Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Predicting the abundance of European stream macroinvertebrates using biological attributes

  • Population Ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Is there a relationship between the abundance of organisms and particular biological attributes? To assess this old, yet still acutely debated key question of ecology, we have used large databases on 312 stream macroinvertebrate genera (from 27 orders) that describe (1) invertebrate abundance at 527 least human-impacted European stream sites, (2) 11 biological traits (size, life-history, food, among others) described in 61 biological trait categories (BTCs; e.g. small, intermediate or large size) and (3) 14 attributes indicating specialization (AISs; e.g. species richness, size and food diversity). We applied interactive procedures to obtain models (for BTCs, AISs and a mixture of both descriptions) explaining as much as possible of the abundance variability of the genera with the lowest number of significant and ecologically meaningful attributes and assessed the predictive power of these models (in crosswise validations) by comparing predicted and observed abundances. Mean European invertebrate abundance increased with BTC affinities favouring viability in stream systems (e.g. attachment to the stream bottom to resist the flow, aquatic passive dispersal with the flow, exploitation of abundant food sources) and decreased with BTC affinities disfavouring this viability (e.g. drag force increase associated with larger body size, flow exposure associated with aerial respiration). Abundance consistently decreased with specialization of the genera (e.g. low species richness, oddity of their overall BTC profile from an “average” European genus). The model including a mixture of a few BTCs and AISs had the greatest predictive power: it predicted 35% of the observed abundance (ln-transformed) variability of the genera; these predictions were marginally affected by taxonomy (using orders as categorical variables). We conclude that a better appreciation of the influence of the examined taxonomic diversity, number and type of biological attributes, environmental system and spatial scale could enable abundance predictions using different sets of biological attributes for different taxonomic groups and systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allan JD (1995) Stream ecology. Chapman & Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bêche LA, Resh VH (2007) Biological traits of benthic macroinvertebrates in California Mediterranean-climate streams: long-term annual variability and trait diversity patterns. Fundam Appl Limnol 169:1–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bêche LA, McElravy EP, Resh VH (2006) Long-term seasonal variation in the biological traits of benthic-macroinvertebrates in two Mediterranean-climate streams in California, U.S.A. Freshw Biol 51:56–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilton D, Freeland JR, Okamura B (2001) Dispersal in freshwater invertebrates. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 32:159–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonada N, Prat N, Resh VH, Statzner B (2006) Developments in aquatic insect biomonitoring: a comparative analysis of recent approaches. Annu Rev Entomol 51:495–523

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bonada N, Dolédec S, Statzner B (2007) Taxonomic and biological trait differences of stream macroinvertebrate communities between Mediterranean and temperate regions: implications for future climatic scenarios. Glob Chang Biol 13:1658–1671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borcard D, Legendre P, Drapeau P (1992) Partialling out the spatial component of ecological variation. Ecology 73:1045–1055

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brändle M, Stadler J, Klotz S, Brandl R (2003) Distributional range size of weedy plant species is correlated to germination patterns. Ecology 84:136–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2004) Multimodel inference: understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Workshop on model selection, Amsterdam. Available at: http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/modelselection/presentations/AWMS2004-Burnham-paper.pdf

  • Davies KF, Margules CR, Lawrence JF (2000) Which traits of species predict population declines in experimental forest fragments? Ecology 81:1450–1461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devin S, Bollache L, Noel P-Y, Beisel J-N (2005) Patterns of biological invasions in French freshwater systems by non-indigenous macroinvertebrates. Hydrobiologia 551:137–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolédec S, Olivier J-M, Statzner B (2000) Accurate description of the abundance of taxa and their biological traits in stream invertebrate communities: effects of taxonomic and spatial resolution. Arch Hydrobiol 148:25–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson SH, Higdon JW (2006) How seals divide up the world: environment, life history, and conservation. Oecologia 150:318–329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gaston KJ (1994) Rarity. Chapman & Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Golden DM, Crist TO (1999) Experimental effects of habitat fragmentation on old-field canopy insects: community, guild and species responses. Oecologia 118:371–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon ND, McMahon TA, Finlayson BL (1992) Stream hydrology. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Harcourt AH, Coppeto SA, Parks SA (2002) Rarity, specialization and extinction in primates. J Biogeogr 29:445–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hausdorf B (2007) The interspecific relationship between abundance and body size in central European land snail assemblages. Basic Appl Ecol 8:125–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henle K, Davies KF, Kleyer M, Margules C, Settele J (2004) Predictors of species sensitivity to fragmentation. Biodivers Conserv 13:207–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Illies J (ed) (1978) Limnofauna Europaea, 2nd edn. Fischer, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Isaac NJB, Mallet J, Mace GM (2004) Taxonomic inflation: its influence on macroecology and conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 19:464–469

