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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2025 | Viewed by 10665

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Dr. Marcos Gomes Nogueira

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Instituto de Biociências (IBB), Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Campus de Botucatu, São Paulo, Brasil
Interests: plankton interactions; fish ecology; river ecology; estuarine ecology; hydropower reservoirs ecology; bioinvasion processes; microplastics contamination

Dr. Douglas Kane

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Guest Editor

Department of Biology and Environmental Science and Research Scientist, National Center for Water Quality Research, Heidelberg University, Tiffin, OH, USA
Interests: water quality; invasive species; aquatic community and ecosystem ecology; invertebrates

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The structure and functioning of marine and inland water ecosystems are highly dependent on living organisms. Biodiversity of any particular habitat emerges from the complex relationships among the organisms themselves and their interaction with physico-chemical factors. Biodiversity also reflects changes over long time periods. Estimates on the real amount of living species on Earth is controversial, but it is agreed that much life and many ecological interactions are yet to be discovered. Biodiversity assessment can inform different scientific approaches, such as conservation strategies and ecosystem management. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to collate papers that address the distinct spatial and temporal scales, from local to global, encompassing past and present processes of geological events, which affect aquatic ecosystems.

Dr. Marcos Gomes Nogueira
Dr. Douglas Kane
Guest Editors

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Keywords

aquatic ecosystem structure
aquatic ecosystem functioning
biodiversity assessment
taxonomic diversity
functional diversity
conservation strategies

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4567 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Correlations Between Spatiotemporal Variations in Phytoplankton Community Structure and Physicochemical Parameters in the Seungchon and Juksan Weirs

by Hyeonsu Chung, Misun Son, Taesung Kim, Jonghwan Park and Won-Seok Lee

Water 2024, 16(20), 2976; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16202976 - 18 Oct 2024

Viewed by 496

Abstract

The Yeongsan River is one of the four major rivers in South Korea. Since the construction of two weirs as part of the Four Major Rivers Project to secure water resources in 2011, issues with algal blooms have frequently arisen, prompting the Ministry of Environment of Korea to conduct continuous monitoring of water quality and algal outbreaks. This study, conducted between 2019 and 2023, examined the relationship between the phytoplankton community structure and physicochemical factors at the Seungchon and Juksan weirs. Phytoplankton were categorized into four groups (Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, and other phytoplankton), and 20 dominant genera were selected for analysis. As microalgal species vary depending on environmental conditions, understanding the specific relationships among the microalgae observed in the study area can help explain their occurrence mechanisms and contribute to the development of effective management strategies. Therefore, we used principal component analysis (PCA) to analyze the seasonal variation patterns of the four microalgal groups and visualize key data features through dimensionality reduction. Additionally, PCA was employed to identify and visualize environmental factors related to seasonal variations in phytoplankton communities. PCA helped elucidate how different environmental factors influence phytoplankton fluctuations across seasons. We used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) to investigate the relationships among the 20 dominant genera in each group and environmental factors. Additionally, CCA was used to analyze the relationship between the distribution of the top five dominant phytoplankton taxa in each group and various environmental factors. CCA allowed for a detailed examination of how these dominant taxa interact with environmental conditions. PCA revealed significant correlations between other phytoplankton and Chl-a in spring and Cyanophyceae and water temperature in summer. Bacillariophyceae was positively correlated with nitrogen-based nutrients but negatively with phosphate phosphorus (PO₄-P). CCA revealed significant correlations between dominant genera and environmental factors. Stephanodiscus sp. was associated with nitrogen-based nutrients, whereas Microcystis sp. and Dolichospermum sp. were associated with water temperature and PO₄-P. Stephanodiscus sp. affected water treatment through filtration and sedimentation issues, whereas Microcystis sp. and Dolichospermum sp. produced the toxin microcystin. These findings offer valuable insights for water quality management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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13 pages, 2635 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chironomid Pupal Exuviae Technique in Ecological Research of Man-Made Water Bodies

by Viktorija Ergović, Dubravka Čerba, Natalija Vučković and Zlatko Mihaljević

Water 2024, 16(20), 2917; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16202917 - 14 Oct 2024

