Refine
Has Fulltext
- no (2)
Document Type
- Article (2)
Language
- English (2)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (2)
Keywords
- Acanthocyclops (1)
- Cladocera (1)
- Mediterranean shallow lake (1)
- Organic matter (1)
- River (1)
- SPM (1)
- Trace metals (1)
- W Cantabrian coast (1)
- biomanipulation (1)
- invasive species (1)
Institute
Scarce research about small European rivers from non-human impacted areas to determine their natural background state has been undertaken. During the annual hydrological cycle of 2008-9 the patterns of particulate supply (SPM, POC, PON, Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, V, Zn) from the rivers Sor, Mera Landro, Lourido and Landoi to the Northern Galician Rias (SW Bay of Biscay) were tackled. No differences in the composition of the SPM were detected for the studied rivers regarding Al, Fe and POC but the relative percentage of particulate trace elements (PTE) discriminate the rivers. So, Cr, Co and Ni in the Lourido, and Landoi rivers, and Cu in the Mera River, are controlled by watershed minerals of Ortegal Geological Complex while for the rest rivers PTE are by granitic and Ollo de Sapo bedrock watershed. Therefore, the imprint of PTE in the parental rocks of the river basins is reflected on the coastal sediments of the Rias. The main process controlling the dynamics and variations of chemical elements in the particulate form is the river discharge. This fact exemplifies that these rivers presents a natural behavior not being highly influenced by anthropogenic activities.
The common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is a highly invasive species and an ecological engineer. It has been repeatedly shown to increase nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass while destroying submerged macrophytes, although there are few studies from the Mediterranean region. We studied its impact on the zooplankton community in Laguna de Medina lake, a shallow lake in Jerez de la Frontera, south-west Spain. Carp were removed with rotenone in 2007 but returned in 2010-2011. We compared zooplankton sampled monthly from 8 points from May to December in 2008 (without carp) and 2012 (with carp). Extensive macrophyte beds present in 2008 were absent in 2012. As expected, chlorophyll-a concentrations, turbidity, total suspended solids and total phosphorus were much higher in 2012. Zooplankton richness decreased from 21 taxa in 2008 to 8 taxa in 2012, accompanied by a decrease in Shannon-Wiener diversity, an increase in Evenness and a change in size distribution with loss of larger taxa. In 2008, the crustaceans were dominated by the macrocladocerans Daphnia magna and Moina brachiata and the large calanoid copepod Arctodiaptomus salinus. In 2012, these three taxa were completely absent and the zooplankton was dominated by the alien cyclopoid Acanthocyclops americanus and the rotifers Brachionus plicatilis and Keratella quadrata. Our results confirm the disappearance of macrocladocera reported by others in mesocosm experiments with carp, and suggest that alien carp facilitate the spread of the alien copepod A. americanus.