1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Universidade Fed... more 1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2 Serra Húnter Fellow, FEHM-Lab, Institut de Recerca de l’Aigua (IdRA), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 3 Laboratório de Ecologia, Manejo e Conservação de Fauna Silvestre (LEMaC), Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” (ESALQ), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, Brazil, 4 Finnish Environment Institute, Freshwater Centre, Oulu, Finland
Human-induced (i.e., secondary) salinization affects aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioni... more Human-induced (i.e., secondary) salinization affects aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. While agriculture or resource extraction are the main drivers of secondary salinization in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, the application of deicing road salt in winter can be an important source of salts entering freshwaters in cold regions. Alpine rivers are probably affected by salinization, especially in highly populated mountain regions, although this remains to be explored. In this study, we analyzed multi-year conductance time series from four rivers in the European Alps and demonstrated that the application of deicing road salt is linked to peaking rivers’ salinity levels during late winter/early spring. Especially in small catchments with more urban surfaces close to the rivers, conductance increased during constant low-flow periods in late winter and was less correlated with discharge than in summer. Thus, our results suggest that small rivers highly con...
Dispersal is an essential process in population and community dynamics, but is difficult to measu... more Dispersal is an essential process in population and community dynamics, but is difficult to measure in the field. In freshwater ecosystems, information on biological traits related to organisms’ morphology, life history and behaviour provides useful dispersal proxies, but information remains scattered or unpublished for many taxa. We compiled information on multiple dispersal-related biological traits of European aquatic macroinvertebrates in a unique resource, the DISPERSE database. DISPERSE includes nine dispersal-related traits subdivided into 39 trait categories for 480 taxa, including Annelida, Mollusca, Platyhelminthes, and Arthropoda such as Crustacea and Insecta, generally at the genus level. Information within DISPERSE can be used to address fundamental research questions in metapopulation ecology, metacommunity ecology, macroecology and evolutionary ecology. Information on dispersal proxies can be applied to improve predictions of ecological responses to global change, and...
Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, isolated pools, and dry ... more Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, isolated pools, and dry phases. Despite the fact that temporary rivers are currently receiving increasing attention by researchers and managers, the isolated pools phase has been largely disregarded. However, isolated pools in temporary rivers are transitional habitats of major ecological relevance as they support aquatic ecosystems during no-flow periods, and can act as refugees for maintaining local and regional freshwater biodiversity. Pool characteristics such as surface water permanence and size, presence of predators, local physicochemical conditions, time since disconnection from the river flow, or distance to other freshwater habitats challenge a comprehensive understanding of the ecology of these habitats, and challenge ecological quality assessments and conservation practices in temporary rivers. In this paper, we aim at providing a characterization of isolated pools from a hydrological, geomorphologi...
&... more <p>Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, non-flowing and dry phases. Despite the fact that they are currently receiving significant attention by researchers and managers, the non-flowing (standing pools) phase has been largely disregarded. However, isolated pools in temporary rivers are transitional habitats of major ecological relevance as they can act as refuges for maintaining local and regional freshwater biodiversity. Factors such as pool duration and size, local physicochemical conditions, time since disconnection, distance to other freshwater habitats or presence of predators are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the ecology of these habitats, and compromise to work towards adequate ecological quality assessments and conservation practices in temporary rivers.</p><p>Research is ongoing focused on the development of a method for assessing the ecological status of disconnected pools, based on the relationship between the time elapsed after the pool disconnection and the characteristics of the biological communities taking into account the above-mentioned factors. The prevalence of the pool phase is assessed using the TREHS software tool through interviews with citizens as well as aerial and surface photographs examination. The time since disconnection is assessed with the help of low-cost sensors and water stable isotopes, whereas the local environmental characteristics are assessed using regular metrics. Finally, biological communities of the pools are characterized using both taxonomic and functional metrics, with the support of metabarcoding techniques, applied to diatoms, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and fishes. This method aims to be used by water managers to improve the monitoring of the ecological status of temporary rivers, which are common around the world, harbor unique biodiversity and provide key ecosystem services.</p>
Agricultural intensification during the last century has produced river degradation across Europe... more Agricultural intensification during the last century has produced river degradation across Europe. From the wide range of pressures derived from agricultural activities that impact rivers, diffuse agricultural pollution has received most of the attention from managers and scientists. The aim of this study was to determine the main pressures exerted by intensive agriculture around Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), which are areas of land that drain into waters polluted by nitrates according to the European Nitrate Directive (91/676/EEC). The study area was located in the NW of La Rioja (Northern Spain), which has the highest levels of nitrate concentrations within the Ebro basin. The relationships between forty environmental variables and the taxonomic and functional characteristics of macroinvertebrate assemblages (which are good indicators of water quality) were analyzed in 11 stream reaches differentially affected by upstream agricultural activity. The streams affected by a high pe...