Viewed by 495

Abstract

Reservoirs serve functional purposes such as irrigation and power generation. However, concerns are raised due to the alterations of the connected riverine ecosystems. Chironomidae (Diptera), a diverse aquatic macroinvertebrate group, are vital to the functioning of ecosystems and serve as water quality indicators. Their holometabolous development includes the pupal stage after four larval stages. The chironomid pupal skin (exuvia) is used in environmental assessments, where the Chironomid Pupal Exuvial Technique (CPET) is a recognized standard. The CPET method is adaptable to different freshwater environments and here was applied in the study of 28 man-made lakes in the Pannonian Lowlands and Dinaric Western Balkan Ecoregion in Croatia to obtain information on chironomid diversity and analyze the potential influence of environmental factors on the chironomid community. The lake surface was skimmed with an exuvial hand net (mesh size of 300 µm) along the lake edge with a transect length of 10 m in the area of accumulated debris of organic and inorganic matter. Individual exuviae were mounted in a Berlese mounting medium and identified by morphological characteristics to the lowest taxonomic level. During the study, 5698 chironomid pupal skins were collected, and 141 taxa (including 97 species) belonging to five subfamilies were identified. The tribe Tanytarsini comprised 40% of the identified taxa, with Paratanytarsus spp. being the most abundant. In the Dinaric ecoregion, Paratanytarsus bituberculatus dominated, while Microchironomus tener and the genus Cricotopus were the dominant taxa in the Pannonian ecoregion. Community structure in the Pannonian ecoregion was influenced by total organic carbon (TOC) and orthophosphates (PO₄³⁻), indicating higher anthropogenic pressure compared to the Dinaric ecoregion, where water conductivity influenced Chironomidae assemblages. The research has provided valuable and useful information on the chironomid diversity in man-made and highly altered water bodies, as some of the most vulnerable aquatic habitats to anthropogenic influence. The CPET method could be a useful tool for the ecological studies and bioassessment of water quality in Croatia. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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10 pages, 2515 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diversity and Ecological Functions of Fungal Communities in Tangchi Hot Spring in Lujiang (China)

by Feng-Qin Zhang, Jun Liu and Xiao-Ju Chen

Water 2024, 16(16), 2308; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16162308 - 16 Aug 2024

Viewed by 639

Abstract

Hot springs contain many microorganisms, and a great deal of research has been conducted on the bacteria in hot springs but less on the fungi. Microbial diversity research in hot springs will help to further develop and utilize the microbial resources from hot springs. This is the first study to analyze the fungal diversity and ecological functions in Tangchi hot spring (China). In this paper, the fungal ITS sequences in the water samples of Tangchi hot spring were sequenced by Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing technology and bioinformatically analyzed to explore the fungal diversity and ecological functions in the hot spring. The results revealed that the dominant fungal phylum was Ascomycota, followed by Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Olpidiomycota, and the dominant fungal genera were Rhizophydium, Aureobasidium, Rhodotorula, and Sclerotinia in Tangchi hot spring. The FUNGuild functional analysis results revealed that the dominant guilds in Tangchi hot spring were plant pathogens followed by the undefined saprotroph and the animal endosymbiont–animal pathogen–endophyte–plant pathogen–undefined saprotroph. This study can fill the gap in people’s understanding of fungal resources and offer theoretical support for understanding the fungal diversity and fungal resource development and utilization in Tangchi hot spring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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25 pages, 6162 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of the Divergent Influence of Natural and Non-Seasonal Hydrological Fluctuations on Functional Traits and Niche Characteristics of Plant Guilds along the Xiangxi River, China

by Xiaoling Li, Wenxiong Yi, Shaoting Xu, Di He, Qifeng Min, Gong Chen, Jin Yang, Danli Deng, Zhengjian Yang, Guiyun Huang, Meixiang Hu and Chen Ye

