scholarly journals Assessing Spatial Distribution of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities Associated with Surrounding Land Cover and Water Quality

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (23) ◽  
pp. 5162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Kyun Kim ◽  
Hyunbin Jo ◽  
Kiyun Park ◽  
Ihn-Sil Kwak
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrates ◽  
Benthic Community ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Ambient Water ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
The Impact

The study aims to assess the spatial distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in response to the surrounding environmental factors related to land use and water quality. A total of 124 sites were surveyed at the Seomjin River basin in May and September 2017, respectively. We evaluated the abundance and composition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities based on nine subwatersheds. Subsequently, we compared the benthic information with the corresponding land use and water quality. To comprehensively explore the spatiotemporal distinction of benthic macroinvertebrate communities associated with those ambient conditions, we applied canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The CCA results explicitly accounted for 61% of the explanatory variability; the first axis (45.5%) was related to land-use factors, and the second axis (15.5%) was related to water quality. As a result, the groups of benthic communities were distinctly characterized in relation to these two factors. It was found that land-use information is primarily an efficient proxy of ambient water quality conditions to determine benthic macroinvertebrates, such as Asellus spp., Gammarus spp., and Simulium spp. in a stream ecosystem. We also found that specific benthic families or genera within the same groups (Coleoptera, Diptera, Ephemeroptera, and Trichoptera) are also differentiated from ambient water quality changes as a secondary component. In particular, the latter pattern appeared to be closely associated with the impact of summer rainfall on the benthic community changes. Our study sheds light upon projecting benthic community structure in response to changes of land use and water quality. Finally, we conclude that easily accessible information, such as land-use data, aids in effectively characterizing the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates, and thus enables us to rapidly assess stream health and integrity.

scholarly journals Assessment of disturbance at three spatial scales in two large tropical reservoirs

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Letícia Morais ◽  
Bárbara De Oliveira Sanches ◽  
Gilmar B. Santos ◽  
Philip R. Kaufmann ◽  
Robert M. Hughes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrates ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Sampling Station ◽  
Physical Habitat ◽  
Benthic Assemblages ◽  
Disturbance Index ◽  
Tropical Reservoirs

<p>Large reservoirs are an increasingly common feature across tropical landscapes because of their importance for water supply, flood control and hydropower, but their ecological conditions are infrequently evaluated. Our objective was to assess the range of disturbances for two large tropical reservoirs and their influences on benthic macroinvertebrates. We tested three hypotheses: i) a wide variation in the level of environmental disturbance can be observed among sites in the reservoirs; ii) the two reservoirs would exhibit a different degree of disturbance level; and iii) the magnitude of disturbance would influence the structure and composition of benthic assemblages. For each reservoir, we assessed land use (macroscale), physical habitat structure (mesoscale), and water quality (microscale). We sampled 40 sites in the littoral zones of both Três Marias and São Simão Reservoirs (Minas Gerais, Brazil). At the macroscale, we measured cover percentages of land use categories in buffer areas at each site, where each buffer was a circular arc of 250 m. At the mesoscale, we assessed the presence of human disturbances in the riparian and drawdown zones at the local (site) scale. At the microscale, we assessed water quality at each macroinvertebrate sampling station using the Micro Disturbance Index (MDI). To evaluate anthropogenic disturbance of each site, we calculated an integrated disturbance index (IDI) from a buffer disturbance index (BDI) and a local disturbance index (LDI). For each site, we calculated richness and abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates, Chironomidae genera richness, abundance and percent Chironomidae individuals, abundance and percent EPT individuals, richness and percent EPT taxa, abundance and percent resistant individuals, and abundance and percent non-native individuals. We also evaluated the influence of disturbance on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages at the entire-reservoir scale. The BDI, LDI and IDI had significantly greater average scores at São Simão than at Três Marias Reservoir. The significantly greater differences in IDI scores for São Simão Reservoir were reflected in 10 of the 13 Ekman-Birge dredge biotic metrics and in 5 of 13 of the kick-net biotic metrics. We also observed clear ranges of disturbances within both reservoirs at macro (BDI) and mesoscales (LDI) and in water quality, but an insignificant range in MDI results. However, we found no significant relationship between the benthic macroinvertebrate metrics and the BDI, LDI, and IDI among sites within a single reservoir. Hence, we believe that benthic macroinvertebrate distributions in those reservoirs were influenced by other factors or that reservoir macroinvertebrates (dominated by chironomids) were poor indicators of disturbance at the site scale.</p>

