Benthic particulate organic matter across land use types in Patagonian mountain rivers (Chubut, Argentina)
Keywords:
leaf-packs, detritus, algae, clorophyll ‘a’, riparian vegetation, patagonian riversAbstract
Worldwide, there is a strong concern about how land use changes are affecting the ecological integrity of aquatic resources. In this paper, we examined the distribution of different items of benthic particulate organic matter and chlorophyll ‘a’ in 18 Patagonian mountain rivers subjected to different land use types: pastures, exotic pine plantations, urban, reference urban, managed native forest, and undisturbed native forest. Different items of detritus were obtained from samples in pools and riffles, whereas chlorophyll was quantified in runs. Coarse particulate organic matter was significantly higher in forested sites than in pasture sites. Particulate organic matter was rich in wood biomass and fragmented material in native forests, whereas managed native forest were rich in leaf biomass. Chlorophyll did not exhibit any consistent pattern among land use types. Bryophyte biomass was significantly higher in native forests, while macrophyte biomass was significantly higher in the urban land use. At the habitat scale, riffles supported higher leaf biomass and bryophytes than pools. Land use practices in Patagonia resulted in differences in the allochthonous detritus supply and the autotrophic production (bryophytes and macrophytes). The re-establishment of woody species and retention of patches of native forest in riparian corridors can ameliorate the lack of coarse particulate organic matter in rivers under pastoral development. The proper disposal of post harvest material from forest clearing and the restriction of livestock accesses to the channel will improve the ecological conditions of the banks as well as the in-stream habitat.
References
ABELHO, M & MAS GRAÇA. 1998. Litter in first- order stream of a temperate deciduous forest (Margaraça Forest, central Portugal). Hydrobiologia, 386:147-152.
BARBOUR, MT; J GERRITSEN; BD SNYDER & JB STRIBLING. 1999. Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Use in Streams and Wadeable Rivers: Periphyton, Benthic Macroinvertebrates and Fish. US EPA, Office of Water: Washington, D.C. USA.
BRAILLIE, BR & TR DAVIES. 2002. Influence of large woody debris on channel morphology in native forest and pine plantation in the Nelson region, New Zealand. New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh., 36:763-774.
BROWN, AV & PP BRUSSOCK. 1991. Comparation of benthic invertebrates between riffles and pools. Hydrobiologia, 220:99-108.
CABRERA, A & A WILLINK. 1980. Biogeografía de América Latina. Monografía N°13. Secretaría General de la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA). Washington D.C. USA.
CILLERO, C; I PARDO & ES LÓPEZ. 1999. Comparisons of riparian vs. over stream trap location in the estimation of vertical litterfall inputs. Hydrobiologia, 416:171-179.
COLLIER, KJ. 1995. Environmental factors affecting the taxonomic composition of aquatic maroinvertebrate communities in lowland waterways of Northland, New Zealand. New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh., 29:453-465.
COLLIER, KJ & MJ WINTERBOURN. 2000. New Zealand stream invertebrates: Ecology and implications for management. New Zealand Limnological Society. Pp. 414.
COLLIER, KJ; JS BRIAN & JM QUINN. 2000. Biodiversity of stream invertebrates faunas in a Waikato hill-country catchment in relation to land use. New Zealand Entomologist, 23:9-22.
COLLIER, KJ; JC RUTHERFORD; JM QUINN & RJ DAVIES-COLLEY. 2001. Forecasting rehabilitation outcomes for degraded New Zealand pastoral streams. Water Sci. Technol., 43:175-184.
CORONATO, FR & HF DEL VALLE. 1988. Caracterización hídrica de las cuencas hidrográficas de la provincia del Chubut. Publicación Técnica. CENPAT-CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina. Pp. 183.
DANGER, AR & BJ ROBSON. 2004. The effects of land use on leaf-litter processings by macroinvertebrates in an Australian temperate coastal stream. Aquat. Sci., 66:1-09.
DE GROOT, JD; SH HINCH & JS RICHARDSON. 2007. Effects of logging second-growth forest on headwater populations of coastal Cutthroat Trout: A 6-year, multistream before and after field experiment. T. Am. Fish. Soc., 136:211-226.
DWIRE, KA; J MONROE; H RHODES; MK DIXON & SE RYAN. 2005. Stream Characteristics and Aquatic Macroinvertebrates Following Wildland Fire in Western Wyoming. Spring Meeting 2005. American Geophysical Union.
FLORY, E & A MILNER. 1999. Influence of ribereñan vegetation on invertebrate assemblages in a recently formed stream in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 18(2):261-273.
GORDON, ND; TA MCMAHON & BL FINLAYSON. 1994. Stream hydrology, an introduction for ecologists. Wiley & Sons, New York. USA.
HAUER, FR & VH RESH. 1996. Benthic macroinvertebrates. Pp. 339-369 en Hauer, FR & GA Lamberti (eds.). Methods in Stream Ecology. Academic press, San Diego, California, USA.
