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Warming can have profound impacts on ecological communities. However, explorations of how differences in biogeography and productivity might reshape the effect of warming have been limited to theoretical or proxy-based approaches: for instance, studies of latitudinal temperature gradients are often conflated with other drivers (e.g., species richness). Here, we overcome these limitations by using local geothermal temperature gradients across multiple high-latitude stream ecosystems. Each suite of streams (6-11 warmed by 1-15°C above ambient) is set within one of five regions (37 streams total); because the heating comes from the bedrock and is not confounded by changes in chemistry, we can isolate the effect of temperature. We found a negative overall relationship between diatom and invertebrate species richness and temperature, but the strength of the relationship varied regionally, declining more strongly in regions with low terrestrial productivity. Total invertebrate biomass increased with temperature in all regions. The latter pattern combined with the former suggests that the increased biomass of tolerant species might compensate for the loss of sensitive species. Our results show that the impact of warming can be dependent on regional conditions, demonstrating that local variation should be included in future climate projections rather than simply assuming universal relationships. The responses of freshwater stream biodiversity and biomass to temperature in Arctic regions varies with biogeography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of ecosystem restoration has recently shifted from pure rehabilitation objectives to both improving ecological functioning and the delivery of ecosystem services. However, these different targets need to be integrated to create a unified, synergistic, and balanced restoration approach. This should be done by combining state-of-the-art knowledge from natural and social sciences to create manageable units of restoration that consider both the temporal and multiple spatial scales of ecosystems, legislative units, and policy agendas. Only by considering these aspects combined can we accomplish more cost-efficient restoration resulting in resilient ecosystems that provide a wealth of ecosystem services and the possibility for sustainable economic development in the future. We propose a novel conceptual framework that will yield more effective ecosystem restoration: the Operational Restoration Unit. This is based on scale-dependent restoration actions that can adhere easily to the relevant environmental legislation, encompass the spatial and temporal resilience of aquatic ecosystems, and consider the sum of human pressures acting on water bodies. This opens up possibilities for an effective integration of the restoration agenda into the delivery of major policy objectives of economic growth, regional development, and human security. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1190. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1190 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River restoration enhances not only habitat diversity in the stream channel and riparian zone, but also retention of organic matter, which together are expected to enhance aquatic-terrestrial linkages, and the range of autochthonous and allochthonous resources. Consequently, alterations of food-web structure and trophic relationships can be expected. We applied stable isotope analysis (δC, δN) to characterize changes in the trophic structure of benthic invertebrate communities between paired restored and unrestored river reaches across 16 European catchments. We sampled dominant taxa of invertebrate assemblages belonging to different functional feeding groups and calculated δC range to estimate the diversity of basal resources assimilated, δN range as an indicator of the trophic length and standard ellipse area corrected for small samples as a measure of isotopic niche width. We analysed (1) if restoration influences the trophic structure of invertebrates, (2) if effects of restoration depend on the extent of restoration effort, and (3) if effects of restoration depend on restoration measures applied. Our European-scale comparison indicates that river habitat restoration effects trophic structure, primarily by increasing the breadth of resources assimilated by consumers; this effect increases with restoration effort and it depends on restoration measure type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pesticides are transported from crop fields to adjacent streams via surface run-off, drains, groundwater, wind drift and atmospheric deposition and give rise to transient pulse contamination. Although the concentrations observed, typically <10μgL−1, cannot be expected to be acutely lethal, effects in streams at the population and ecosystem level have been reported. One of the most conspicuous phenomena associated with these transient pesticide pulses is drift, where large numbers of freshwater invertebrates are carried along by the current and disappear from the contaminated stretch of the stream. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of linking laboratory studies of the sublethal effects of pulse exposure to the pyrethroid lambda-cyhalothrin on the locomotory behaviour of stream invertebrates with effects on drift behaviour under more environmentally realistic conditions in stream microcosms. In the laboratory as well as in the microcosms, the order of sensitivities of the three species tested was (with Leuctra nigra being the most sensitive): L. nigra > Gammarus pulex > Heptagenia sulphurea. The LOECs determined for L. nigra (1ngL−1), G. pulex (10ngL−1) and H. sulphurea (100ngL−1) are all within expected environmental concentrations. For the species of invertebrates investigated, it was possible to extrapolate directly from pyrethroid-induced behavioural changes observed in the laboratory to drift under more realistic conditions in stream microcosms. Consequently, the fast and cost-effective video tracking methodology may be applied for screening for potential effects of a wider range of pesticides and other stressors on the locomotory behaviour of freshwater invertebrates. The results indicate that such behavioural changes may be predictive of effects at the ecosystem level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

1. We analysed a large number of concurrent samples of macroinvertebrate communities and chemical indicators of eutrophication and organic pollution [total-P, total-N, NH4–N, biological oxygen demand (BOD5)] from 594 Danish stream sites. Samples were taken over an 11-year time span as part of the Danish monitoring programme on the aquatic environment. Macroinvertebrate communities were sampled in spring using a standardised kick-sampling procedure whereas chemical variables were sampled six to 24 times per year per site. Habitat variables were assessed once when macroinvertebrates were sampled. 2. The plecopteran Leuctra showed a significant negative exponential relationship ( r2 = 0.90) with BOD5 and occurred at only 16% of the sites with BOD5 above 1.6 mg L−1. Sharp declines with increasing BOD5 levels were found for the trichopteran families Sericostomatidae and Glossosomatidae although they appeared to be slightly less sensitive than Leuctra. Other plecopterans such as Isoperla showed a similar type of response curve to Leuctra (negative exponential) but occurred at sites with relatively high concentrations of BOD5 up to 3–4 mg L−1. In contrast, the response curve of the isopod Asellus aquaticus followed a saturation function reaching a plateau above 3–4 mg L−1 BOD5 and the dipteran Chironomus showed an exponential increase in occurrence with increasing BOD5 concentration. 3. Macroinvertebrate occurrence appeared to be related primarily to concentrations of BOD5, NH4–N and total-P whereas there were almost no relationships to total-N. Occurrence of a number of taxa showed a stronger relationship to habitat conditions (width and substrate) than chemical variables. 4. Important macroinvertebrate taxa are reduced at concentrations of BOD5 that are normally perceived as indicating unimpacted stream site conditions. Our results confirmed sensitivity/tolerance patterns used by existing bioassessment systems only to some degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. We studied 10 first-order Icelandic streams differing in geothermal influence in separate catchments. Summer temperature (August–September) ranged between 6 and 23 °C. 2. Macroinvertebrate evenness and species overlap decreased significantly with temperature whereas taxon richness showed no response. In total, 35 macroinvertebrate species were found with Chironomidae the dominant taxonomic group. Macroinvertebrate density increased significantly with temperature. Dominant species in the warm streams were Lymnaea peregra and Simulium vittatum. Algal biomass, macrophyte cover and richness were unrelated to temperature. Densities of trout ( Salmo trutta), the only fish species present, reflected habitat conditions and to a lesser degree temperature. 3. Density of filter-feeders increased significantly with temperature whereas scraper density, the other dominant functional feeding group, was unrelated to temperature. Stable isotope analysis revealed a positive relationship between δ15N and temperature across several trophic levels. No pattern was found with regard to δ13C and temperature. 4. Leaf litter decomposition in both fine and coarse mesh leaf bags were significantly correlated to temperature. In coarse mesh leaf packs breakdown rates were almost doubled compared with fine mesh, ranging between 0.5 and 1.3 g DW 28 days−1. Nutrient diffusion substrates showed that the streams were primarily nitrogen limited across the temperature gradient while a significant additional effect of phosphorous was found with increasing temperature. 