scholarly journals Structure of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in the Rivers of Western Himalaya, Nepal

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Ram Devi Tachamo Shah ◽  
Subodh Sharma ◽  
Deep Narayan Shah ◽  
Deepak Rijal
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrates ◽  
Western Himalaya ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
River Systems ◽  
River Continuum ◽  
River Types

According to River Continuum Concept (RCC), channel morphology, including sediment loads and channel width, river habitat, flow regimes and water quality, differs from the tributary to the downstream river’s mainstem, allowing shifts in faunal composition from dominance of shredders to collectors downstream, respectively. Tributaries are responsible for contributing organic carbons, nutrients and water. However, such knowledge is still limited in the monsoon-dominated river systems of the Himalaya. The study was conducted in the river’s mainstem and tributaries of the Karnali River Basin, which are glacier and spring-fed river systems, respectively, in the western Himalaya, Nepal. A total of 38 river stretches in the river’s mainstem and tributaries were sampled during post-monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons in the years 2018 and 2019. Water quality parameters, such as pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity and hardness, and the benthic macroinvertebrates were studied. Ten subsamples of benthic macroinvertebrates were collected following the multi-habitat sampling approach at each site. High taxa richness was recorded in tributaries compared to the river’s mainstem while abundance was similar between river types. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) formed two distinct groups, reflecting high similarities in benthic macroinvertebrate composition within the tributaries and river’s mainstem rather than between river types. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated water temperature and pH as major environmental predictors for benthic macroinvertebrate variability between river types. Therefore, river type-based conservation efforts that account for upstream–downstream linkages of aquatic biota and resources in freshwater ecosystems can ensure the ecological integrity of the whole river basin.

scholarly journals Evaluasi Rehabilitasi Riparian Sungai Ranggeh dengan Indikator Komunitas Makrozoobenthos

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Jojok Sudarso ◽  
Imroatushshoolikhah ◽  
Aiman Ibrahim ◽  
Siti Aisyah ◽  
Laela Sari
Keyword(s):  
Benthic Macroinvertebrates ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Riparian Habitat ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Sampling Area ◽  
Biological Metrics ◽  
Habitat Rehabilitation ◽  
Conductivity Parameter ◽  
The Impact

<strong>Evaluation of Riparian Rehabilitation in River River Usingthe Macrozoobenthos Community Indicator. </strong>Macrozoobenthos organism is one of aquatic biota which is often used to assess the ecosystems health of river.The evaluation of riparian habitat rehabilitation using benthic macroinvertebrates has been commonly used in many countries. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the impact of Ranggeh river riparian rehabilitation and to determine environmental parameters that influenced benthic macroinvertebrate communities in Ranggeh River. This research was conductedfrom February to September 2019. Benthic macroinvertebrate Benthic macroinvertebrates, river, evaluation, EPT, rehabilitationsamples were collected using Hess Sampler in a sampling area of 0.2 m<sup>2</sup>. This evaluation was carried out after two months since the rehabilitation of riparian habitat completed. The results show that rehabilitation of the riparian habitat has changed the community, in the aspects of biological metrics of taxa number, abundance, and taxa numbersof Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT). Furthermore, the taxa number and EPT metrics increased after habitat rehabilitation, however the abundance decreased slightly. In addition, the taxa number metric was positively correlated with conductivity parameter (r = 0.8), but negatively correlatedto turbidity (r = -0.91) and pH (r = -0.77). Meanwhile, the EPT metric was negatively correlated with turbidity parameters (r = -0.76) and  %<em>embeddedness</em> (r = -0.94). The total abundance metric was not sensitive to the parameters measured in this study. Meanwhile, biological metrics for taxa number and EPT can be used to assess rehabilitation success of river ecosystem habitats

scholarly journals Assessment of the Impact of Small Hydropower Plants on the Ecological Status Indicators of Water Bodies: A Case Study in Lithuania

