Detritus-based assemblage responses under salinity stress conditions in a disused aquatic artificial ecosystem

Aquatic Biosystems

Fulvio Cerfolli¹  Bruno Bellisario¹  Corrado Battisti² 

[1] Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences (DEB), Ichthyogenic Experimental Marine Centre (CISMAR), Tuscia University, Borgo Le Saline, 01016, Tarquinia, VT, Italy

[2] ‘Torre Flavia’ LTER (Long Term Environmental Research) Station, Environmental Service, Provincia di Roma, via Tiburtina, 691, 00159, Rome, Italy

关键词: Patchy environment;    Nestedness;    Simpson index;    Whittaker plots;    Abundance/Biomass Comparisons;    Macrozoobenthos;    Leaf-detritus;   

Others  :  793971
DOI  :  10.1186/2046-9063-9-22

 received in 2013-07-17, accepted in 2013-12-02,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Despite the plethora of approaches, the sensitivity of the methods to measure the relationship between the abundance and biomass curves in stressed detritus-based ecosystems still remain to be refined. In this work, we report the comparison between biomass and abundance in a set of detritus-based macrozoobenthic assemblages located in six sampling pools with different salinity in an artificial aquatic ecosystem (disused Tarquinia Saltworks), using two diversity/dominance approaches (Abundance/Biomass Comparisons, or ABC, and Whittaker plots). We also evaluated the contribution of abundances and biomasses diversity (Simpson index) and nestedness, which measures the order by which macroinvertebrates colonized the detrital resource.

Results

The outputs obtained by both ABC curves and Whittaker plots highlight two different thresholds in assemblage structure: between about 44 and 50 practical salinity unit (psu) and between 50 and 87 psu, respectively. The first threshold was due to a turnover in taxon composition between assemblages, the second threshold (evidenced by Whittaker plots) was due to a change in taxon richness (lower in pools with higher salinity: i.e. > 50 psu). Moreover, a normal-shaped pattern in diversity (Simpson index) emerged, suggestive of an intermediate disturbance effect. The nested pattern did not show significant differences when considering the density and biomass of the sampled taxa, providing similar threshold of salinity in the relative contribution of macrozoobenthos on nestedness.