Water 2024, 16(13), 1808; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16131808 - 26 Jun 2024

Viewed by 1111

Abstract

The reservoir water level fluctuation zones (RWLFZs) and the natural riparian zones (NRZs) are two riparian ecosystems with dramatically opposite hydrological rhythms that notably influence the plant guilds. However, little is known about the discrepancies of the functional traits and niche characteristics of plant guilds in the RWLFZs and NRZs under different flooding rhythms. The aims of this study were to assess the divergent influence of natural and non-seasonal hydrological fluctuations on functional traits and niche characteristics of plant guilds. The results showed that 78 vascular plant species were identified in the riparian zones of the Xiangxi River basin. The dominant species were annuals in the two riparian ecosystems and their percentage increased temporally from 65.79% in the NRZs to 67.34% in the RWLFZs. Compared with the NRZs, the specific leaf area, vegetation coverage and the aboveground biomass in the RWLFZs significantly increased by 74%, 27% and 19.6%, respectively, while the water-use efficiency of the RWLFZ decreased by 59.6% and there was no significant difference in the net photosynthetic rate between them, which showed that annuals in the RWLFZs adopted the R adaptation strategy of being fast-growing with a short lifespan and quickly acquiring and investing resources by altering leaf morphology, including expanding the leaf area. The Simpson dominance index of RWLFZs was significantly higher than that of NRZ. Thus, counter-seasonally hydrological alterations had significant effects on functional traits of dominant species in the RWFLZs. Moreover, the highly adaptable and widely distributed species with larger niche breadths and high important values usually had a higher niche overlap value in the RWLFZs than in the NRZs, which showed that the competition in the plant communities after experiencing anti-seasonal flooding was much more intraspecific than interspecific and would facilitate the expansion of species niches. Our findings imply that the species with large niche breadths and high important values should be prioritized in ecological restoration efforts in the newly formed hydro-fluctuation zones of the TGR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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20 pages, 2759 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Excessive Eutrophication as a Chemical Barrier for Fish Fauna Dispersion: A Case Study in the Emblematic Tietê River (São Paulo, Brazil)

by Bruna Urbanski and Marcos Nogueira

Water 2024, 16(10), 1383; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16101383 - 13 May 2024

Viewed by 1120

Abstract

The Tietê River receives most of the effluents and diffuse wastes from the São Paulo metropolis (21.9 million inhabitants). The study aimed to assess the extent to which environmental changes affected the fish fauna. We compared, in rainy and dry seasons, three sites in Tietê and three in tributaries with much better water quality conditions. No physical barriers exist between the sites. Fish were sampled with gillnets (exposed overnight) and the assemblage’s ecological attributes calculated. Water depth, transparency, temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, total dissolved solids, pH, redox potential, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and chlorophyll were simultaneously determined. Low oxygen concentrations (near zero in the rainy period), and the opposite for nutrients and total solids, separated the predominantly hypereutrophic Tietê from the tributaries (PCA). Differences in the fish assemblages were also evidenced (nMDS), including a higher richness per sample in tributaries (11 to 14 spp.) compared to Tietê (3 to 4 spp.). Siluriformes with accessory breathing dominated in Tietê and the highly tolerant detritivorous Prochilodus lineatus (the main commercial fish) was the only species found in all sites. The species correlated positively with oxygen in the tributaries and with turbidity, redox potential, and nutrients in Tietê (DistLM) (rainy season). Recovery measures are urgently required. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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15 pages, 9766 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Macrobenthic Community Structure and Water Quality Evaluation in Ulungu River Basin (Northwest China)

by Yong Song, Qiang Huo, Fangze Zi, Jianmin Ge, Xuelian Qiu, Long Yun, Gulden Serekbol, Liting Yang, Baoqiang Wang and Sheng’ao Chen

Water 2024, 16(7), 918; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16070918 - 22 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1316