5. Structural and functional attributes gave complementary information which all indicated a change with temperature similar to what is found in moderately polluted streams. Our results therefore suggest that lotic ecosystems could be degraded by global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, the impact of a single pulse of the pyrethroid lambda-cyhalothrin was tested on a macroinvertebrate assemblage consisting of Gammarus pulex, Leuctra nigra, Heptagenia sulphurea and Ancylus fluviatilis in outdoor experimental stream channels. Channels (4m long, 0.1m wide) were groundwater fed and had natural substratum. Macroinvertebrates were exposed to 10.65 or 106.5ngL−1 lambda cyhalothrin for 90min in the laboratory and after 24h introduced to the experimental stream channels with four replicates of each treatment and controls. Drift samples were taken with 24-h interval for 10 days and behaviour of drifted macroinvertebrates was assessed. Microalgae biomass was measured on days 1, 5, 8 and 10 along with leaf litter decomposition using leaf packs of beech (Fagus sylvatica). Numbers of drifting G. pulex and L. nigra with reduced mobility increased significantly with concentration of lambda-cyhalothrin. Increase of algal biomass was significantly greater in stream channels with macroinvertebrates exposed to 106.5ngL−1 compared to controls and 10.65ngL−1 treatments. Accrual of microalgal biomass was significantly higher in the high concentration treatment and decomposition of leaf litter was significantly greater in control channels compared to channels with exposed macroinvertebrates. This study may apply valuable knowledge to the understanding and assessment of how pyrethroids impact ecosystem functioning in streams. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The lower 19km of the Skjern River was restored and transformed into a 26km long meandering river. Three survey reaches and one control reach upstream of the restoration area were surveyed to assess the short-term effects of the restoration on river habitats, macrophytes and macroinvertebrates. The reaches were surveyed before the restoration in 2000 and again after the restoration in 2003. Morphological adjustments were evident in the re-meandered river and the habitat structure (depth, current velocity and substratum) became more diverse. The macrophyte coverage was 34% before the restoration. Restoration included removal of dense near bank vegetation stands of Glyceria maxima, and in 2003 re-colonization of the restored reaches had resulted in 24% macrophyte coverage. Species composition and growth patterns changed significantly in the edge habitat and the dominant macrophyte G. maxima was replaced by Elodea canadensis and Sparganium sp. Macroinvertebrates rapidly colonized the restored reaches and increased the community diversity. Only one taxon, Heptageniidae, significantly increased in abundance after the restoration and a more even distribution of taxa developed on the restored reaches. Biological communities will continue to develop over the coming years as the river becomes more physically stable. Hence the macroinvertebrate and macrophyte communities will adjust and colonization from upstream sources and other systems will probably increase biodiversity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this study was to describe in detail the national macroinvertebrate sampling methods used and to compare them with a common standard, the STAR-AQEM sampling method. Information on national methods and field data were collected from 11 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Sweden, and UK). The sampling included 22 stream types situated in 11 different Ecoregions. Within each country samples were taken in spring and one additional season (summer or autumn) using both the national method and the STAR-AQEM method. A single anthropogenic stressor was also defined for each stream type sampled within the project, with the three main stressor types being organic pollution (including eutrophication), toxic pollution and habitat degradation. In addition, not impacted reference sites were sampled in each country. A common set of metrics was calculated and compared between the methods. The majority of national methods employed had many features in common. Most of the 12 metrics analysed using the values derived from the STAR-AQEM method and the various national methods correlated significantly, and positively to each other. There was no clear pattern with respect to the differences between metric results obtained using STAR-AQEM and national methods. For some metrics, number of EPT-taxa and families, the value obtained was higher when using the majority of national methods when compared to the STAR-AQEM method. Variability in metric results between methods could not be explained from differences in sampling effort. Sorting in the field and sub-sampling appeared to affect e.g., number of taxa found negatively. The results of the present study supports that inter-calibration in Europe can be undertaken using samples collected with the existing national methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. A comparative study of species diversity and assemblage patterns of herbaceous ground-flora communities in riparian areas was performed along natural mid-sized lowland streams and their channelised counterparts. The areas had open vegetation and were positioned along 18 similar-sized third to fourth order stream reaches. 