Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 634-642 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Science of the Total Environment |
| Volume | 476-477 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
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Effects of repeated salt pulses on ecosystem structure and functions in a stream mesocosm. / Canedo-Arguelles, Miguel; Bundschuh, Mirco; Gutierrez-Canovas, Cayetano; KEFFORD, Ben; Prat, Narcís; Trobajo, Rosa; Schäfer, R.
In: Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 476-477, 2014, p. 634-642.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of repeated salt pulses on ecosystem structure and functions in a stream mesocosm
AU - Canedo-Arguelles, Miguel
AU - Bundschuh, Mirco
AU - Gutierrez-Canovas, Cayetano
AU - KEFFORD, Ben
AU - Prat, Narcís
AU - Trobajo, Rosa
AU - Schäfer, R
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Rivers and streams affected by mining activities often receive short-term sharp salinity increases due to watersoluble stockpiled materials being washed into receiving water bodies. We conducted a mesocosm study to explore the response of structural (diatomand streaminvertebrate communities) and functional descriptors (chlorophyll a concentration, fungal biomass and leaf decomposition) to repeated short salinity pulses (3 h of duration, with nominal electrical conductivities of 5, 10 and 15 mS cm-1), mimicking the exposure pattern occurring at salt-mine affected rivers. The experiment was conducted in 12 artificial flow-through stream systems over 16 days. The effect of the salt pulses on the ecosystem structure and functioning did not fully match most of our initial hypotheses, with the community response being weaker than predicted. The diatom community was, however, dominated by salt-tolerant species throughout the experiment, showing no consistent response to the treatment. The invertebrate response was associated with statistically significant changes in community structure (i.e. abundance of the different taxa) but no statistically significant changes in taxa richness. The salt pulses affected some functional descriptors of the ecosystem: fungal biomass exhibited a unimodal response to treatment magnitude, algal growth (i.e. chl a biomass) was hampered with increasing conductivity and leaf decomposition was significantly reduced in the high treatment.
AB - Rivers and streams affected by mining activities often receive short-term sharp salinity increases due to watersoluble stockpiled materials being washed into receiving water bodies. We conducted a mesocosm study to explore the response of structural (diatomand streaminvertebrate communities) and functional descriptors (chlorophyll a concentration, fungal biomass and leaf decomposition) to repeated short salinity pulses (3 h of duration, with nominal electrical conductivities of 5, 10 and 15 mS cm-1), mimicking the exposure pattern occurring at salt-mine affected rivers. The experiment was conducted in 12 artificial flow-through stream systems over 16 days. The effect of the salt pulses on the ecosystem structure and functioning did not fully match most of our initial hypotheses, with the community response being weaker than predicted. The diatom community was, however, dominated by salt-tolerant species throughout the experiment, showing no consistent response to the treatment. The invertebrate response was associated with statistically significant changes in community structure (i.e. abundance of the different taxa) but no statistically significant changes in taxa richness. The salt pulses affected some functional descriptors of the ecosystem: fungal biomass exhibited a unimodal response to treatment magnitude, algal growth (i.e. chl a biomass) was hampered with increasing conductivity and leaf decomposition was significantly reduced in the high treatment.
KW - Salinity
KW - Rivers
KW - Artificial streams
KW - Mesocosm
KW - Ecosystem functioning
KW - Pulse disturbances
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.12.067
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.12.067
M3 - Article
VL - 476-477
SP - 634
EP - 642
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
SN - 0048-9697
ER -