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it rema... more Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it remains unclear whether artificially increasing or decreasing stress levels would lead to communities assembling predictably along a single axis of variation or along multiple context-dependent trajectories of change. In response to stress intensity alterations, we hypothesize that a single trajectory of change occurs when trait-based assembly prevails, while multiple trajectories of change arise when dispersal-related processes modify colonization and trait-filtering dynamics. Here, we tested these hypotheses using aquatic macroinvertebrates from rivers exposed to gradients of natural salinity and artificially diluted or salinized ion contents. Our results showed that trait-filtering was important in driving community assembly in natural and diluted rivers, while dispersal-related processes seemed to play a relevant role in response to salinization. Salinized rivers showed novel communities...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Anthropogenic activities such as mining, agriculture and industrial wastes have increased the rat... more Anthropogenic activities such as mining, agriculture and industrial wastes have increased the rate of salinization of freshwater ecosystems around the world. Despite the known and probable consequences of freshwater salinization, few consequential regulatory standards and management procedures exist. Current regulations are generally inadequate because they are regionally inconsistent, lack legal consequences and have few ion-specific standards. The lack of ion-specific standards is problematic, because each anthropogenic source of freshwater salinization is associated with a distinct set of ions that can present unique social and economic costs. Additionally, the environmental and toxicological consequences of freshwater salinization are often dependent on the occurrence, concentration and ratios of specific ions. Therefore, to protect fresh waters from continued salinization, discrete, ion-specific management and regulatory strategies should be considered for each source of freshw...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
The salinization of freshwaters is a global water quality problem that leads to the biological de... more The salinization of freshwaters is a global water quality problem that leads to the biological degradation of aquatic ecosystems. However, little is known about the spatial extent of freshwater salinization and the relative contribution of each human activity (e.g. agriculture, urbanization, mining or shale-gas extraction). Here, we investigated environmental factors that explain spatio-temporal patterns of water salinity and examined the causes, the extent and the degree of salinization of Spanish rivers. Results showed a strong variation in water salinity among river typologies and between river reaches in good and poor ecological status according to the Water Framework Directive. The variation in water salinity was largely explained by a combination of natural (i.e. climate and geology) and anthropogenic (i.e. land use) factors. By contrast, land use factors as urbanization and agriculture were the main drivers of salinization, which affected more than one quarter of the rivers a...
1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Universidade Fed... more 1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2 Serra Húnter Fellow, FEHM-Lab, Institut de Recerca de l’Aigua (IdRA), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 3 Laboratório de Ecologia, Manejo e Conservação de Fauna Silvestre (LEMaC), Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” (ESALQ), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, Brazil, 4 Finnish Environment Institute, Freshwater Centre, Oulu, Finland
Human-induced (i.e., secondary) salinization affects aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioni... more Human-induced (i.e., secondary) salinization affects aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. While agriculture or resource extraction are the main drivers of secondary salinization in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, the application of deicing road salt in winter can be an important source of salts entering freshwaters in cold regions. Alpine rivers are probably affected by salinization, especially in highly populated mountain regions, although this remains to be explored. In this study, we analyzed multi-year conductance time series from four rivers in the European Alps and demonstrated that the application of deicing road salt is linked to peaking rivers’ salinity levels during late winter/early spring. Especially in small catchments with more urban surfaces close to the rivers, conductance increased during constant low-flow periods in late winter and was less correlated with discharge than in summer. Thus, our results suggest that small rivers highly con...
Dispersal is an essential process in population and community dynamics, but is difficult to measu... more Dispersal is an essential process in population and community dynamics, but is difficult to measure in the field. In freshwater ecosystems, information on biological traits related to organisms’ morphology, life history and behaviour provides useful dispersal proxies, but information remains scattered or unpublished for many taxa. We compiled information on multiple dispersal-related biological traits of European aquatic macroinvertebrates in a unique resource, the DISPERSE database. DISPERSE includes nine dispersal-related traits subdivided into 39 trait categories for 480 taxa, including Annelida, Mollusca, Platyhelminthes, and Arthropoda such as Crustacea and Insecta, generally at the genus level. Information within DISPERSE can be used to address fundamental research questions in metapopulation ecology, metacommunity ecology, macroecology and evolutionary ecology. Information on dispersal proxies can be applied to improve predictions of ecological responses to global change, and...
Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, isolated pools, and dry ... more Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, isolated pools, and dry phases. Despite the fact that temporary rivers are currently receiving increasing attention by researchers and managers, the isolated pools phase has been largely disregarded. However, isolated pools in temporary rivers are transitional habitats of major ecological relevance as they support aquatic ecosystems during no-flow periods, and can act as refugees for maintaining local and regional freshwater biodiversity. Pool characteristics such as surface water permanence and size, presence of predators, local physicochemical conditions, time since disconnection from the river flow, or distance to other freshwater habitats challenge a comprehensive understanding of the ecology of these habitats, and challenge ecological quality assessments and conservation practices in temporary rivers. In this paper, we aim at providing a characterization of isolated pools from a hydrological, geomorphologi...