2. Alpha diversity was significantly higher along natural streams both at the sample plot and reach scale. Sample plot diversity peaked at intermediate distance from the natural stream reaches, whereas it increased with increasing distance from the channelised reaches. Both gamma diversity, measured and estimated from species-area curves, and beta diversity, which is a measure of the change in diversity between areas, was similar along the two types of streams. 3. Alpha diversity correlated with several of the measured and calibrated environmental variables. The positive correlation between bank slope and alpha diversity indicates that flooding plays a key role in maintaining high levels of diversity along natural streams. 4. Species composition varied significantly between the two stream types. A cluster analysis identified four clusters of which two clusters (one and three) primarily included species associated with sample plots in areas along natural streams. Most cluster one and three species were also identified as indicator species for this stream type. 5. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that cluster one species were less productive species associated with high total soil carbon and nitrogen contents, whereas cluster three species were highly productive species associated with high soil moisture levels, probably partly resulting from flooding. Our results suggest that distance from the stream channel imposes a probabilistic gradient that sustains co-occurrence of these two communities in riparian areas along natural mid-sized lowland streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-nine Danish streams were investigated in September 1998. The streams drained catchments of varying hydrology, topography, soil type and land use. In each stream, the newly accumulated streambed sediment was sampled and subsequently analysed for pesticides. In each stream, five replicate macroinvertebrate samples were taken in the same sediments as the pesticide samples. In addition, five samples were taken in riffles to provide a complete picture of macroinvertebrate community composition. The number of detected pesticides reflected soil type and land use: in agricultural catchments on clay soils the average number of pesticides were 4.3±2.2; on sandy soils 2.6±1.0, while only 1.5±0.6 pesticides were found in streams without agricultural activities. The macroinvertebrate composition showed clear changes along this gradient of sediment pesticide concentrations. The number of the amphipod Gammarus pulex was negatively correlated with sediment pesticide concentration, while the number of Oligochaeta and Hirudinae was positively correlated. The findings indicate that pesticides have a potential to structure macroinvertebrate communities in Danish streams. However, agricultural impact is more than pesticides, and several other factors, such as channelisation, affect the macroinvertebrate community and these are not easily separated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Growth and emergence of the acidification tolerant stonefly Leuctra nigra were studied in four coniferous forest streams with contrasting pH. Invertebrate samples were taken bimonthly during May 1997 to April 1998. Emerging L. nigra were captured in two of the streams during April to July 1998 using pyramidal emergence traps. In addition, a laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate growth of L. nigra in response to variations in food quality (neutral or acid conditioned leaves) and water pH. 2. The invertebrate community in low pH streams had lower diversity and density compared with neutral streams. Abundance of L. nigra was also lower, despite the dominance of this stonefly in the invertebrate community in the acidic streams. 3. Secondary production of L. nigra was 2.04 and 3.07 g DW m–2 year–1 in the neutral streams compared with 1.02 and 1.27 g DW m–2 year–1 in the acidic streams. The P/B ratio differed only slightly among streams. 4. More adult L. nigra emerged in the neutral stream compared with the acidic stream, despite the density of the pre-emerging fifth instar nymphs of L. nigra being similar in the two streams. Adult size (expressed as wing length) and female fitness were also significantly greater in the neutral stream. 5. Laboratory growth of L. nigra nymphs was significantly lower when fed acid conditioned alder leaves rather than neutral conditioned leaves. There was no difference in growth when nymphs were fed neutral conditioned leaves in acid and neutral water. 6. Our study shows multiple, sub-lethal effects on life history of the acidification tolerant stonefly L. nigra in coniferous streams with low pH. The results suggest that these effects could be mediated primarily by low food quality. These findings add to the existing evidence that coniferous plantation forestry has a negative impact on stream ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Macroinvertebrates were collected and physico-chemical variables measured at 16 stream sites in Western Greenland during July 1999. Eight sites were located on Disko Island in an arctic oceanic climate and eight sites in the Kangerlussuaq area close to the icecap where the climate is arctic continental. The streams had different water sources (glacial, groundwater, snowmelt and lake water). 