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson JB, Omland KS (2004) Model selection in ecology and evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 19:101–108

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones MJ, Fielding A, Sullivan M (2006) Analysing extinction risk in parrots using decision trees. Biodivers Conserv 15:1993–2007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly CK, Woodward FI (1996) Ecological correlates of plant range size: taxonomies and phylogenies in the study of plant commonness and rarity in Great Britain. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 351:1261–1269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krasnov BR, Shenbrot GI, Khokhlova IS, Poulin R (2006) Is abundance a species attribute? An example with haematophagous ectoparasites. Oecologia 150:132–140

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd KM, Wilson JB, Lee WG (2003) Correlates of geographic range size in New Zealand Chionochloa (Poaceae) species. J Biogeogr 30:1751–1761

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mac Nally R (2000) Regression and model-building in conservation biology, biogeography and ecology: the distinction between—and reconciliation of—“predictive” and “explanatory” models. Biodivers Conserv 9:655–671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks CO, Muller-Landau HC (2007) Comment on “From plant traits to plant communities: a statistical mechanistic approach to biodiversity”. Science 316:1425

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews S, Bonser SP (2005) Life histories, ecological tolerance limits, and the evolution of geographic range size in Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae). Aust J Bot 53:501–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell TAD, Jennings S (2006) Predicting abundance-body size relationships in functional and taxonomic subsets of food webs. Oecologia 150:282–290

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGill BJ (2006) A renaissance in the study of abundance. Science 314:770–772

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murray BR, Hose GC (2005) Life-history and ecological correlates of decline and extinction in the endemic Australian frog fauna. Aust Ecol 30:546–571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray BR, Thrall PH, Gill AM, Nicotra AB (2002) How plant life-history and ecological traits relate to species rarity and commonness at varying spatial scales. Aust Ecol 27:291–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters RH (1983) The ecological implications of body size. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Poff NL, Olden JD, Vieira NKM, Finn DS, Simmons MP, Kondratieff BC (2006) Functional trait niches of North American lotic insects: traits-based ecological applications in light of phylogenetic relationships. J N Am Benthol Soc 25:730–755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Resh VH, Bêche LA, McElravy EP (2005) How common are rare taxa in long-term benthic macroinvertebrate surveys. J N Am Benthol Soc 24:976–989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roxburgh SH, Mokany K (2007) Comment on “From plant traits to plant communities: a statistical mechanistic approach to biodiversity”. Science 316:1425

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schuhmacher H (1970) Untersuchungen zur Taxonomie, Biologie und Ökologie einiger Köcherfliegenarten der Gattung Hydropsyche Pict. (Insecta, Trichoptera). Int Rev Ges Hydrobiol 55:511–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahabuddin G, Ponte CA (2005) Frugivorous butterfly species in tropical forest fragments: correlates of vulnerability to extinction. Biodivers Conserv 14:1137–1152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipley B, Vile D, Garnier E (2006) From plant traits to plant communities: a statistical mechanistic approach to biodiversity. Science 314:812–814

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shipley B, Vile D, Garnier E (2007) Response to comments on “From plant traits to plant communities: a statistical mechanistic approach to biodiversity”. Science 316:1425

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spellerberg IF (1991) Monitoring ecological change. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Statzner B, Resh VH (1993) Multiple-site and -year analyses of stream insect emergence: a test of ecological theory. Oecologia 96:65–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statzner B, Gore JA, Resh VH (1988) Hydraulic stream ecology: observed patterns and potential applications. J N Am Benthol Soc 7:307–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statzner B, Bis B, Dolédec S, Usseglio-Polatera P (2001a) Perspectives for biomonitoring at large spatial scales: a unified measure for the functional composition of invertebrate communities in European running waters. Basic Appl Ecol 2:73–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statzner B, Hildrew AG, Resh VH (2001b) Species traits and environmental constraints: entomological research and the history of ecological theory. Annu Rev Entomol 46:291–316

