Drainage-induced browning causes both loss and change of benthic biodiversity in headwater streams
Brüsecke, Joanna; Muotka, Timo; Huttunen, Kaisa-Leena; Litjo, Sanni; Lepo, Wille-Pekka; Jyväsjärvi, Jussi (2023-07-10)
Brüsecke, J., Muotka, T., Huttunen, K.-L., Litjo, S., Lepo, W.-P. and Jyväsjärvi, J. (2023), Drainage-induced browning causes both loss and change of benthic biodiversity in headwater streams. Limnol. Oceanogr. Lett, 8: 620-627. https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10302
© 2022 The Authors. Limnology and Oceanography Letters published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20230929137842
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
Concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) have increased over the past few decades, causing freshwater browning. Impacts of browning on biodiversity have been little studied, despite many of the individual stressors associated with browning being known to control freshwater communities. We explored the responses of benthic invertebrates along a wide gradient of DOC concentrations (3.6–27 mg L⁻¹) in 63 boreal streams variously impacted by peatland drainage or peat production. DOC was a prime determinant of macroinvertebrate diversity and abundance, with the strongest negative response in algal scrapers. Threshold indicator taxa analysis indicated an abrupt community change at 12–13 mg DOC L⁻¹, with only four taxa increasing, while 13 taxa decreased along the gradient. Our findings of both a gradual loss and abrupt change of biodiversity along a browning gradient provide a benchmark against which changes to stream biodiversity relative to the predicted browning trend can be gauged.
Kokoelmat
- Avoin saatavuus [32049]