Abstract

In this study, the composition and structure of the macrobenthic community in the Ulungu River Basin was investigated and the water quality status of the basin was evaluated. In May and August 2022, and October 2023, the macrobenthic and water environmental factors at 11 sample sites in the basin were investigated, and the water quality of the basin was evaluated by the Shannon–Wiener index, FBI, and BMWP index. A total of 6101 macrobenthic organisms were collected; these organisms belonged to 3 phyla, 7 classes, 14 orders, 57 families, and 117 genera. Arthropod species accounted for the largest number of species (87.9%). A total of nine dominant species were found: Micronecta sp., Eukiefferiella sp., Baetis sp., Polypedilum sp., Saetheria sp., Ephemerella sp., Limnodrilus sp., Ephemera sp., and Hydropsyche sp. At the temporal level, the average density and biomass of macrobenthos were in the order of August > October > May; at the spatial level, the average density was greater in the tributaries than in the main stream, and the average biomass was greater in the main stream than in the tributaries. The mean values of the Shannon—Wiener index and Margalef richness index were as follows: August > October > May at the temporal level; the mean values of the Pielou evenness index were as follows: May > October > August at the temporal level. At the spatial level, the overall mean value of each diversity index indicated that the tributaries had larger diversity indices than the main stream. The water quality evaluation results revealed that the overall water quality level of the Ulungu River Basin ranges from light pollution to poor quality. Human interference activities greatly impact the water quality of the basin. To restore the ecology of the basin, it is necessary to strengthen the management and control of pollution sources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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14 pages, 2990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analyses of Morphological Differences between Geographically Distinct Populations of Gymnodiptychus dybowskii

by Linghui Hu, Na Yao, Chengxin Wang, Liting Yang, Gulden Serekbol, Bin Huo, Xuelian Qiu, Fangze Zi, Yong Song and Shengao Chen

Water 2024, 16(5), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16050755 - 1 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1059

Abstract

To study the morphological differences between and the evolutionary mechanisms driving the differentiation of geographically distinct populations of Gymnodiptychus dybowskii, 158 fish were collected from the Turks River and the Manas River in Xinjiang from 2020 to 2021 with the approval of the Academic Ethics Committee. The morphological characteristics of the fish were assessed using classical fish ecology methods such as traditional morphometric measurements and the framework approach. The results showed that the morphological characteristics of the populations in the Turks River and Manas River were significantly different; a one-way ANOVA revealed 22 highly significant differences (p < 0.01) and 1 significant difference (p < 0.05) among the 33 morphological traits of the observed populations, and a principal component analysis revealed that there was no overlap between the two populations of G. dybowskii. The main characteristics associated with principle component 1 were the terminus of the dorsal fin to the ventral origin of the caudal fin (D—F), the dorsal origin of the caudal fin to the origin of the anal fin (E—H), and the insertion of the pectoral fin to the terminus of the pectoral fin (J—K); the main factors associated with principal component 2 were the body height (BD), the terminus of the dorsal fin to the insertion of the pelvic fin (D—I), the caudal peduncle height (CPH), and the tip of the snout to the last end of the frontal maxilla (A—B); and the main traits associated with principle component 3 were the terminus of the anal fin to the origin of the anal fin (G—H), the body width (BW), the insertion of the pelvic fin to the terminus of the pelvic (I—L), the insertion of the pectoral fin to the terminus of the pectoral fin (J—K), and the insertion of the pelvic fin to the insertion of the pectoral fin (I—J). An OPLS-DA revealed that the two populations could be wholly separated and that the intergroup growth traits of the Manas River population were different and significantly greater than those of the Turks River population. The discriminant functions of the Turks River and Manas River populations of G. dybowskii were as follows: Y_T = −432.033 + 1787.748X₁ + 826.517X₂ + 249.002X₃ + 1183.050X₄ + 554.934X₅ + 999.296X₆ + 627.428X₇; Y_M = −569.819 + 2041.044X₁ + 344.942X₂ + 333.737X₃ + 940.512X₄ + 348.222X₅ + 1167.770X₆ + 1015.904X₇. According to a coefficient of variation analysis, a total of nine traits, namely, EI/BL, C-D/BL, E-F/BL, F-H/BL, H-I/BL, C-J/BL, D-I/BL, D-H/BL, and D-F/BL, had a CD > 1.28, indicating that the differences in these nine traits had reached the subspecies level. The results showed that G. dybowskii significantly differed between the two geographically distinct populations in the Turks River and the Manas River and have differentiated to the subspecies level. This study provides a basis for a better investigation of the population structure of highland endemic fishes and the mechanisms by which they diverged and lays a foundation for developing and utilizing germplasm resources from endemic fishes in Xinjiang. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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12 pages, 5159 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Use of Hydroacoustic Methods to Assess Ecological Status Based on Fish: A Case Study of Lake Dejguny (Poland)