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 433
Author(s):  
Laima Česonienė ◽  
Midona Dapkienė ◽  
Petras Punys
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrates ◽  
Suspended Solids ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Fish Abundance ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
The Impact

Hydropower plants produce renewable and sustainable energy but affect the river’s physico-chemical characteristics and change the abundance and composition of the aquatic organisms. The impact of large HPPs on the ecological conditions of surface water bodies have been extensively studied, but less attention has been paid to environmental impact studies of small hydropower plants (SHPs). The impact of hydropeaking on both the river flow regime and ecosystems has been well-studied for peaking mode plants, mainly medium to large-sized ones. However, for small hydroelectric power plants, and especially for those in lowland rivers, the available information on water quality, benthic macroinvertebrates communities and fish abundance, and biomass is not sufficient. Ten small hydropower plants were selected, and the ecological status of water bodies was assessed in different parts of Lithuania. The studies were performed at the riverbed upstream from the SHPs, where the hydrological regime has not changed, and downstream from the SHPs. It was found that the small hydropower plants do not affect the physico-chemical values of the water quality indicators. This study demonstrated that the total number of benthic macroinvertebrates taxa (TS) is influenced by the concentration of nitrogen and suspended solids, the water flow, the river area, and the current speed; the number of EPT (Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Plecoptera (stoneflies), and Trichoptera (caddisflies)) taxa is influenced by the concentration of nitrogen and suspended solids. The studied indicators do not have a significant impact on biomass. The SHPs affect the fish abundance and biomass. The Lithuanian fish index (LFI) is influenced by the average depth and area of the river. Some SHPs operating in lowland areas may yield somewhat significant hydrograph ramping but more detailed investigation is needed to support the significance of this impact on the biological indices.

scholarly journals Relating Land Use/Cover and Landscape Pattern to the Water Quality under the Simulation of SWAT in a Reservoir Basin, Southeast China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 11067
Author(s):  
Kaige Lei ◽  
Yifan Wu ◽  
Feng Li ◽  
Jiayu Yang ◽  
Mingtao Xiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Buffer Size ◽  
Construction Land ◽  
Drinking Water Standard ◽  
Reservoir Basin ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cover Pattern

Understanding the relationship between land use/cover pattern and water quality could provide guidelines for non-point source pollution and facilitate sustainable development. The previous studies mainly relate the land use/cover of the entire region to the water quality at the monitoring sites, but the water quality at monitoring sites did not totally reflect the water environment of the entire basin. In this study, the land use/cover was monitored on Google Earth Engine in Tang-Pu Reservoir basin, China. In order to reflect the water quality of the whole study area, the spatial distribution of the determinants for water quality there, i.e., the total nitrogen and total phosphorus (TN&TP), were simulated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The redundancy analysis explored the correlations between land use/cover pattern and simulated TN&TP. The results showed that: (1) From 2009 to 2019, forest was the dominant land cover, and there was little land use/cover change. The landscape fragmentation increased, and the connectivity decreased. (2) About 25% TP concentrations and nearly all the TN concentrations at the monitoring points did not reach drinking water standard, which means nitrogen and phosphorus pollution were the most serious problems. The highest output per unit TN&TP simulated by SWAT were 44.50 kg/hm2 and 9.51 kg/hm2 and occurred in areas with highly fragile landscape patterns. (3) TN&TP correlated positively with cultivated and construction land but negatively with forest. The correlation between forest and TN&TP summited at 500–700-m buffer and construction land at 100-m buffer. As the buffer size increased, the correlation between the cultivated land, and the TN weakened, while the correlation with the TP increased. TN&TP correlated positively with the Shannon’s Diversity Index and negatively with the Contagion Index. This study provides a new perspective for exporting the impact of land use/cover pattern on water quality.

