Musisi Moses, Quadros Celly, Sellappan Krishnan
Department of Science, National Teachers' College, Kaliro Kyambogo University Kaliro Uganda.
Botany Discipline, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology Goa University Taleigao Goa India.
Plant Environ Interact. 2025 Mar 7;6(2):e70037. doi: 10.1002/pei3.70037. eCollection 2025 Apr.
Anthropogenic pressures are increasingly constraining the health of riparian ecosystems by exposing their remnant vegetation to edge effects. Despite being at the land-water interface, conservation efforts have often overlooked how water pollution may indirectly exacerbate the broader impacts of anthropogenic pressures on riparian vegetation along riparian ecotones. This study therefore examined the impacts of anthropogenic pollution on plant species diversity and composition in riparian ecosystems. Transect and Quadrat methods were used to collect vegetation data. We also measured the physicochemical properties of the water samples. We used partial redundancy analysis (RDA), generalized linear models (GLMs), analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey's HSD test for data analysis using R software version 4.3.2. The study identified 126 plant species from 45 families, with the Shannon-Wiener diversity index ranging from 2.06 to 3.10. Anthropogenic disturbances were generally at the alpha eu-hemerobic level, characterized by strong human impacts. Redundancy analysis showed that the nature of human activities, hemeroby, and turbidity were the dominant explanatory factors affecting plant species composition. GLM regression revealed that anthropogenic disturbances (hemeroby) had a significant negative impact on riparian plant species diversity mediated by water pollution. The findings indicate that anthropogenic disturbances coupled with their detrimental effects on water quality lead to a decrease in plant species richness and the dominance of a select few plant species. This will ultimately lead to a decline in the overall plant species diversity. Our findings show that anthropogenic disturbances negatively impact plant species diversity and composition through altering the water quality and habitat degradation. The findings therefore highlight the critical need for stakeholders to prioritize sustainable practices that mitigate water pollution and reduce direct human disturbances. This will safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem functionality in riparian zones, thus ensuring the long-term stability of environmental services that benefit both nature and human communities.
人为压力正通过使河岸生态系统的残余植被暴露于边缘效应而日益限制其健康状况。尽管处于陆地与水体的界面，但保护工作往往忽视了水污染可能如何间接加剧人为压力对河岸交错带沿岸植被产生的更广泛影响。因此，本研究考察了人为污染对河岸生态系统中植物物种多样性和组成的影响。采用样带法和样方法收集植被数据。我们还测量了水样的理化性质。使用R软件4.3.2版本，通过偏冗余分析（RDA）、广义线性模型（GLM）、方差分析（ANOVA）和Tukey's HSD检验进行数据分析。该研究从45个科中识别出126种植物，香农 - 维纳多样性指数在2.06至3.10之间。人为干扰总体处于α - 真污生水平，其特征是人类影响强烈。冗余分析表明，人类活动的性质、污生程度和浊度是影响植物物种组成的主要解释因素。GLM回归显示，人为干扰（污生程度）通过水污染对河岸植物物种多样性产生显著负面影响。研究结果表明，人为干扰及其对水质的有害影响导致植物物种丰富度下降以及少数几种植物占主导地位。这最终将导致整体植物物种多样性下降。我们的研究结果表明，人为干扰通过改变水质和栖息地退化对植物物种多样性和组成产生负面影响。因此，研究结果突出了利益相关者迫切需要优先考虑可持续做法，以减轻水污染并减少直接的人为干扰。这将保护河岸带的生物多样性和生态系统功能，从而确保对自然和人类社区都有益的环境服务的长期稳定性。
