Zooplankton functional diversity as a bioindicator of freshwater ecosystem health across land use gradient

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 18456 - 14
• Main Authors: Goździejewska, Anna Maria, Cymes, Ireneusz, Glińska-Lewczuk, Katarzyna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08.08.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/158; 704/158; 704/172; 704/286; Agricultural ecosystems; Agriculture; Animals; Aquatic ecosystems; Biodiversity; Bioindicators; Biomass; Body size; Catchment area; Catchments; Community traits; Ecological function; Ecosystem; Ecosystem assessment; Environmental conditions; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Filter feeders; Fresh Water; Freshwater ecosystems; Headwaters; Heterogeneity; Humanities and Social Sciences; Indicator species; Land use; Lotic ecosystem; multidisciplinary; Partial least squares regression; Plankton; Poland; Rivers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spatial analysis; Taxonomy; Urban agriculture; Urban areas; Zooplankton; Zooplankton assemblage matrix; Poland; Zooplankton assemblage matrix; Partial least squares regression; Catchment area; Lotic ecosystem; Community traits
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-69577-z

Zooplankton are critical indicators of pressures impacting freshwater ecosystems. We analyzed the response of zooplankton communities across different sub-catchment types—headwaters, natural, urban, urban-agricultural, and agricultural—within the Łyna river–lake system in Northern Poland. Using taxonomic groups and functional traits (body size, feeding strategies), we applied Partial Least Squares Regression (PLS-R) to elucidate the relationships between environmental conditions, land use, and zooplankton metacommunity structure. Two-Way Cluster Analysis (TWCA) identified local subsets with characteristic patterns, while Indicator Species Analysis (ISA) determined area-specific taxa. The natural river zone exhibited significant habitat heterogeneity and feeding niches, whereas urban areas created functional homogenization of zooplankton, dominated by small, broad-diet microphages. Agricultural areas promoted diversity among large filter feeders (Crustacea), active suctors (Rotifera), and amoebae (Protozoa). However, intensified agricultural activities, substantially diminished the zooplankton population, biomass, taxonomic richness, and overall ecosystem functionality. The impact of land cover change is more pronounced at small-scale sub-catchments than at the catchment level as a whole. Therefore, assessing these impacts requires detailed spatial and temporal analysis at the sub-catchment level to identify the most affected areas. This study introduces a new sub-catchment-based perspective on ecosystem health assessment and underscores the zooplankton's role as robust indicators of ecological change.