scholarly journals Land use influences stream bacterial communities in lowland tropical watersheds

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina A. Chavarria ◽  
Kristin Saltonstall ◽  
Jorge Vinda ◽  
Jorge Batista ◽  
Megan Lindmark ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Stream Water ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Forested Catchments ◽  
Unifrac Distance ◽  
Cattle Pasture ◽  
The Impact

AbstractLand use is known to affect water quality yet the impact it has on aquatic microbial communities in tropical systems is poorly understood. We used 16S metabarcoding to assess the impact of land use on bacterial communities in the water column of four streams in central Panama. Each stream was influenced by a common Neotropical land use: mature forest, secondary forest, silvopasture and traditional cattle pasture. Bacterial community diversity and composition were significantly influenced by nearby land uses. Streams bordered by forests had higher phylogenetic diversity (Faith’s PD) and similar community structure (based on weighted UniFrac distance), whereas the stream surrounded by traditional cattle pasture had lower diversity and unique bacterial communities. The silvopasture stream showed strong seasonal shifts, with communities similar to forested catchments during the wet seasons and cattle pasture during dry seasons. We demonstrate that natural forest regrowth and targeted management, such as maintaining and restoring riparian corridors, benefit stream-water microbiomes in tropical landscapes and can provide a rapid and efficient approach to balancing agricultural activities and water quality protection.

Response of benthic macroinvertebrate communities to El Niño related drought events in six upland streams in south-central Ontario

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 890-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Gilbert ◽  
Peter J Dillon ◽  
Keith M Somers ◽  
Ron A Reid ◽  
Lem Scott
Keyword(s):  
Relative Abundance ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
South Central ◽  
Effects Of Drought ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Impact

We examined the effects of extreme drought events on benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) community structure in six forested upland streams in south-central Ontario, Canada, during a 9-year period. Variation in the mean winter El Niño – Southern Oscillation Index was strongly correlated with drought conditions (zero flow days) in the study streams. Drought onset and duration varied among study streams and among years. Below-average precipitation coincided with the occurrence of drought, although it remains unclear if snowfall and rainfall contributed equally to the impact of decreased precipitation. Increased relative abundance of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) one year following drought and decreased relative abundance two years after drought indicated high resistance but poor resilience. In contrast, chironomids showed poor resistance and high resilience. Although these patterns were not consistent across all streams, temporal coherence among streams was found in percent EPT, percent chironomids, and percent dipterans, suggesting that drought acts as a disturbance mechanism that simplifies benthos community assemblages. Biocriteria developed from 22 nearby reference streams indicated that abnormal BMI communities occurred only after recurring episodes of drought, indicating that the effects of drought are cumulative. Headwater streams may prove to be sentinel ecosystems for monitoring the impacts of climate change.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Land Use Patterns on Water Quality in a Trans-Boundary River Basin in Northeast China Based on Eco-Functional Regionalization

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peixuan Cheng ◽  
Fansheng Meng ◽  
Yeyao Wang ◽  
Lingsong Zhang ◽  
Qi Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Flow Region ◽  
High Flow ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Degraded Water Quality

The relationships between land use patterns and water quality in trans-boundary watersheds remain elusive due to the heterogeneous natural environment. We assess the impact of land use patterns on water quality at different eco-functional regions in the Songhua River basin during two hydrological seasons in 2016. The partial least square regression indicated that agricultural activities associated with most water quality pollutants in the region with a relative higher runoff depth and lower altitude. Intensive grazing had negative impacts on water quality in plain areas with low runoff depth. Forest was related negatively with degraded water quality in mountainous high flow region. Patch density and edge density had major impacts on water quality contaminants especially in mountainous high flow region; Contagion was related with non-point source pollutants in mountainous normal flow region; landscape shape index was an effective indicator for anions in some eco-regions in high flow season; Shannon’s diversity index contributed to degraded water quality in each eco-region, indicating the variation of landscape heterogeneity influenced water quality regardless of natural environment. The results provide a regional based approach of identifying the impact of land use patterns on water quality in order to improve water pollution control and land use management.