Conclusions

The use of detailed (ABC and Whittaker plots) and macroscopic (Simpson index and nestedness) approaches is proposed to identify thresholds in the structuring and functioning of detritus-based community of disused aquatic ecosystems: in particular, the inclusion of the parameter of biomass (scarcely utilized in community-based research) appears crucial. The responses of macrozoobenthic assemblages to the salinity stress conditions, in term of abundance and biomass, using a detritus food source (Phragmites australis leaves), may also highlight, by comparing macroscopic and detailed approaches, structuring and functioning patterns to consider for the management of disused artificial ecosystems.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Cerfolli et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Williams WD: Salinity as a determinant of the structure of biological communities in salt lakes. Hydrobiologia 1998, 381:191-201.
• [2]Dobson M, Frid C: Ecology of aquatic systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009.
• [3]Moore JC, Berlow EL, Coleman DC, de Ruiter PC, Dong Q, Hastings A, Johnson NC, McCann KS, Melville K, Morin PJ, Nadelhoffer K, Rosemond AD, Post DM, Sabo JL, Scow KM, Vanni MJ, Wall DH: Detritus, trophic dynamics and biodiversity. Ecol Lett 2004, 7:584-600.
• [4]Belgrano A, Scharler UM, Dunne J, Ulanowicz RE: Aquatic food webs: an ecosystem approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005.
• [5]Moore JC, de Ruiter PC: Energetic food webs: an analysis of real and model ecosystems. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2012.
• [6]Velasco J, Millán A, Hernández J, Gutiérrez-Cánovas C, Abellan P, Sanchez-Fernandez D, Ruiz M: Response of biotic communities to salinity changes in a Mediterranean hypersaline stream. Saline Systems 2006, 2:12. BioMed Central Full Text
• [7]Bellisario B, Cerfolli F, Nascetti G: Spatial network structure and robustness of detritus-based communities in a patchy environment. Ecol Res 2010, 25:813-821.
• [8]Fauth JE, Bernardo J, Camara M, Rasetarits WJ, Van Buskirk J, McCollum SA: Simplifying the jargon of community ecology: a conceptual approach. Am Nat 1996, 147:282-286.
• [9]Wiens JA: The ecology of bird communities, Vol 2, processes and variations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1989.
• [10]Krebs CJ: Ecology: the experimental analysis of distribution and abundance. 5th edition. London: Benjamin-Cummings Pub Co; 2001.
• [11]Magurran AE: Measuring biological diversity. New York: Blackwell; 2004.
• [12]Lambshead PJD, Platt HM, Shaw KM: The detection of differences among assemblages of marine benthic species based on an assessment of dominance and diversity. J Nat Hist 1983, 17:859-874.
• [13]Warwick RM: A new method for detecting pollution effects on marine macro-benthic communities. Mar Biol 1986, 92:557-562.
• [14]Warwick RM, Clarke KR: Relearning the ABC-taxonomic changes and abundance biomass relationships in disturbed benthic communities. Mar Biol 1994, 118:739-744.
• [15]Dornelas M, Soykan CU, Ugland KI: Biodiversity and disturbance. In Biological diversity: frontiers in measurements and assessments. Edited by Magurran A, McGill BJ. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press; 2011:237-251.
• [16]Ives AR, Carpenter SR: Stability and diversity of ecosystems. Science 2007, 317:58-62.
• [17]Diamond JM: Assembly of species communities. In Ecology and evolution of communities. Edited by Cody ML, Diamond JM. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Harvard Univ. Press; 1975:342-444.
• [18]Bascompte J, Jordano P, Melián CJ, Olesen JM: The nested assembly of plant animal mutualistic networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2003, 100:9383-9387.
• [19]Atmar W, Patterson BD: The measure of order and disorder in the distribution of species in fragmented habitat. Oecologia 1993, 96:373-382.
• [20]Patterson BD, Atmar W: Nested subsets and the structure of insular mammalian faunas and archipelagos. Biol J Linnean Soc 1986, 28:65-82.
• [21]Almeida-Neto M, Guimarães PR, Lewinsohn TM: On nestedness analyses: rethinking matrix temperature and anti-nestedness. Oikos 2007, 116:716-722.
• [22]Leibold MA, Mikkelson GM: Coherence, species turnover, and boundary clumping: elements of meta-community structure. Oikos 2002, 97:237-250.
• [23]Lewinsohn TM, Prado PI, Jordano P, Bascompte J, Olesen JM: Structure in plant–animal interaction assemblages. Oikos 2006, 113:174-184.
• [24]De Angelis DL: Dynamics of nutrient cycling and food webs. New York: Chapman and Hall; 1992.
• [25]Meire PM, Dereu J: Use of the abundance/biomass comparison method for detecting environmental stress: some considerations based on intertidal macrozoobenthos and bird communities. J Appl Ecol 1990, 27:210-223.
• [26]Penczak T, Kruk A: Applicability of the abundance/biomass comparison method for detecting human impact on fish populations in the Pilica river. Pol Fish Res 1999, 39:229-240.
• [27]Magurran AE, Phillip SAT: Implications of species loss in freshwater fish assemblages. Ecography 2001, 24:645-650.
• [28]Benassi G, Battisti C, Luiselli L: Applying abundance/biomass comparisons in breeding bird assemblages of a set of remnant wetlands in central Italy. J Mediterr Ecol 2009, 10:13-18.
• [29]Prete S, Battisti C, Marini F, Ciucci P: Applying abundance/biomass comparisons on a small mammal assemblage from Barn owl (Tyto alba) pellets (Mount Soratte, central Italy): a cautionary note. Rend Fis Acc Lincei 2012, 23:349-354.
• [30]Niyogi DK, Lewis WM Jr, McKnight DM: Effects of stress from mine drainage on diversity, biomass, and function of primary producers in mountain streams. Ecosystems 2002, 5:554-567.
• [31]Kominosky J, Pringle C: Resource–consumer diversity: testing the effects of leaf litter species diversity on stream macroinvertebrate communities. Freshw Biol 2009, 54:1461-1473.
• [32]Bellisario B, Cerfolli F, Nascetti G: The interplay between network structure and functioning of detritus-based communities in patchy aquatic environment. Aquat Ecol 2012, 46:431-441.
• [33]Pimm SL: Food webs. London (UK): Chapman and Hall; 1982.
• [34]Payne WJ: Energy yields and growth of heterotrophs. Annu Rev Microbiol 1970, 24:17-52.
• [35]Vignes F, Fedele M, Pinna M, Mancinelli G, Basset A: Variability of lekanesphaera monodi metabolic rates with habitat trophic status. Acta Oecol 2012, 41:58-64.
• [36]Dytham C: Choosing and using statistic. Wiley-Blackwell, UK: A Biologist’s guide; 2011.
• [37]Selva N, Fortuna MA: The nested structure of a scavenger community. Proc R Soc B 2007, 274:1101-1108.
• [38]Galeano J, Pastor JM, Iriondo JM: Weighted-interaction nestedness estimator (WINE): a new estimator to calculate over frequency matrices. Environ Model Softw 2009, 24:1342-1346.
• [39]Corso G, de Araujo AIL, de Almeida AM: A new nestedness estimator in community networks. arXiv 2008. 0803.0007v1
• [40]Ulrich W, Almeida-Neto M, Gotelli NJ: A consumer’s guide to nestedness analysis. Oikos 2009, 118:3-17.
• [41]R Development Core Team: R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2009.
• [42]Anderson MJ: A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecol 2001, 26:32-46.
• [43]R Development Core Team: R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2011.
• [44]Connell JH: Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 1978, 199:1302-1310.
• [45]Collins SL, Glenn SM: Intermediate disturbance and its relationship to within and between-patch dynamics. New Zeal J Ecol 1997, 21:103-110.
• [46]Bellisario B, Novelli C, Angeletti D, Cerfolli F, Cimmaruta R, Nascetti G: The ecological restoration of Tarquinia saltern drives temporal changes in benthic community structure. Transitional Waters Bulletin 2010, 4:105-114.
• [47]Alemanno S, Mancinelli G, Basset A: Detritus processing in Tri-trophic food chains: a modelling approach. Internat Rev Hydrobiol 2007, 92:103-116.
• [48]Williams WD, Boulton AJ, Taaffe RG: Salinity as a determinant of salt lake fauna: a question of scale. Hydrobiologia 1990, 197:257-266.
• [49]Magurran AE: Biodiversity in the context of ecosystem function. In Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning - frameworks, methodologies and integration. Edited by Solan M, Aspden RJ, Paterson DM. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2012:16-23.
• [50]Bellisario B, Carere C, Cerfolli F, Angeletti D, Nascetti G, Cimmarura R: Infaunal macrobenthic community dynamics in a manipulated hyperhaline ecosystem: a long term study. Aquat Biosyst 2013, 9:20. BioMed Central Full Text