Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams

Amphibians are declining worldwide due to a combination of stressors such as climate change, invasive species, habitat loss, pollution and emergent diseases. Although their losses are likely to have important ecological consequences on the structure and functioning of freshwater ecosystems, this iss...

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Authors: Alonso Blanco, Alberto, Monroy Zarzuelo, Silvia, Bosch, Jaime, Pérez Viñuela, Javier, Boyero González, María Luz
Format: article
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universidad del País Vasco
Repository:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/58606
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/58606
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:algae
Allogamus laureatus
Alytes obstetricans
chlorophyll
tadpoles
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spelling Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streamsAlonso Blanco, AlbertoMonroy Zarzuelo, SilviaBosch, JaimePérez Viñuela, JavierBoyero González, María LuzalgaeAllogamus laureatusAlytes obstetricanschlorophylltadpolesAmphibians are declining worldwide due to a combination of stressors such as climate change, invasive species, habitat loss, pollution and emergent diseases. Although their losses are likely to have important ecological consequences on the structure and functioning of freshwater ecosystems, this issue has been scarcely explored. We conducted an experiment in three montane streams-where primary production is the main source of energy and carbon-to assess the effects of amphibian disappearance (i.e. presence or absence of the common midwife toad Alytes obstetricans, a common species found in pools of these streams) on several aspects of ecosystem functioning and structure: periphyton biomass and chlorophyll a concentration, algal assemblage structure, and growth of macroinvertebrate grazers. We compared four types of experimental enclosures: (i) without macroinvertebrates or amphibians; (ii) with larvae of the caddisfly Allogamus laureatus; (iii) with A. obstetricans tadpoles; and (iv) with both A. laureatus larvae and A. obstetricans tadpoles. The absence of tadpoles increased periphyton biomass, but did not cause differences on inorganic sediment accrual. The algal assemblage had a higher diversity in the absence of tadpoles, and their characteristic taxa differed from the assemblages in presence of tadpoles. A. laureatus presented higher mass in presence of tadpoles; however, tadpole length was not affected by presence of macroinvertebrates. Our results suggest that presence of tadpoles is a driver of periphyton accrual and assemblage structure, acting as top-down control and with key potential consequences on the functioning of montane stream ecosystems.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER (BioLoss project, Ref. RTI2018-095023-B-I00 to L.B.) and the Basque Government (Ref. IT951-16 to the Stream Ecology Group at the UPV/EHU). A.A. was supported by UPV/EHU predoctoral fellowships.Wiley202220222022info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10810/58606reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigacióninstname:Universidad del País VascoInglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICIU/RTI2018-095023-B-I00/https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13818info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españaoai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/586062026-06-18T09:23:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
title Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
spellingShingle Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
Alonso Blanco, Alberto
algae
Allogamus laureatus
Alytes obstetricans
chlorophyll
tadpoles
title_short Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
title_full Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
title_fullStr Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
title_full_unstemmed Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
title_sort Amphibian loss alters periphyton structure and invertebrate growth in montane streams
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Alonso Blanco, Alberto
Monroy Zarzuelo, Silvia
Bosch, Jaime
Pérez Viñuela, Javier
Boyero González, María Luz
author Alonso Blanco, Alberto
author_facet Alonso Blanco, Alberto
Monroy Zarzuelo, Silvia
Bosch, Jaime
Pérez Viñuela, Javier
Boyero González, María Luz
author_role author
author2 Monroy Zarzuelo, Silvia
Bosch, Jaime
Pérez Viñuela, Javier
Boyero González, María Luz
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv algae
Allogamus laureatus
Alytes obstetricans
chlorophyll
tadpoles
topic algae
Allogamus laureatus
Alytes obstetricans
chlorophyll
tadpoles
description Amphibians are declining worldwide due to a combination of stressors such as climate change, invasive species, habitat loss, pollution and emergent diseases. Although their losses are likely to have important ecological consequences on the structure and functioning of freshwater ecosystems, this issue has been scarcely explored. We conducted an experiment in three montane streams-where primary production is the main source of energy and carbon-to assess the effects of amphibian disappearance (i.e. presence or absence of the common midwife toad Alytes obstetricans, a common species found in pools of these streams) on several aspects of ecosystem functioning and structure: periphyton biomass and chlorophyll a concentration, algal assemblage structure, and growth of macroinvertebrate grazers. We compared four types of experimental enclosures: (i) without macroinvertebrates or amphibians; (ii) with larvae of the caddisfly Allogamus laureatus; (iii) with A. obstetricans tadpoles; and (iv) with both A. laureatus larvae and A. obstetricans tadpoles. The absence of tadpoles increased periphyton biomass, but did not cause differences on inorganic sediment accrual. The algal assemblage had a higher diversity in the absence of tadpoles, and their characteristic taxa differed from the assemblages in presence of tadpoles. A. laureatus presented higher mass in presence of tadpoles; however, tadpole length was not affected by presence of macroinvertebrates. Our results suggest that presence of tadpoles is a driver of periphyton accrual and assemblage structure, acting as top-down control and with key potential consequences on the functioning of montane stream ecosystems.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2022
2022
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10810/58606
url http://hdl.handle.net/10810/58606
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICIU/RTI2018-095023-B-I00/
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13818
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
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 reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
instname:Universidad del País Vasco
instname_str Universidad del País Vasco
reponame_str Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
collection Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,300724

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