- Edificio Politécnico
Avenida Camilo José Cela s/n
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- Aquatic ecologist, Head of Wetlands Section at Regional Centre for Water Studies and Research Group on Hydroecology ... moreAquatic ecologist, Head of Wetlands Section at Regional Centre for Water Studies and Research Group on Hydroecology at University of Castilla-La Mancha (Ciudad Real, south-central Spain).edit
Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park receives chemical pollution from various sources, which together affect the ecology of the wetland and bird community that supports it. In this work, we have studied routes of entrance of contaminants... more
Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park receives chemical pollution from various sources, which together affect the ecology of the wetland and bird community that supports it. In this work, we have studied routes of entrance of contaminants through the rivers and streams that feed Tablas de Daimiel National Park, by runoff from agricultural land surrounding it and the birds that carry both nutrients and environmental pollutants to the wetlands. The physicochemical characteristics of water and sediment are crucial to the spatial distribution of charophytes, but experiments carried out show that the effects of fish such as carp, present in Tablas de Daimiel National Park at high densities during the study period, are even more important and this affects the community of waterbirds in this wetland. In addition to the effect that eutrophication can have on the wetland, we have also carried out analysis of various types of chemical contaminants form industrial and urban origin that can reach Tablas de Daimiel National Park via treated wastewater. By comparing samples taken in the Navaseca pond, which directly receives poorly treated sewage effluents from Daimiel town, and at various points of Tablas de Daimiel National Park, we can identify some contaminants that can enter these wetlands with treated sewage water. This may allow us in the future to focus monitoring on certain pollutants indicative of discharges of poorly treated wastewater. Focusing on birds, we have found that moorhens from Tablas de Daimiel National Park have higher levels of mercury and selenium, while birds from Navaseca showed higher levels of PCBs. The study of biomarkers of oxidative stress and immune function indicates that Navaseca birds show a decrease of antioxidants and cellular immune responses, which may be associated with the abiotic and biotic load of contamination present in the wetland. Finally, we have characterised the risk for birds in Tablas de Daimiel National Park of eating seed treated with pesticides during sowing.
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Inland natural saline lakes that are small, shallow and temporary (lagunas) have received less attention from researchers than great lakes or episodically filled playas. However, salt lakes usually appear in regional groups where lagunas... more
Inland natural saline lakes that are small, shallow and temporary (lagunas) have received less attention from researchers than great lakes or episodically filled playas. However, salt lakes usually appear in regional groups where lagunas may be the most numerous or the only saline lakes present. Overall differences between lagunas and playas are the flooding features (more frequent and extended in time, with the ground-water role being fundamental, and a higher depth/surface quotient, in the former). In addition to shallowness, a highly irregular pattern and wide range of hydrological fluctuations serve to distinguish lagunas from lakes. One consequence of the above is that aquatic communities in lagunas have a potentially greater diversity of organizational patterns than those of playas. The primary control is exerted by the features of hydrological fluctuation and sediments in lagunas, features which are relatively less important than depth stratification in lakes. Salinity dynamics is a secondary forcing function of the saline laguna ecosystem and is coupled to hydrological fluctuations. The role of salinity in salt lakes is scale-dependent. Large patterns of biota attributes (e.g. geographic distribution) are related to salinity, but mechanistic explanations are often unsatisfactory or lacking, especially when dealing with aspects of the ecosystem functioning or community dynamics. Considering the above, we hypothesized that differences in ecological functioning of three laguna ecosystems (dominated by macrophytes, phyto plankton, and microphytobenthos, respectively), could be established by examining the fluctuations of the hydrochemical equilibrium. The objectives were to identify the influence and control of hydrochemical fluctuations on the functioning of saline laguna ecosystems.
