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Macrophytes, epipelic biofilm, and invertebrates as biotic indicators of physical habitat degradation of lowland streams (Argentina)

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Abstract

Our objective was to assess the effect of the physical habitat degradation in three lowland streams of Argentina that are subject to different land uses. To address this matter, we looked into some physical habitat alterations, mainly the water quality and channel changes, the impact on macrophytes’ community, and the structural and functional descriptors of the epipelic biofilm and invertebrate assemblages. As a consequence of physical and chemical perturbations, we differentiated sampling sites with different degradation levels. The low degraded sites were affected mainly for the suburban land use, the moderately degraded sites for the rural land use, and the highly degraded sites for the urban land use. The data shows that the biotic descriptors that best reflected the environmental degradation were vegetation cover and macrophytes richness, the dominance of tolerant species (epipelic biofilm and invertebrates), algal biomass, O2 consumption by the epipelic biofilm, and invertebrates’ richness and diversity. Furthermore, the results obtained highlight the importance of the macrophytes in the lowland streams, where there is a poor diversification of abiotic substrates and where the macrophytes not only provide shelter but also a food source for invertebrates and other trophic levels such as fish. We also noted that both in benthic communities, invertebrates and epipelic biofilm supplied different information: the habitat’s physical structure provided by the macrophytes influenced mainly the invertebrate descriptors; meanwhile, the water quality mainly influenced most of the epipelic biofilm descriptors.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been financed by a grant from CONICET and PICT no. 33939 (FONCYT). The authors would like to thank Jorge Donadelli, from the Laboratory of Chemistry of the ILPLA, for the nutrient and oxygen demand analyses of the water samples. We would also like to thank Dra. Delia Bauer for her assistance in the field work in the Martín Stream. This manuscript constitutes scientific contribution no. 909 from the “Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Multidisciplinario sobre Ecosistemas y Desarrollo Sustentable (UNCPBA, Tandil), Paraje Arroyo Seco S/N, Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Agustina Cortelezzi & Claudia Marinelli

  2. Instituto de Limnología ‘Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet’ (ILPLA), CC 712 (CP 1900), La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María Victoria Sierra, Nora Gómez & Alberto Rodrigues Capítulo

  3. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, UNLP, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Agustina Cortelezzi, María Victoria Sierra, Nora Gómez & Alberto Rodrigues Capítulo

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  1. Agustina Cortelezzi
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  2. María Victoria Sierra
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  3. Nora Gómez
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Correspondence to María Victoria Sierra.

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Cortelezzi, A., Sierra, M.V., Gómez, N. et al. Macrophytes, epipelic biofilm, and invertebrates as biotic indicators of physical habitat degradation of lowland streams (Argentina). Environ Monit Assess 185, 5801–5815 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2985-2

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