Multi-decadal improvements in the ecological quality of European rivers are not consistently reflected in biodiversity metrics

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Sinclair, J.S., Welti, E.A.R., Altermatt, F., Álvarez-Cabria, M., Aroviita, J., Baker, N.J., Barešová, L., Barquín, J., Bonacina, L., Bonada, N., Cañedo-Argüelles, M., Csabai, Z., de Eyto, E., Dohet, A., Dörflinger, G., Eriksen, T.E., Evtimova, V., Feio, M.J., Ferréol, M., Floury, M., Forio, M.A.E., Fornaroli, R., Goethals, P.L.M., Heino, J., Hering, D., Huttunen, K.-L., Jähnig, S.C., Johnson, R.K., Kuglerová, L., Kupilas, B., L’Hoste, L., Larrañaga, A., Leitner, P., Lorenz, A.W., McKie, B.G., Muotka, T., Osadčaja, D., Paavola, R., Palinauskas, V., Pařil, P., Pilotto, F., Polášek, M., Rasmussen, J.J., Schäfer, R.B., Schmidt-Kloiber, A., Scotti, A., Skuja, A., Straka, M., Stubbington, R. ORCID: 0000-0001-8475-5109, Timm, H., Tyufekchieva, V., Tziortzis, I., Vannevel, R., Várbíró, G., Velle, G., Verdonschot, R.C.M., Vray, S. and Haase, P., 2024. Multi-decadal improvements in the ecological quality of European rivers are not consistently reflected in biodiversity metrics. Nature Ecology and Evolution. ISSN 2397-334X

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02305-4

Abstract

Humans impact terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, yet many broad-scale studies have found no systematic, negative biodiversity changes (for example, decreasing abundance or taxon richness). Here we show that mixed biodiversity responses may arise because community metrics show variable responses to anthropogenic impacts across broad spatial scales. We first quantified temporal trends in anthropogenic impacts for 1,365 riverine invertebrate communities from 23 European countries, based on similarity to least-impacted reference communities. Reference comparisons provide necessary, but often missing, baselines for evaluating whether communities are negatively impacted or have improved (less or more similar, respectively). We then determined whether changing impacts were consistently reflected in metrics of community abundance, taxon richness, evenness and composition. Invertebrate communities improved, that is, became more similar to reference conditions, from 1992 until the 2010s, after which improvements plateaued. Improvements were generally reflected by higher taxon richness, providing evidence that certain community metrics can broadly indicate anthropogenic impacts. However, richness responses were highly variable among sites, and we found no consistent responses in community abundance, evenness or composition. These findings suggest that, without sufficient data and careful metric selection, many common community metrics cannot reliably reflect anthropogenic impacts, helping explain the prevalence of mixed biodiversity trends.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Nature Ecology and Evolution

Creators:

Sinclair, J.S., Welti, E.A.R., Altermatt, F., Álvarez-Cabria, M., Aroviita, J., Baker, N.J., Barešová, L., Barquín, J., Bonacina, L., Bonada, N., Cañedo-Argüelles, M., Csabai, Z., de Eyto, E., Dohet, A., Dörflinger, G., Eriksen, T.E., Evtimova, V., Feio, M.J., Ferréol, M., Floury, M., Forio, M.A.E., Fornaroli, R., Goethals, P.L.M., Heino, J., Hering, D., Huttunen, K.-L., Jähnig, S.C., Johnson, R.K., Kuglerová, L., Kupilas, B., L’Hoste, L., Larrañaga, A., Leitner, P., Lorenz, A.W., McKie, B.G., Muotka, T., Osadčaja, D., Paavola, R., Palinauskas, V., Pařil, P., Pilotto, F., Polášek, M., Rasmussen, J.J., Schäfer, R.B., Schmidt-Kloiber, A., Scotti, A., Skuja, A., Straka, M., Stubbington, R., Timm, H., Tyufekchieva, V., Tziortzis, I., Vannevel, R., Várbíró, G., Velle, G., Verdonschot, R.C.M., Vray, S. and Haase, P.

Publisher:

Springer

Date:

26 January 2024

ISSN:

2397-334X

Identifiers:

Number	Type
10.1038/s41559-023-02305-4	DOI
1856427	Other

Rights:

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02305-4

Divisions:

Schools > School of Science and Technology

Record created by:

Jonathan Gallacher

Date Added:

31 Jan 2024 11:16

Last Modified:

31 Jan 2024 11:16

URI:

https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50773