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Pressure‐response relationships in stream ecology: introduction and synthesis
Author(s) -
FRIBERG NIKOLAI
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2427.2010.02442.x
Subject(s) - riparian zone , ecology , environmental science , river ecosystem , biota , streams , environmental resource management , ecosystem ecology , ecosystem , computer science , habitat , biology , computer network
Summary 1. The articles in this Special Issue on pressure‐response relationships in stream ecology cover a range of pressures including acidification, excess loading of metals, nutrients and organic matter to stream ecosystems and changes in riparian and catchment land use. Impacts on the biota (macroinvertebrates), ranging from single species to community responses, are addressed over a multitude of spatial scales using large data sets. 2. The majority of articles are based on monitoring data compiled as part of the EU‐funded project REBECCA, but the Special Issue also includes articles from outside Europe (US and New Zealand) as well of studies using other data sources. 3. Results from the six articles gave new insights of relevance to water managers and documented that large‐scale monitoring can be an asset to freshwater science. The large data sets enable a range of analytical approaches that single out important patterns in highly variable data.: importance of humic substances in reducing the negative impact of low pH; impact of very low levels of BOD (<2 mg L −1 ); higher sensitivity of trait‐based metrics compared with identity‐based metrics and importance of catchment and riparian vegetation for the ecological quality of streams. 3. We advocate an increased use of monitoring and survey data in addressing questions relevant to scientist and end‐users, but issues relating to especially data quality should be considered. In future, the use of these data could increase knowledge exchange between the scientific community and managers with the ultimate aim of improving our freshwater resources.