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Ecological relationships between phytoplankton communities and different spatial scales in European reservoirs: implications at catchment level monitoring programmes

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Abstract

Phytoplankton communities are structured by factors acting over temporal and spatial scales. Identifying which factors are driving spatial patterns in aquatic communities is the central aim of ecology. In this study, data sets of phytoplankton communities and environmental data of two Portuguese reservoirs types (lowland “riverine reservoirs” and higher altitude “artificial lake reservoirs”) were used to determine the importance of environmental variables at different spatial (geographical, regional and local) and time scales (seasons, years) on the community structure. In all the data sets, the multivariate ordination technique Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that regional and local scales explained the majority (9–18% and 13–19%, respectively) of the taxa variance. However, for “riverine reservoirs”, time variables were more important, explaining 27% of the variability in phytoplankton assemblages. Variance partitioning was used to assess the individual importance of the three spatial scales and time for the community structure of the two reservoir types. The majority of among-site variability (5.9–21.4%) was accounted for by time variables, with local, regional, and geographical scale variables accounting for 3.3–5.6%, 3.7–4.5% and 2.6–2.9%, respectively. The effects of different spatial scales on phytoplankton communities were clearly interrelated; thus, implying that phytoplankton assemblages are capable of detecting stress from catchment to site scales.

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Acknowledgements

This study was carried out within the framework of collaboration agreements between INAG (National Water Institute) and other universities, namely the UTAD (University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro) for the study of Portuguese reservoirs. We would like to thank the LABELEC staff for the environmental and phytoplankton data, namely to Engº. Lourenço Gil. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers, and the Editor who helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB—Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911, Vila Real, Portugal

    Edna Cabecinha & João Alexandre Cabral

  2. Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Paul J. Van den Brink

  3. Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Paul J. Van den Brink

  4. CITAB—Department of Forestal Engineering, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911, Vila Real, Portugal

    Rui Cortes

  5. CITAB—Department of Geology, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911, Vila Real, Portugal

    Martinho Lourenço

  6. IMAR (Institute of Marine Research), Department of Zoology, University of Coimbra, 3004-517, Coimbra, Portugal

    Miguel Ângelo Pardal

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  1. Edna Cabecinha
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Correspondence to Edna Cabecinha.

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Cabecinha, E., Van den Brink, P.J., Cabral, J.A. et al. Ecological relationships between phytoplankton communities and different spatial scales in European reservoirs: implications at catchment level monitoring programmes. Hydrobiologia 628, 27–45 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9731-y

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