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Floodplains are among the most threatened ecosystems world-wide because of multiple stressors, i.e., invasive species, pollution and aquifer overexploitation; the Tablas de Daimiel National Park (Spain) is a clear example of these kinds... more
Floodplains are among the most threatened ecosystems world-wide because of multiple stressors, i.e., invasive species, pollution and aquifer overexploitation; the Tablas de Daimiel National Park (Spain) is a clear example of these kinds of impact. This work aims to test whether invasive fish and/or the water and sediment quality are significant drivers of the decline of stonewort (Chara spp.) meadows in the Tablas de Daimiel, investigating how this could explain changes observed in the waterbird community. Bird surveys performed monthly between June 2010 and April 2014 have shown that herbivorous species like the red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) reached historical records between September 2010 and June 2011, but have decreased since then. Piscivorous waterbirds like the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and herons increased in population after 2011, however. These changes may be due to the decline of Chara spp. meadows, connected to overexploitation by herbivores, or to changes in water and sediment quality. To test this hypothesis, we studied the growth of Chara spp. biomass in ten sites of the Tablas de Daimiel, where experimental exclosures were set up to exclude herbivory by birds, and bioturbation and herbivory by fish. Our results have shown that the absence of Chara spp. in the Tablas de Daimiel is mostly explained by presence of invasive fish (i.e. common carp). Moreover, the physicochemical characteristics of the water (lower values of conductivity and higher values of inorganic carbon and organic nitrogen), as well as of the sediment (lower values of inorganic and organic phosphorus), favour the increase of Chara spp., in the absence of the fish effect. These results led the National Park managers to begin the control of invasive fish as an urgent measure to assure the ecological conservation of this Mediterranean wetland.
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... While fish community was resistant to disturbance by flood of low magnitude (Ol m'.s1) in Avelós stream during 1996, the population of Najas marina was noi resistant. . Arrow = flood occurrence. () = Stream discharge - m'.s1.... more
... While fish community was resistant to disturbance by flood of low magnitude (Ol m'.s1) in Avelós stream during 1996, the population of Najas marina was noi resistant. . Arrow = flood occurrence. () = Stream discharge - m'.s1. ... Benke, AC, Chaubey, I., Ward, GM & Lunn. EL 2000. ...
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ABSTRACT
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ABSTRACT
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Este trabajo pretende en sentido amplio el estudio del funcionamiento natural de lagunas salinas temporales, orientado a proporcionar criterios eficientes para su conservación y a establecer las primeras bases de modelos predictivos de... more
Este trabajo pretende en sentido amplio el estudio del funcionamiento natural de lagunas salinas temporales, orientado a proporcionar criterios eficientes para su conservación y a establecer las primeras bases de modelos predictivos de dinámica ecológica aplicables a su gestión. Para ello, tomando como punto global de partida el marco conceptual antes descrito, se fijaron los siguientes objetivos parciales: i) Investigar las características temporales de las fluctuaciones hídricas y las propiedades de los sedimentos de lagunas salinas temporales en correspondencia a las estrategias de los productores primarios dominantes, formulando matemáticamente la dinámica hídrica temporal a partir de asunciones realistas sobre los procesos estudiados y cuantificando el peso de los factores clave. ii) Identificar las relaciones entre los regímenes hídrico y de concentración y composición iónica en estos ecosistemas, y modelar la dinámica temporal del equilibrio químico y de la especiación de nutrientes en sus aguas, examinando sus posibles implicaciones para los productores primarios y relaciones tróficas globales. iii) Evaluar cuantitativamente la productividad primaria a escala ecosistémica de distintos tipos funcionales de lagunas salinas temporales en relación a factores clave específicos de su comportamiento fluctuante ─carácter somero, efectos directos de las variaciones de salinidad y de su control sobre la dinámica de la concentración de oxígeno disuelto y disponibilidad de nutrientes, nivel de reciclado de la producción. iv) Describir los mecanismos responsables del patrón temporal de interacciones entre propiedades básicas del sedimento, concentración de nutrientes en el agua superficial, y biomasa de productores primarios y consumidores ante fluctuaciones drásticas del nivel del agua y salinidad. Un objetivo complementario es evaluar las correspondencias entre las regularidades observadas en relación con estos aspectos y las escalas del estudio.