&... more <p>Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, non-flowing and dry phases. Despite the fact that they are currently receiving significant attention by researchers and managers, the non-flowing (standing pools) phase has been largely disregarded. However, isolated pools in temporary rivers are transitional habitats of major ecological relevance as they can act as refuges for maintaining local and regional freshwater biodiversity. Factors such as pool duration and size, local physicochemical conditions, time since disconnection, distance to other freshwater habitats or presence of predators are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the ecology of these habitats, and compromise to work towards adequate ecological quality assessments and conservation practices in temporary rivers.</p><p>Research is ongoing focused on the development of a method for assessing the ecological status of disconnected pools, based on the relationship between the time elapsed after the pool disconnection and the characteristics of the biological communities taking into account the above-mentioned factors. The prevalence of the pool phase is assessed using the TREHS software tool through interviews with citizens as well as aerial and surface photographs examination. The time since disconnection is assessed with the help of low-cost sensors and water stable isotopes, whereas the local environmental characteristics are assessed using regular metrics. Finally, biological communities of the pools are characterized using both taxonomic and functional metrics, with the support of metabarcoding techniques, applied to diatoms, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and fishes. This method aims to be used by water managers to improve the monitoring of the ecological status of temporary rivers, which are common around the world, harbor unique biodiversity and provide key ecosystem services.</p>
Agricultural intensification during the last century has produced river degradation across Europe... more Agricultural intensification during the last century has produced river degradation across Europe. From the wide range of pressures derived from agricultural activities that impact rivers, diffuse agricultural pollution has received most of the attention from managers and scientists. The aim of this study was to determine the main pressures exerted by intensive agriculture around Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), which are areas of land that drain into waters polluted by nitrates according to the European Nitrate Directive (91/676/EEC). The study area was located in the NW of La Rioja (Northern Spain), which has the highest levels of nitrate concentrations within the Ebro basin. The relationships between forty environmental variables and the taxonomic and functional characteristics of macroinvertebrate assemblages (which are good indicators of water quality) were analyzed in 11 stream reaches differentially affected by upstream agricultural activity. The streams affected by a high pe...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it rema... more Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it remains unclear whether artificially increasing or decreasing stress levels would lead to communities assembling predictably along a single axis of variation or along multiple context-dependent trajectories of change. In response to stress intensity alterations, we hypothesize that a single trajectory of change occurs when trait-based assembly prevails, while multiple trajectories of change arise when dispersal-related processes modify colonization and trait-filtering dynamics. Here, we tested these hypotheses using aquatic macroinvertebrates from rivers exposed to gradients of natural salinity and artificially diluted or salinized ion contents. Our results showed that trait-filtering was important in driving community assembly in natural and diluted rivers, while dispersal-related processes seemed to play a relevant role in response to salinization. Salinized rivers showed novel communities...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Anthropogenic activities such as mining, agriculture and industrial wastes have increased the rat... more Anthropogenic activities such as mining, agriculture and industrial wastes have increased the rate of salinization of freshwater ecosystems around the world. Despite the known and probable consequences of freshwater salinization, few consequential regulatory standards and management procedures exist. Current regulations are generally inadequate because they are regionally inconsistent, lack legal consequences and have few ion-specific standards. The lack of ion-specific standards is problematic, because each anthropogenic source of freshwater salinization is associated with a distinct set of ions that can present unique social and economic costs. Additionally, the environmental and toxicological consequences of freshwater salinization are often dependent on the occurrence, concentration and ratios of specific ions. Therefore, to protect fresh waters from continued salinization, discrete, ion-specific management and regulatory strategies should be considered for each source of freshw...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
The salinization of freshwaters is a global water quality problem that leads to the biological de... more The salinization of freshwaters is a global water quality problem that leads to the biological degradation of aquatic ecosystems. However, little is known about the spatial extent of freshwater salinization and the relative contribution of each human activity (e.g. agriculture, urbanization, mining or shale-gas extraction). Here, we investigated environmental factors that explain spatio-temporal patterns of water salinity and examined the causes, the extent and the degree of salinization of Spanish rivers. Results showed a strong variation in water salinity among river typologies and between river reaches in good and poor ecological status according to the Water Framework Directive. The variation in water salinity was largely explained by a combination of natural (i.e. climate and geology) and anthropogenic (i.e. land use) factors. By contrast, land use factors as urbanization and agriculture were the main drivers of salinization, which affected more than one quarter of the rivers a...
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Papers by Miguel Cañedo-argüelles