Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments

Human impacts on stream ecosystems are expected to intensify with population growth and climate change. Decisive information on how stream communities respond to cumulative human impacts is therefore integral for protecting streams draining multi-use catchments. To determine cumulative influences of...

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Autores principales:	Nolan J.T. Pearce, Isabelle Lavoie, Kathryn E. Thomas, Patricia A. Chambers, Adam G. Yates
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Diatoms Macroinvertebrates Nitrogen Phosphorus Agriculture Sewage Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/14570627c0194728b4eb944ebc8666bb
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:14570627c0194728b4eb944ebc8666bb2021-12-01T04:46:15ZNutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107440https://doaj.org/article/14570627c0194728b4eb944ebc8666bb2021-05-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21001059https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XHuman impacts on stream ecosystems are expected to intensify with population growth and climate change. Decisive information on how stream communities respond to cumulative human impacts is therefore integral for protecting streams draining multi-use catchments. To determine cumulative influences of nutrient enrichment and assess more nuanced approaches for the evaluation of human impacts, we present results from one factorial and two gradient assessment designs applied to benthic algae and macroinvertebrate data from 14 mid-order streams in southern Ontario, Canada with pre-existing human impacts (i.e., sewage effluent and agriculture). We found that among stream variability in ecological indicators measured downstream of sewage effluent outfalls confounded our generalized factorial assessment and provided inconclusive information on a known human impact. Despite our gradient assessment also not having strong statistical support, accounting for the extent of nutrient enrichment associated with differences in sewage effluent and agricultural inputs revealed that larger longitudinal changes in stream communities were associated with increased nutrient enrichment. However, re-weighting our nutrient enrichment gradient based on upstream nutrient concentrations to account for nonlinearities in the response of stream communities to nutrient enrichment produced more robust assessment results that were consistent with predicted effects of nutrients on stream ecosystems. Thus, while our factorial assessment suggests that the communities are resistant to nutrients from cumulative human impacts, our targeted gradient assessment demonstrates that the effects of nutrient enrichment are highly conditional on upstream ecosystem conditions. Future assessments may need to go beyond traditional approaches (i.e., impact presence/absence) and more explicitly consider the environmental stressors and their associated complexities related to the impact under investigation.Nolan J.T. PearceIsabelle LavoieKathryn E. ThomasPatricia A. ChambersAdam G. YatesElsevierarticleDiatomsMacroinvertebratesNitrogenPhosphorusAgricultureSewageEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 124, Iss , Pp 107440- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Diatoms Macroinvertebrates Nitrogen Phosphorus Agriculture Sewage Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Diatoms Macroinvertebrates Nitrogen Phosphorus Agriculture Sewage Ecology QH540-549.5 Nolan J.T. Pearce Isabelle Lavoie Kathryn E. Thomas Patricia A. Chambers Adam G. Yates Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments
description	Human impacts on stream ecosystems are expected to intensify with population growth and climate change. Decisive information on how stream communities respond to cumulative human impacts is therefore integral for protecting streams draining multi-use catchments. To determine cumulative influences of nutrient enrichment and assess more nuanced approaches for the evaluation of human impacts, we present results from one factorial and two gradient assessment designs applied to benthic algae and macroinvertebrate data from 14 mid-order streams in southern Ontario, Canada with pre-existing human impacts (i.e., sewage effluent and agriculture). We found that among stream variability in ecological indicators measured downstream of sewage effluent outfalls confounded our generalized factorial assessment and provided inconclusive information on a known human impact. Despite our gradient assessment also not having strong statistical support, accounting for the extent of nutrient enrichment associated with differences in sewage effluent and agricultural inputs revealed that larger longitudinal changes in stream communities were associated with increased nutrient enrichment. However, re-weighting our nutrient enrichment gradient based on upstream nutrient concentrations to account for nonlinearities in the response of stream communities to nutrient enrichment produced more robust assessment results that were consistent with predicted effects of nutrients on stream ecosystems. Thus, while our factorial assessment suggests that the communities are resistant to nutrients from cumulative human impacts, our targeted gradient assessment demonstrates that the effects of nutrient enrichment are highly conditional on upstream ecosystem conditions. Future assessments may need to go beyond traditional approaches (i.e., impact presence/absence) and more explicitly consider the environmental stressors and their associated complexities related to the impact under investigation.
format	article
author	Nolan J.T. Pearce Isabelle Lavoie Kathryn E. Thomas Patricia A. Chambers Adam G. Yates
author_facet	Nolan J.T. Pearce Isabelle Lavoie Kathryn E. Thomas Patricia A. Chambers Adam G. Yates
author_sort	Nolan J.T. Pearce
title	Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments
title_short	Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments
title_full	Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments
title_fullStr	Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments
title_full_unstemmed	Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments
title_sort	nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/14570627c0194728b4eb944ebc8666bb
work_keys_str_mv	AT nolanjtpearce nutrientenrichmenteffectsareconditionalonupstreamnutrientconcentrationsimplicationsforbioassessmentinmultiusecatchments AT isabellelavoie nutrientenrichmenteffectsareconditionalonupstreamnutrientconcentrationsimplicationsforbioassessmentinmultiusecatchments AT kathrynethomas nutrientenrichmenteffectsareconditionalonupstreamnutrientconcentrationsimplicationsforbioassessmentinmultiusecatchments AT patriciaachambers nutrientenrichmenteffectsareconditionalonupstreamnutrientconcentrationsimplicationsforbioassessmentinmultiusecatchments AT adamgyates nutrientenrichmenteffectsareconditionalonupstreamnutrientconcentrationsimplicationsforbioassessmentinmultiusecatchments
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Nutrient enrichment effects are conditional on upstream nutrient concentrations: Implications for bioassessment in multi-use catchments

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