Samuel J. Peterson, K. Glade, Andrew W. Hafs, D. Guelda, R. Koch
{"title":"Effects of Artificial Zebra Mussel Druses on Macroinvertebrate Communities and Benthic Carbon Accumulation","authors":"Samuel J. Peterson, K. Glade, Andrew W. Hafs, D. Guelda, R. Koch","doi":"10.1656/045.030.0305","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract - Dreissena polymorpha (Zebra Mussel) disrupt biological processes throughout aquatic ecosystems in which they are introduced, while simultaneously increasing benthic habitat complexity and food availability by forming druses on various substrates. Numerous studies have investigated the effects of infestation on benthic communities; however, because Zebra Mussels were already established within these systems, it is possible that results were influenced by ecosystem-wide changes in water clarity and suspended nutrient concentrations. In this study, we placed tiles with artificial Zebra Mussel druses in Lake Bemidji, which did not have a well-established Zebra Mussel population at that time, to investigate the effects of benthic habitat modification on macroinvertebrate communities and carbon accumulation. We used control (n = 0 druses) tiles as well as 3 treatment tiles—low (n = 247), medium (n = 428), or high (n = 610) number of individuals per tile—to examine how Zebra Mussel density affected macroinvertebrate communities and carbon accumulation. Macroinvertebrate abundance (ANOVA: P < 0.001) was higher on the treatments compared to the control tiles. However, macroinvertebrate density was highest on control tiles (one-way test: P = 0.002), and treatment did not influence overall community structure (NMDS: P = 0.111) or macroinvertebrate diversity (ANOVA: P = 0.630). Furthermore, organic matter ash-free dry mass (AFDM) density was highest on control tiles (one-way test: P = 0.021), while treatment did not influence invertebrate AFDM density (one-way test: P = 0.098). These results indicate that while macroinvertebrates are able to exploit the additional habitat provided by druses, biological processes such as water filtration, carbon transfer, and benthification facilitated by living Zebra Mussels were also likely crucial in restructuring benthic communities to the extent observed in previous studies.","PeriodicalId":49742,"journal":{"name":"Northeastern Naturalist","volume":"30 1","pages":"347 - 367"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Northeastern Naturalist","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1656/045.030.0305","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract - Dreissena polymorpha (Zebra Mussel) disrupt biological processes throughout aquatic ecosystems in which they are introduced, while simultaneously increasing benthic habitat complexity and food availability by forming druses on various substrates. Numerous studies have investigated the effects of infestation on benthic communities; however, because Zebra Mussels were already established within these systems, it is possible that results were influenced by ecosystem-wide changes in water clarity and suspended nutrient concentrations. In this study, we placed tiles with artificial Zebra Mussel druses in Lake Bemidji, which did not have a well-established Zebra Mussel population at that time, to investigate the effects of benthic habitat modification on macroinvertebrate communities and carbon accumulation. We used control (n = 0 druses) tiles as well as 3 treatment tiles—low (n = 247), medium (n = 428), or high (n = 610) number of individuals per tile—to examine how Zebra Mussel density affected macroinvertebrate communities and carbon accumulation. Macroinvertebrate abundance (ANOVA: P < 0.001) was higher on the treatments compared to the control tiles. However, macroinvertebrate density was highest on control tiles (one-way test: P = 0.002), and treatment did not influence overall community structure (NMDS: P = 0.111) or macroinvertebrate diversity (ANOVA: P = 0.630). Furthermore, organic matter ash-free dry mass (AFDM) density was highest on control tiles (one-way test: P = 0.021), while treatment did not influence invertebrate AFDM density (one-way test: P = 0.098). These results indicate that while macroinvertebrates are able to exploit the additional habitat provided by druses, biological processes such as water filtration, carbon transfer, and benthification facilitated by living Zebra Mussels were also likely crucial in restructuring benthic communities to the extent observed in previous studies.
期刊介绍:
The Northeastern Naturalist covers all aspects of the natural history sciences of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and the environments of the northeastern portion of North America, roughly bounded from Virginia to Missouri, north to Minnesota and Nunavut, east to Newfoundland, and south back to Virginia. Manuscripts based on field studies outside of this region that provide information on species within this region may be considered at the Editor’s discretion.
The journal welcomes manuscripts based on observations and research focused on the biology of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and communities as it relates to their life histories and their function within, use of, and adaptation to the environment and the habitats in which they are found, as well as on the ecology and conservation of species and habitats. Such studies may encompass measurements, surveys, and/or experiments in the field, under lab conditions, or utilizing museum and herbarium specimens. Subject areas include, but are not limited to, anatomy, behavior, biogeography, biology, conservation, evolution, ecology, genetics, parasitology, physiology, population biology, and taxonomy. Strict lab, modeling, and simulation studies on natural history aspects of the region, without any field component, will be considered for publication as long as the research has direct and clear significance to field naturalists and the manuscript discusses these implications.