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Combining taxonomic and functional approaches to assess land-use impacts on macroinvertebrate assemblages and improve bioindication
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  • Paz L. E.,
  • Rodriguez Marianela,
  • Alberto Rodrigues- Capitulo,
  • Spaccesi F.,
  • Laura Armendariz,
  • Agustina Cortelezzi
Paz L. E.
Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Rodriguez Marianela
Universidad Nacional de Entre Rios
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Alberto Rodrigues- Capitulo
Instituto de Limnologia Dr Raul a Ringuelet
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Spaccesi F.
Instituto de Limnologia Dr Raul a Ringuelet
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Laura Armendariz
Instituto de Limnologia Dr Raul a Ringuelet
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Agustina Cortelezzi
Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
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Abstract

Most studies exploring land use impacts have focused on taxonomic metrics, but interest in the functional approach has increased because it helps to understand the relationships between community structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. We evaluated how functional and taxonomic approaches contribute to assessing the effects of land use on macroinvertebrate assemblages of lowland streams. We also studied the relationships between both approaches. We sampled benthic macroinvertebrates in 17 sites with different land uses (agricultural, peri-urban, and extensive livestock). We computed the taxonomic metrics and biotic indexes as well as functional richness (FRic), divergence (FDiv), dispersion (FDis), and Rao diversity indexes for each site. We performed general linear mixed models to compare land-uses and also performed correlation analysis between taxonomic and functional indexes. Taxonomic richness was significantly higher in extensive livestock than in the other two land uses, while Shannon diversity was significantly different between land uses (extensive livestock>peri-urban>agriculture). FRic and FDiv were significantly lower in peri-urban land use than in agricultural and extensive livestock sites. Only taxonomic richness showed a significant and positive relationship with FRic, FDis, and Rao, but they fit better to a logarithmic function. Therefore, an increase in taxonomic richness and Shannon diversity did not necessarily imply an increase in the functional aspects of the macroinvertebrate assemblage. Using only one of these approaches could lead to partial evaluations and loss of information. Combining them could improve bioindication and predictive potential and help assess the effects of multiple stressors on freshwater ecosystems to improve biomonitoring.
20 Sep 2022Submitted to River Research and Applications
23 Sep 2022Submission Checks Completed
23 Sep 2022Assigned to Editor
26 Sep 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
03 Oct 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
21 Feb 20231st Revision Received
21 Feb 2023Assigned to Editor
21 Feb 2023Submission Checks Completed
21 Feb 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Feb 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
03 Apr 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Major
21 Apr 20232nd Revision Received
21 Apr 2023Submission Checks Completed
21 Apr 2023Assigned to Editor
21 Apr 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
21 Apr 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
25 Apr 20233rd Revision Received
25 Apr 2023Assigned to Editor
25 Apr 2023Submission Checks Completed
25 Apr 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
01 May 2023Editorial Decision: Accept