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Statzner B, Dolédec S, Hugueny B (2004) Biological trait composition of European stream invertebrate communities: assessing the effects of various trait filter types. Ecography 27:470–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statzner B, Bady P, Dolédec S, Schöll F (2005) Invertebrate traits for the biomonitoring of large European rivers: an initial assessment of trait patterns in least impacted river reaches. Freshw Biol 50:2136–2161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statzner B, Bonada N, Dolédec S (2007) Conservation of taxonomic and biological trait diversity of European stream macroinvertebrate communities: a case for a collective public database. Biodivers Conserv 16:3609–3632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Symonds MRE, Christidis L, Johnson CN (2006) Latitudinal gradients in abundance, and the causes of rarity in the tropics: a test using Australian honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae). Oecologia 149:406–417

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tachet H, Richoux P, Bournaud M, Usseglio-Polatera P (2002) Invertébrés d’eau douce, 2nd corrected impr. CNRS éditions, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Tales E, Keith P, Oberdorff T (2004) Density-range size relationships in French riverine fishes. Oecologia 138:360–370

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tscharntke T, Brandl R (2004) Plant-insect interactions in fragmented landscapes. Annu Rev Entomol 49:405–430

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel S (1994) Live in moving fluids, 2nd edn. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward JV, Tockner K (2001) Biodiversity: towards a unifying theme for river ecology. Freshw Biol 46:807–819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward G, Ebenman B, Emmerson M, Montoya JM, Olesen JM, Valido A, Warren PH (2005) Body size in ecological networks. Trends Ecol Evol 20:402–409

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank all researchers and editors who published results in a format such that we could use them for our database and the many colleagues that provided personal information to fill data gaps (all mentioned in previous papers using the data for other purposes). We also acknowledge comments on this manuscript by Leah Bêche, Bernard Hugueny, Sven Bacher and three anonymous referees.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS-Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Fluviaux, Université Lyon 1, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Bernhard Statzner & Sylvain Dolédec

  2. Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Núria Bonada

Authors
  1. Bernhard Statzner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Núria Bonada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sylvain Dolédec
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bernhard Statzner.

Additional information

Communicated by Sven Bacher.

Appendix

Appendix

Biological traits and their categories in the database (see Tachet et al. 2002, for detailed explanations of categories):

  1. 1.

    Maximum size (mm): ≤2.5; >2.5–5; >5–10; >10–20; >20–40; >40–80; >80.

  2. 2.

    Life cycle duration (year): ≤1; >1.

  3. 3.

    Potential number of reproduction cycles per year: <1; 1; >1.

  4. 4.

    Aquatic stages: egg; larva; nymph; imago.

  5. 5.

    Reproduction: ovoviviparity; isolated eggs, free (not fixed to a substrate); isolated eggs, cemented; clutches, cemented or fixed; clutches, free; eggs or clutches in vegetation (endophytic); clutches, terrestrial; asexual reproduction.

  6. 6.

    Dispersal: aquatic passive; aquatic active; aerial passive; aerial active.

  7. 7.

    Mechanisms for resistance against unfavourable conditions: eggs, statoblasts, gemmules; cocoons; using refuges (e.g. small crevices) to resist desiccation during droughts; diapause or dormancy; none.

  8. 8.

    Respiration technique: tegument; gill; plastron; aerial (e.g. spiracle).

  9. 9.

    Locomotion and substrate relation: flier; surface swimmer; swimmer; crawler; burrower (epibenthic); interstitial (endobenthic); temporarily attached; almost permanently attached.

  10. 10.

    Food: fine sediment and microrganisms; detritus <1 mm; plant detritus ≥1 mm; living microphytes; living macrophytes; dead animals ≥1 mm; living microinvertebrates; living macroinvertebrates; vertebrates.

  11. 11.

    Feeding habits: deposit feeder; shredder; scraper; filter-feeder; piercer (plants or animals); predator (carver/engulfer/swallower); parasite, parasitoid.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Statzner, B., Bonada, N. & Dolédec, S. Predicting the abundance of European stream macroinvertebrates using biological attributes. Oecologia 156, 65–73 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-0972-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-0972-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation