Cabrera-García Santiago, Goethals Peter L M, Lock Koen, Domínguez-Granda Luis, Villacís Marcos, Galárraga-Sánchez Remigio, Van der Heyden Christine, Eurie Forio Marie Anne
Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Block F, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Facultad de Ingeniería en Ciencias Agropecuarias y Ambientales, Universidad Técnica del Norte, Av. 17 de Julio 5-21 y Gral. José María Córdova, Ibarra 100105, Ecuador.
Biology (Basel). 2023 Oct 30;12(11):1386. doi: 10.3390/biology12111386.
High-elevation tropical streams are under increasing threat from human activities and climate change. Specifically, Ecuadorian Andean streams require priority actions such as bioassessment (e.g., biodiversity and functional ecology of macroinvertebrates) in order to generate adequate environmental management policies. Therefore, we investigated the distribution and composition of the macroinvertebrate taxa and their functional feeding groups in relation to the environmental variables in the Antisana river basin (Andean-Ecuadorian Region). We sampled macroinvertebrates from 15 locations to assess ecological conditions (ECs), expressed as the Biological Monitoring Working Party Colombia (BMWP-Col) classes, the Andean Biotic Index (ABI) and the Andean-Amazon Biotic Index (AAMBI). Results indicate that dissolved oxygen saturation, elevation, nutrient concentration and conductivity contributed significantly to the composition of the taxa and functional feeding groups (FFGs). Taxa diversity and FFGs were more abundant in the best EC sites. Shredders (SH) were, overall, dominant and abundant at sites with medium-high ECs. Scrapers constituted the second most prevalent assemblage, exerting dominance at moderate ecological conditions (high altitude and high oxygen saturation). Collector-gathers (CGs) are less sensitive to contamination than the previous two groups but were equally abundant at medium-high EC sites. Collector-filterers (CFs) and parasites (PAs) were less abundant, although the presence of the former was slightly related to better environmental conditions. Predators (PRs) were almost absent throughout the study, but they were collected from poor EC sites. CGs, PAs and PRs showed more tolerance to the presence of human disturbances (e.g., hydraulic constructions or slope erosion). The BMWP-Col index seems to be the best fit for this ecosystem, showing a significant difference in FFG between the index classes, compared to the other indices evaluated. The results of this investigation may be regarded as a fundamental starting point and used in future bioassessment work in other similar ecosystems, particularly high-altitude tropical Ecuadorian streams.
高海拔热带溪流正受到人类活动和气候变化日益严重的威胁。具体而言，厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉的溪流需要采取优先行动，如生物评估（例如大型无脊椎动物的生物多样性和功能生态学），以便制定适当的环境管理政策。因此，我们研究了安第斯山脉-厄瓜多尔地区安蒂萨纳河流域大型无脊椎动物类群及其功能摄食组的分布和组成与环境变量的关系。我们从15个地点采集了大型无脊椎动物样本，以评估生态状况（ECs），用哥伦比亚生物监测工作组（BMWP-Col）分类、安第斯生物指数（ABI）和安第斯-亚马逊生物指数（AAMBI）来表示。结果表明，溶解氧饱和度、海拔、营养物浓度和电导率对类群和功能摄食组（FFGs）的组成有显著影响。在最佳生态状况的地点，类群多样性和功能摄食组更为丰富。总体而言，撕食者（SH）在中高生态状况的地点占主导地位且数量众多。刮食者构成第二大常见类群，在中等生态条件（高海拔和高氧饱和度）下占优势。收集者-聚集者（CGs）比前两组对污染的敏感度更低，但在中高生态状况的地点数量同样丰富。收集者-过滤者（CFs）和寄生者（PAs）数量较少，尽管前者的存在与较好的环境条件略有相关。捕食者（PRs）在整个研究中几乎不存在，但在生态状况较差的地点采集到了。收集者-聚集者、寄生者和捕食者对人类干扰（如水力建设或坡面侵蚀）的存在表现出更大耐受性。BMWP-Col指数似乎最适合该生态系统，与评估的其他指数相比，该指数类别之间的功能摄食组存在显著差异。本调查结果可被视为一个基本起点，并用于未来其他类似生态系统的生物评估工作，特别是厄瓜多尔高海拔热带溪流。
