nutrient (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorous) concentrations related to agricultural and urban land-use were found to be the most important factors shaping mayfly assemblages in the studied lotic lowland system. These results can contribute to the planning of management and conservation activities for lowland rivers and their biota according to the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9146438 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-91464382022-05-29 The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe Vilenica, Marina Vidaković Maoduš, Iva Mihaljević, Zlatko Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: The majority of European lowland rivers are under the impact of multiple stressors (water quality, hydromorphological alterations, land-use), however, the consequences of these influences on mayflies have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, we studied mayfly assemblages and their relationship to environmental factors along a mid-sized lowland river in Croatia. No significant differences in mayfly species richness and their functional traits were observed among the three habitat groups with different levels of hydromorphological alterations (near-natural, moderately altered, and severely altered habitats). This could be related to the river’s connection to the numerous tributaries, and the variety of available microhabitats along the studied system, despite the existing hydromorphological pressures. A stronger relationship was found between mayflies and the water physico-chemical characteristics (water temperature, water velocity, oxygen content, and nutrient (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorous) concentrations) and agricultural and urban land-use. These results can contribute to the planning of management and conservation activities for lowland rivers and their biota according to the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive. ABSTRACT: Historically, rivers have been anthropogenically modified for different purposes worldwide (e.g., flood control, drinking water abstraction, and land drainage). Although the majority of European lowland rivers are under the impact of multiple stressors (water quality, hydromorphological alterations, land-use), the consequences of these influences on aquatic macroinvertebrates, including mayflies, have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, with the aim of providing additional data on the response of mayflies to anthropogenic disturbances in riverine habitats, we studied mayfly assemblages and their relationship to environmental factors along a mid-sized lowland river in Croatia. No significant differences in mayfly species richness and their functional traits were observed among the three habitat groups with different levels of hydromorphological alterations (near-natural, moderately altered, and severely altered habitats). This could be related to the river’s connection to the numerous tributaries, and the variety of available microhabitats along the studied system, despite the existing hydromorphological pressures. A stronger relationship was found between mayflies and the physico-chemical water characteristics and land-use. Water temperature, water velocity, oxygen content, and nutrient (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorous) concentrations related to agricultural and urban land-use were found to be the most important factors shaping mayfly assemblages in the studied lotic lowland system. These results can contribute to the planning of management and conservation activities for lowland rivers and their biota according to the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive. MDPI 2022-05-06 /pmc/articles/PMC9146438/ /pubmed/35621771 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13050436 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Vilenica, Marina Vidaković Maoduš, Iva Mihaljević, Zlatko The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe |
title | The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe |
title_full | The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe |
title_fullStr | The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe |
title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe |
title_short | The Impact of Hydromorphological Alterations on Mayfly Assemblages of a Mid-Sized Lowland River in South-Eastern Europe |
title_sort | impact of hydromorphological alterations on mayfly assemblages of a mid-sized lowland river in south-eastern europe |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9146438/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35621771 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13050436 |
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