KUTSCHKER, A; C BRAND & ML MISERENDINO. 2009. Evaluación de la calidad de los bosques de ribera en ríos del NO del Chubut sometidos a distintos usos de la tierra. Ecologia Austral, 19:19-34.
LUDWING, JA & JF REYNOLDS. 1988. Stadistical Ecology. Wiley-Interscience. Pp. 333.
MISERENDINO, ML. 2009. Effects of flow regulation, basin characteristics and land-use on macroinvertebrate communities in a large arid patagonian river. Biodiversity & Conservation, 8(7):1921-1943.
MISERENDINO, ML. 2005. Interacciones bosque río implicaciones para los ecosistemas acuáticos. Patagonia Forestal, XI(4):14-17.
MISERENDINO, ML & L PIZZOLÓN. 2003. Distribution of macroinvertebrate assemblages in the Azul-Quemquemtreu river basin, Patagonia, Argentina. New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh., 23(3):525-539.
MISERENDINO, ML; C BRAND & CY DI PRINZIO. 2008. Assessing urban impacts on water quality, benthic communities and fish in streams of the Andes Mountains, Patagonia (Argentina). Water Air and Soil Pollution, 194:91-110.
MOLLÁ, S; S ROBLES & C CASADO. 2006. Seasonal Variability of Particulate Organic Matter in a Mountain Stream in Central Spain. Internat. Rev. Hydrobiol., 91(5):406-422.
MORLEY, SA & RK JAMES. 2002. Assesing and Restoring the Health of Urban Streams in the Puget Sound Basin. Conserv. Biol., 16(6):1498-1509.
NEWBOLD, JD; DC ERMAN & KB ROBY. 1980. Effects of logging on macroinvertebrates in streams with and without buffer strips. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 37:1076-1085.
OSBORNE, LL & DA KOVACIC. 1993. Riparian vegetated buffer strips in water-quality restoration and stream management. Freshwater Biol., 29:243-258.
QUINN, JM & W LINKLATER. 1993. Effects of silvicultural and agricultural land use practices on stream habitat and invertebrates in the Kinleith area. Consultancy report PPL 053/2. NIWA, Hamilton.
RILEY, R; CR TOWSEND; DK NIYOGI; CA ARBUCKLE & KA PEACOCK. 2003. Headwater stream response to grassland agricultural development in New Zealand. New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh., 37:389-403.
SCARSBROOK, MR & J HALLIDAY. 1999. Transition from pasture to native forest land-use along stream continua: effects on stream ecosystems and implications for restoration. New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh., 33:293-310.
SCARSBROOK, MR; J QUINN; JM HALLIDAY & R MORSE. 2001. Factors controlling litter input dynamics in streams draining pasture, pine, and native forest catchments. New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh., 35:751-762.
SCRIMGEOUR, GJ & S KENDALL. 2003. Effects of livestock grazing on benthic invertebrates from a native grassland ecosystem. Freshwater Bio. 48:347-362.
SOKAL, RR & FJ ROHLF. 1995. Biometry. 3rd Edition, W.H. Freeman and Company. New York. USA.
SUREN, AM. 1993. The effects of urbanization on the invertebrate fauna of the Avon and Heathcote Rivers. New Zealand freshwater miscellaneous report. 36. NIWA, Christchurch. Nueva Zelanda.
TEMPORETTI, PF. 2006. Efecto a largo plazo de los incendios forestales en la calidad del agua de dos arroyos en la subregión Andino-Patagónica, Argentina. Ecología Austral, 16(2):157-166.
THOMPSON, RM & CR TOWSEND. 2004. Land-use influences on New Zealand stream communities effects on species composition, functional organization, and food-web structure. New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh., 38:595-608.
VELÁSQUEZ, SM & ML MISERENDINO. 2003a. Análisis de la materia orgánica alóctona y organización funcional de macroinvertebrados en relación con el tipo de hábitat en ríos de montaña de Patagonia. Ecología Austral, 13:67-82.
VELÁSQUEZ, SM & ML MISERENDINO. 2003b. Habitat type and macroinvertebrate assemblages in low order Patagonian streams. Archiv fur Hydrobiologie, 158(4):461-483.
VOELZ, NJ & J WARD. 1990. Macroinvertebrate responses along a complex regulated stream environmental gradient. Regul. River. Res. & Manage., 5:365-374.
WARD, JV. 1989. The four dimensional nature of lotic ecosystems. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 8(1):2-8.
WETZEL, RG & GE LIKENS. 1991. Limnological analysis. 2nd ed. Springer-Verlang, New York. USA.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2009 Carolina Isabel Masi, María Laura Miserendino
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authors retain their rights as follows: 1) by granting the journal the right to its first publication, and 2) by registering the published article with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which allows authors and third parties to view and use it as long as they clearly mention its origin (citation or reference, including authorship and first publication in this journal). Authors can make other non-exclusive distribution agreements as long as they clearly indicate their origin and are encouraged to widely share and disseminate the published version of their work.