scholarly journals Effect of Land Use Changes on Water Quality in an Ephemeral Coastal Plain: Khambhat City, Gujarat, India

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pankaj Kumar ◽  
Rajarshi Dasgupta ◽  
Brian Johnson ◽  
Chitresh Saraswat ◽  
Mrittika Basu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Barren Land ◽  
Bare Land ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Use Categories

Rapid changes in land use and land cover pattern have exerted an irreversible change on different natural resources, and water resources in particular, throughout the world. Khambhat City, located in the Western coastal plain of India, is witnessing a rapid expansion of human settlements, as well as agricultural and industrial activities. This development has led to a massive increase in groundwater use (the only source of potable water in the area), brought about significant changes to land management practices (e.g., increased fertilizer use), and resulted in much greater amounts of household and industrial waste. To better understand the impacts of this development on the local groundwater, this study investigated the relationship between groundwater quality change and land use change over the 2001–2011 period; a time during which rapid development occurred. Water quality measurements from 66 groundwater sampling wells were analyzed for the years 2001 and 2011, and two water quality indicators (NO3− and Cl− concentration) were mapped and correlated against the changes in land use. Our results indicated that the groundwater quality has deteriorated, with both nitrate (NO3−) and chloride (Cl−) levels being elevated significantly. Contour maps of NO3− and Cl− were compared with the land use maps for 2001 and 2011, respectively, to identify the impact of land use changes on water quality. Zonal statistics suggested that conversion from barren land to agricultural land had the most significant negative impact on water quality, demonstrating a positive correlation with accelerated levels of both NO3− and Cl−. The amount of influence of the different land use categories on NO3− increase was, in order, agriculture > bare land > lake > marshland > built-up > river. Whereas, for higher concentration of Cl− in the groundwater, the order of influence of the different land use categories was marshland > built-up > agriculture > bare land > lake > river. This study will help policy planners and decision makers to understand the trend of groundwater development and hence to take timely mitigation measures for its sustainable management.

scholarly journals Modelling Impacts of a Municipal Spatial Plan of Land-Use Changes on Surface Water Quality—Example from Goriška Brda in Slovenia

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matjaž Glavan ◽  
Sara Bele ◽  
Miha Curk ◽  
Marina Pintar
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Erosion Processes ◽  
Phosphorus Loads ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Spatial Plan

Intensive agriculture causes nutrient leaching and accelerates erosion processes, which threatens the good quality status of surface waters, as proposed by the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive. The purpose of this study was to define the impact of two alternative agricultural land-use change scenarios defined in a Municipal Spatial Plan on surface water quality by using the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model. As experimental area, we chose a small Kožbanjšček stream catchment (1464 ha) situated in the Goriška Brda region in Slovenia. The area, due to favorable conditions for vineyards, is facing increasing deforestation. The change of 66.3 ha of forests to vineyards would increase the sediment, nitrate, and phosphorus loads in the stream by 24.8%, 17.1%, and 10.7%, respectively. With the implementation of vegetative buffer strips as a mitigation measure of the current situation, we could reduce the sediment, nitrate, and phosphorus loads by 17.9%, 11.1%, and 3.1%, respectively, while a combination of the two land-use change scenarios would result in a slight increase of the above-mentioned loads, corresponding to 0.61%, 2.1%, and 6.6%, respectively, compared to the baseline situation. The results confirm that, as we can increase pollution levels with deforestation, we can also reduce water pollution by choosing proper types of land management measures.

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