Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain

Agricultural intensification during the last century has caused river degradation across Europe. From the wide range of stressors derived from agricultural activities that impact rivers, diffuse agricultural pollution has received most of the attention from managers and scientists. The aim of this s...

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Authors: Ladrera, Rubén, Belmar, Oscar, Tomás, Rafael, Prat i Fornells, Narcís, Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2019
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/146972
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/146972
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Agricultura
Ebre, Conca de l'
Cursos d'aigua
Agriculture
Ebro River Watershead
Rivers
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spelling Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern SpainLadrera, RubénBelmar, OscarTomás, RafaelPrat i Fornells, NarcísCañedo-Argüelles, MiguelAgriculturaEbre, Conca de l'Cursos d'aiguaAgricultureEbro River WatersheadRiversAgricultural intensification during the last century has caused river degradation across Europe. From the wide range of stressors derived from agricultural activities that impact rivers, diffuse agricultural pollution has received most of the attention from managers and scientists. The aim of this study was to determine the main stressors exerted by intensive agriculture on streams around Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), which are areas of land that drain into waters polluted by nitrates according to the European Nitrate Directive (91/676/EEC). The study area was located in the NW of La Rioja (Northern Spain), which has some of the highest nitrate concentrations within the Ebro basin. The relationships between 40 environmental variables and the taxonomic and functional characteristics of the macroinvertebrate assemblages (which are useful indicators of water quality) were analyzed in 11 stream reaches differentially affected by upstream agricultural activity. The streams affected by a greater percentage of agricultural land cover in the surrounding catchment had significantly higher nitrate concentrations than the remaining sites. However, hydromorphological alteration (i.e. channel simplification, riparian forest and habitat degradation), which is closely linked to agricultural practices, was the main factor affecting macroinvertebrate assemblages. We suggest that 'good agricultural practices' should be implemented in streams affected by NVZs to reverse stream degradation, in concordance with the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).Public Library of Science (PLoS)2019201920192019info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion17 p.application/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/146972Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218582PLoS One, 2019, vol. 14, num. 11, p. e0218582https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218582cc-by (c) Ladrera, Rubén et al., 2019http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:2445/1469722026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
title Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
spellingShingle Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
Ladrera, Rubén
Agricultura
Ebre, Conca de l'
Cursos d'aigua
Agriculture
Ebro River Watershead
Rivers
title_short Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
title_full Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
title_fullStr Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
title_full_unstemmed Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
title_sort Agricultural impacts on streams near Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: a case study in the Ebro basin, Northern Spain
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Ladrera, Rubén
Belmar, Oscar
Tomás, Rafael
Prat i Fornells, Narcís
Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel
author Ladrera, Rubén
author_facet Ladrera, Rubén
Belmar, Oscar
Tomás, Rafael
Prat i Fornells, Narcís
Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel
author_role author
author2 Belmar, Oscar
Tomás, Rafael
Prat i Fornells, Narcís
Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Agricultura
Ebre, Conca de l'
Cursos d'aigua
Agriculture
Ebro River Watershead
Rivers
topic Agricultura
Ebre, Conca de l'
Cursos d'aigua
Agriculture
Ebro River Watershead
Rivers
description Agricultural intensification during the last century has caused river degradation across Europe. From the wide range of stressors derived from agricultural activities that impact rivers, diffuse agricultural pollution has received most of the attention from managers and scientists. The aim of this study was to determine the main stressors exerted by intensive agriculture on streams around Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), which are areas of land that drain into waters polluted by nitrates according to the European Nitrate Directive (91/676/EEC). The study area was located in the NW of La Rioja (Northern Spain), which has some of the highest nitrate concentrations within the Ebro basin. The relationships between 40 environmental variables and the taxonomic and functional characteristics of the macroinvertebrate assemblages (which are useful indicators of water quality) were analyzed in 11 stream reaches differentially affected by upstream agricultural activity. The streams affected by a greater percentage of agricultural land cover in the surrounding catchment had significantly higher nitrate concentrations than the remaining sites. However, hydromorphological alteration (i.e. channel simplification, riparian forest and habitat degradation), which is closely linked to agricultural practices, was the main factor affecting macroinvertebrate assemblages. We suggest that 'good agricultural practices' should be implemented in streams affected by NVZs to reverse stream degradation, in concordance with the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).
publishDate 2019
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2019
2019
2019
2019
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 https://hdl.handle.net/2445/146972
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/146972
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218582
PLoS One, 2019, vol. 14, num. 11, p. e0218582
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218582
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) Ladrera, Rubén et al., 2019
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) Ladrera, Rubén et al., 2019
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 17 p.
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Public Library of Science (PLoS)
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)
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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score 15,811543

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