Noelia Gobel, Gabriel Laufer, Matías Arim, Iván González-Bergonzoni
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the context of the Anthropocene, it is crucial to understand how habitat degradation and species loss alter the structure and functioning of ecological communities. Using a pondscape within the Pampas Biome as a study model, we analysed the impact of agricultural intensification on the taxonomic and trophic assemblage of pond communities.
We sampled ponds in landscapes of natural grasslands, artificial grasslands, and crop fields. Using a multitrophic approach that included zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, fish, and amphibians, we evaluated taxonomic richness, assemblage abundance, and food web structure. The trophic niche structure, energy pathways, and network topology were inferred from stable isotopes and stomach content.
Ponds in crop fields exhibited lower species richness, with significant decreases in the abundance of tadpoles, fish, and predatory macroinvertebrates, and increases in scrapers and filter-feeding macroinvertebrates indicating a severe impact of agriculture. These ponds also showed more diversity in basal resources and trophic positions but reduced trophic redundancy. Although no changes in the relative importance of trophic pathways were detected, we observed fewer primary consumers subsidised by detritus in crop-affected systems. The ponds in artificial grassland exhibited fewer alterations than those in crop fields, where environmental disruption is greater.
This study shows how land use impacts aquatic ecosystems, leading to loss of biodiversity and functional disruptions, and underscores the vulnerability of certain species and interactions to agricultural intensification.
We highlight the urgent need for targeted management to mitigate these consequences for ecosystem resilience and services, safeguard biodiversity, and preserve ecosystem functions in agricultural landscapes.
期刊介绍:
Freshwater Biology publishes papers on all aspects of the ecology of inland waters, including rivers and lakes, ground waters, flood plains and other freshwater wetlands. We include studies of micro-organisms, algae, macrophytes, invertebrates, fish and other vertebrates, as well as those concerning whole systems and related physical and chemical aspects of the environment, provided that they have clear biological relevance.
Studies may focus at any level in the ecological hierarchy from physiological ecology and animal behaviour, through population dynamics and evolutionary genetics, to community interactions, biogeography and ecosystem functioning. They may also be at any scale: from microhabitat to landscape, and continental to global. Preference is given to research, whether meta-analytical, experimental, theoretical or descriptive, highlighting causal (ecological) mechanisms from which clearly stated hypotheses are derived. Manuscripts with an experimental or conceptual flavour are particularly welcome, as are those or which integrate laboratory and field work, and studies from less well researched areas of the world. Priority is given to submissions that are likely to interest a wide range of readers.
We encourage submission of papers well grounded in ecological theory that deal with issues related to the conservation and management of inland waters. Papers interpreting fundamental research in a way that makes clear its applied, strategic or socio-economic relevance are also welcome.
Review articles (FRESHWATER BIOLOGY REVIEWS) and discussion papers (OPINION) are also invited: these enable authors to publish high-quality material outside the constraints of standard research papers.