A Metacommunity Approach to Improve Biological Assessments in Highly Dynamic Freshwater Ecosystems

Rapid shifts in biotic communities due to environmental variability challenge the detection of anthropogenic impacts by current biomonitoring programs. Metacommunity ecology has the potential to inform such programs, because it combines dispersal processes with niche-based approaches and recognizes...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cid Puey, Núria, Bonada i Caparrós, Núria, Heino, Jani, Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel, Crabot, Julie, Sarremejane, Romain, Soininen, Janne, Stubbington, Rachel, Datry, Thibault
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/172545
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/172545
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Canvi climàtic
Biologia d'aigua dolça
Ecosistemes
Climatic change
Freshwater biology
Biotic communities
Descripción
Sumario:Rapid shifts in biotic communities due to environmental variability challenge the detection of anthropogenic impacts by current biomonitoring programs. Metacommunity ecology has the potential to inform such programs, because it combines dispersal processes with niche-based approaches and recognizes variability in community composition. Using intermittent rivers prevalent and highly dynamic ecosystems that sometimes dry we develop a conceptual model to illustrate how dispersal limitation and flow intermittence influence the performance of biological indices. We produce a methodological framework integrating physical- and organismal-based dispersal measurements into predictive modeling, to inform development of dynamic ecological quality assessments. Such metacommunity-based approaches could be extended to other ecosystems and are required to underpin our capacity to monitor and protect ecosystems threatened under future environmental changes.