by Andrzej Hutorowicz

Water 2024, 16(2), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16020282 - 13 Jan 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1097

Abstract

The idea of the article was to verify the thesis that acoustic studies of ichthyofauna in lakes provide sufficient information to determine the necessity (or lack thereof) of carrying out a full procedure for assessing the ecological status based on fish. The manuscript compares acoustic data collected in 2008 and 2021 in Lake Dejguny (Poland) as a result of acquisition carried out with the same EY-500 echosounder, on the same routes (transects), and the echogram analyses were carried out using software dedicated to this echosounder. Target strength (TS) distribution was determined in the lake and in individual water layers with a thickness of 2 m, as well as, using the mapping method, changes in the distribution of fish in selected water layers. Large changes in TS distribution in the vertical profile were demonstrated between both years of the study, as well as a clear reduction in the space available for fish in waters below 24 m in 2021, which was associated with a reduction in the concentration of dissolved oxygen below this depth to a value lower than 2.5 mg L⁻¹. It was suggested that it could be possible to develop a simple index enabling the assessment of changes in fish structure, based, similarly to the Large Fish Index, on the ratio of the number of large fish to small fish. The obtained results confirmed that the proposed methods of acoustic data analysis can be the basis for the decision on the necessity (or lack thereof) of conducting an assessment using the Polish national LFI-EN method based on the results of one-off fishing with Nordic multimesh gillnets. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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17 pages, 2723 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hydrology as a Determinant of Riparian Habitat Structure in Lowland River Floodplains

by Paweł Burandt, Mirosław Grzybowski, Katarzyna Glińska-Lewczuk, Wojciech Gotkiewicz, Monika Szymańska-Walkiewicz and Krystian Obolewski

Water 2024, 16(1), 164; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16010164 - 31 Dec 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1639

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between the structure of phytocenoses in riparian wetland ecosystems and the hydrologic regime in a lowland river floodplain. The hydrobotanical study was conducted over three years—2017, 2018, and 2019—which differed in hydrological conditions (wet, average, and dry) in a middle section of the Supraśl floodplain (NE Poland) as a case study. The results showed that the structure and pattern of phytocenoses in the floodplain are primarily controlled by the hydrological regime of the river and the geomorphological features of the area. The reach and duration of the flood contributed to a specific pattern of riparian vegetation. Based on the plant community structure and riparian habitat indicators such as soil moisture, fertility, reaction pH, soil granulometry, and organic matter content, four habitat types were identified and supported by linear discriminant analysis (LDA): wet, semi-wet, semi-dry, and dry zones. The indicator species analysis (ISA) revealed species characteristic of the zones with the dominance of reed rush, reed canary grass, anthropogenic or partially natural herbaceous communities along watercourses or riparian meadows, respectively. Natural inundation of the river water is an important driver of site-specific vegetation elements and habitat types and determines habitat availability, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions of wetlands. This knowledge can serve as the basis for conservation efforts, sustainable management practices, and decision-making processes aimed at maintaining the biodiversity and ecological integrity of riparian ecosystems in similar regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Conservation)

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