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Environmental and aquatic macroinvertebrates metrics respond to the Eucalyptus afforestation gradient in subtropical lowland streams

  • STREAM ECOLOGY
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Abstract

Eucalyptus afforestation may affect stream ecosystems, but the magnitude of these effects on water quality and biota in subtropical lowland streams is little understood. We evaluated the potential effects of Eucalyptus afforestation on water quality and macroinvertebrate assemblage. Water quality parameters and macroinvertebrate assemblages were sampled in summer and winter in 30 streams covering an afforestation gradient (from 0.05 to 96% of the catchment area) and tested their relationship. We analyzed the taxa density distribution in afforestation and water parameters using the Thresholds Indicator Taxa Analyses (TITAN). Nutrient concentrations, conductivity, and total dissolved solids showed positive responses to the increase of afforestation, but the responses varied among seasons. Macroinvertebrate metrics showed negative (Ephemeroptera-Trichoptera-Plecoptera (EPT), sensitive families, scrapers), and positive (Chironominae, Oligochaeta) responses to the afforestation. Densities of sensitive taxa (mostly EPT) decrease with an increase in Eucalyptus afforestation, which is also related to water quality and possibly to habitat changes attributed to afforestation management. The use of water quality parameters in combination with macroinvertebrates assemblage contributes to managing these streams under catchment afforestation.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available in the supplementary material. Additional information may be acquired from the corresponding authors upon a reasonable request.

Code availability

Upon a reasonable request, the code used to analyze the data that supported our results is available from the corresponding authors.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank Martín Pacheco, Lucía Cabrera, and Viviana Franco for collaborating in the field and laboratory. We thank Claudia Fosalba for her collaboration in the water parameters analysis in the laboratory.

Funding

This work was supported by the ANII Fondo Sectorial de Innovación Industrial ANII-FSI I 2016 1–128679. Forestry Companies: UPM-FO, Montes del Plata, Forestal Atlántico Sur. Project “Multiscale environmental indicators of afforestation in Uruguay”. Universidad de la República, Facultad de Ingeniería, Facultad de Agronomía, CURE, CENUR-LN. FTM and MM are supported by SIN-ANII (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores) and PEDECIBA “Geociencias and Biología” (Programa de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas). M. Barrios is supported by the doctoral scholarship of the SNB-ANII (Sistema Nacional de Becas de la Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación) and Beca de finalización de Doctorado Comisión Académica de Postgrado, UdelaR. BRT is supported by Universidad de Las Américas, project AMB.BRT.22.01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental. Centro, Universitario Regional del Este (CURE), Universidad de la República, Entre Bv. Artigas y Aparicio Saravia, Av. Tacuarembó s/n, C.P. 20000, Maldonado, Uruguay

    Margenny Barrios, Giancarlo Tesitore, Maite Burwood, Bárbara Suárez, Mariana Meerhoff & Franco Teixeira de Mello

  2. Instituto de Mecánica de Fluidos e Ingeniería Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de La República, J. Herrera y Reissig 565, C.P. 11200, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Jimena Alonso

  3. Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Medio Ambiente y Salud (BIOMAS), Facultad de Ingenierías y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador

    Blanca Ríos Touma

  4. Department of Ecosicence, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Mariana Meerhoff

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  1. Margenny Barrios
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Contributions

Conceptualization, MBG, FTM, BRT, MM; conduction of the research: MBG, FTM, MB, GT, BS, JA; statistical analyses MBG, writing-original draft preparation MBG, writing-review editing MBG, FTM, BRT, GT, MB, MM, JA, BS; supervision, FTM, BRT; funding acquisition JA, MM, FTM. All authors have read and agreed to publish this version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Margenny Barrios.

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Barrios, M., Tesitore, G., Burwood, M. et al. Environmental and aquatic macroinvertebrates metrics respond to the Eucalyptus afforestation gradient in subtropical lowland streams. Hydrobiologia 851, 343–365 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05248-w

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