Implications of local niche- and dispersal-based factors that may influence chironomid assemblages in bioassessment

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 29; no. 34; pp. 51951 - 51963
• Main Authors: Milošević, Djuradj, Medeiros, Andrew S., Cvijanović, Dušanka, Jenačković Gocić, Dragana, Đurđević, Aca, Čerba, Dubravka, Stojković Piperac, Milica
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic ecosystems; Aquatic plants; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biomonitoring; Community structure; Dispersal; Dispersion; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental factors; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Freshwater ecosystems; Habitats; Indicator organisms; Influence; Macroinvertebrates; Research Article; Riparian vegetation; Rivers; Sampling; Variability; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Chironomidae; Bioassessment; Rivers; Metacommunity approach; Temporal variability; Biotic interactions
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-19302-y

Local environmental factors and dispersal-based processes can both influence the structure of metacommunities in freshwater ecosystems. Describing these patterns is especially important for biomonitoring approaches that are based on inferences made from benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages. Here, we examine the metacommunity structure of chironomid assemblages collected from 28 sampling stations along the Southern Morava River, Serbia. We examined the extent of dispersal-based processes along a temporal scale. We obtained 8 models for the different sampling seasons that determined the spatial variables that best explained variability in chironomid assemblages. Spatial processes were found to be a significant predictor of variation for chironomids during the late winter/spring (March and May) and autumn (October and November), concordant with the known phenology of common taxa. Species sorting and mass effects were found to be significant processes that structured the chironomid metacommunity. In addition, biological interactions, inferred from fish biomass, and habitat traits, demonstrated by macrophyte and riparian vegetation, were found to influence species sorting. A high variability of chironomid metacommunity structure across sampling seasons suggests that monitoring programs that include macroinvertebrates in bioassessment should avoid months with pronounced spatial processes, and consequently maximize a correlation between community structure and local environmental factors.