Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams

Water abstraction strongly affects streams in arid and semiarid ecosystems, particularly where there is a Mediterranean climate. Excessive abstraction reduces the availability of water for human uses downstream and impairs the capacity of streams to support native biota. We investigated the flow reg...

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Autores: Benejam Vidal, Lluís, Angermeier, Paul L., Munné, Antoni, García-Berthou, Emili
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Recursos:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10256/12384
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10256/12384
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palavra-chave:Ecologia d'aigua dolça
Freshwater ecology
Ecologia fluvial
Stream ecology
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spelling Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streamsBenejam Vidal, LluísAngermeier, Paul L.Munné, AntoniGarcía-Berthou, EmiliEcologia d'aigua dolçaFreshwater ecologyEcologia fluvialStream ecologyWater abstraction strongly affects streams in arid and semiarid ecosystems, particularly where there is a Mediterranean climate. Excessive abstraction reduces the availability of water for human uses downstream and impairs the capacity of streams to support native biota. We investigated the flow regime and related variables in six river basins of the Iberian Peninsula and show that they have been strongly altered, with declining flows (autoregressive models) and groundwater levels during the 20th century. These streams had lower flows and more frequent droughts than predicted by the official hydrological model used in this region. Three of these rivers were sometimes dry, whereas there were predicted by the model to be permanently flowing. Meanwhile, there has been no decrease in annual precipitation. We also investigated the fish assemblage of a stream in one of these river basins (Tordera) for 6 years and show that sites more affected by water abstraction display significant differences in four fish metrics (catch per unit effort, number of benthic species, number of intolerant species and proportional abundance of intolerant individuals) commonly used to assess the biotic condition of streams. We discuss the utility of these metrics in assessing impacts of water abstraction and point out the need for detailed characterisation of the natural flow regime (and hence drought events) prior to the application of biotic indices in streams severely affected by water abstraction. In particular, in cases of artificially dry streams, it is more appropriate for regulatory agencies to assign index scores that reflect biotic degradation than to assign 'missing' scores, as is presently customary in assessments of Iberian streamsThis study was financially supported by the Catalan Water Agency, Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona Provincial Council (‘Observatori de la Tordera’ to M. Boada), the Spanish Ministry of Education (CGL2006-11652-C02-01 ⁄BOS), the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Foundation (project GLOBRIO), and the Government of Catalonia (Catalan Government Distinction Award for University Research 2004 to EGB)WileyMinisterio de Educación y Ciencia (Espanya)infoinfo2010info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10256/12384http://hdl.handle.net/10256/12384© Freshwater Biology, 2010, vol. 55, p. 628-642Articles publicats (D-CCAA)reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2009.02299.xinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0046-5070info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1365-2427info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MEC//CGL2006-11652-C02-01Tots els drets reservatsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccessoai:recercat.cat:10256/123842026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
title Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
spellingShingle Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
Benejam Vidal, Lluís
Ecologia d'aigua dolça
Freshwater ecology
Ecologia fluvial
Stream ecology
title_short Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
title_full Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
title_fullStr Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
title_full_unstemmed Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
title_sort Assessing effects of water abstraction on fish assemblages in Mediterranean streams
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Benejam Vidal, Lluís
Angermeier, Paul L.
Munné, Antoni
García-Berthou, Emili
author Benejam Vidal, Lluís
author_facet Benejam Vidal, Lluís
Angermeier, Paul L.
Munné, Antoni
García-Berthou, Emili
author_role author
author2 Angermeier, Paul L.
Munné, Antoni
García-Berthou, Emili
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Espanya)
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ecologia d'aigua dolça
Freshwater ecology
Ecologia fluvial
Stream ecology
topic Ecologia d'aigua dolça
Freshwater ecology
Ecologia fluvial
Stream ecology
description Water abstraction strongly affects streams in arid and semiarid ecosystems, particularly where there is a Mediterranean climate. Excessive abstraction reduces the availability of water for human uses downstream and impairs the capacity of streams to support native biota. We investigated the flow regime and related variables in six river basins of the Iberian Peninsula and show that they have been strongly altered, with declining flows (autoregressive models) and groundwater levels during the 20th century. These streams had lower flows and more frequent droughts than predicted by the official hydrological model used in this region. Three of these rivers were sometimes dry, whereas there were predicted by the model to be permanently flowing. Meanwhile, there has been no decrease in annual precipitation. We also investigated the fish assemblage of a stream in one of these river basins (Tordera) for 6 years and show that sites more affected by water abstraction display significant differences in four fish metrics (catch per unit effort, number of benthic species, number of intolerant species and proportional abundance of intolerant individuals) commonly used to assess the biotic condition of streams. We discuss the utility of these metrics in assessing impacts of water abstraction and point out the need for detailed characterisation of the natural flow regime (and hence drought events) prior to the application of biotic indices in streams severely affected by water abstraction. In particular, in cases of artificially dry streams, it is more appropriate for regulatory agencies to assign index scores that reflect biotic degradation than to assign 'missing' scores, as is presently customary in assessments of Iberian streams
publishDate 2010
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2010
info
info
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10256/12384
http://hdl.handle.net/10256/12384
url http://hdl.handle.net/10256/12384
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2009.02299.x
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0046-5070
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1365-2427
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MEC//CGL2006-11652-C02-01
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv Tots els drets reservats
info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Tots els drets reservats
eu_rights_str_mv embargoedAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv © Freshwater Biology, 2010, vol. 55, p. 628-642
Articles publicats (D-CCAA)
reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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