2. The streams showed pronounced differences in water temperature (2.2–17.3 °C), concentrations of suspended solids (0–2400 mg L-1), and conductivity (10–109 μS cm-1). Principal component analysis (PCA) analysis of the physico-chemical variables separated the Disko Island sites into a distinct group, whereas the sites in the Kangerlussuaq area were more dispersed. 3. A total of 56 macroinvertebrate species were found, including 31 species of Chironomidae, the most abundant of which was Orthocladius thienemanni. Diamesa sp. was only the sixth most abundant chironomid taxon. Species composition varied between sites, and abundance varied from about 20 individuals m-2 in a glacier fed stream to more than 16 000 m-2 in a lake outlet. 4. The macroinvertebrate communities of the 16 streams were separated into five TWINSPAN groups reflecting water source, irrespective of region. Lake outlets and ground-water-fed streams had the highest species richness and abundance, temperature and bed stability, while glacier-fed streams were characterized by low species richness, abundance, temperature, bed stability and high concentrations of suspended solids. Macroinvertebrate species richness was positively correlated with water temperature and negatively with bed stability. Conductivity was positively correlated with invertebrate abundance. 5. The results of this study suggest that the source of stream water can be used to predict invertebrate community composition in Greenlandic streams and thus the effects of changes in water balance and flow regime, and to identify sites of special conservation interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence of freshwater biodiversity decline, species extinction and severe alterations in the biological structure and function of freshwater ecosystems is accumulating. Here we explore the role of macrophyte diversity in lowland streams for the abundance, taxon richness and composition of macroinvertebrate communities also including the abundance of different functional feeding groups. We applied a controlled in situ experiment in four small lowland stream reaches situated in rural landscapes in Denmark. We were able to explain a major fraction of the variability in the macroinvertebrate communities by differences in total macrophyte surface areas among treatments, but the number of macrophyte species in the experimental treatment also played a highly significant role (i.e. one, two or three plant species) for both the abundance, richness and composition of the macroinvertebrate community. We strongly encourage managers to protect plant diversity in streams, not only because the plants themselves constitute an important part of the biodiversity, but also because they positively affect the macroinvertebrate community. Moreover, macrophyte-friendly management can be seen as a nature-based solution to mitigate the degraded physical conditions characterising many streams in agricultural catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Leaf litter breakdown in 26 ponds along a gradient of urbanisation. • Native A. aquaticus and non-native C. pseudogracilis were dominant shredder species. • Native shredder diversity decreased significantly across urbanization gradient. • C. pseudogracilis maintained breakdown rates in the most disturbed ponds. • Use of ecosystem functioning indicators should be paired with structural measures. Impacts on biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems are often overlooked in small waterbodies as they are not regularly monitored as part of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). These small systems are, however, often essential for freshwater biodiversity and are frequently characterized by high beta-diversity. In this study we examined shredder diversity and ecosystem functioning (leaf litter breakdown) as indicators of environmental stress along a gradient of urbanisation. The native isopod Asellus aquaticus and the non-native shrimp Crangonyx pseudogracilis (Amphipoda) were dominant species of the shredder communities in 26 study ponds. Variation in shredder community composition among ponds was explained by pond surface area (P < 0.05) and the coverage of impermeable surface within 500 m (P < 0.05), indicative of urban impact, which was strongly, and negatively correlated with shredder richness. Site mean total leaf breakdown was 0.0020 k d−1 (range 0.0003 – 0.0053), whilst breakdown rates owing to microbial and fungal activity were lower and averaged 0.0010 k d−1 (range 6.72−5 − 0.0036). Both total and microbial activity driven breakdown rates showed relatively weak relationships with the environmental gradient reflecting degrees of urbanization. A model-averaging procedure suggested that total litter breakdown rates could be attributed to activity of shredders with A. aquaticus and C. pseudogracilis contributing most, explaining 65% of the variance (R2 = 0.65, F = 13.7, P < 0.001), which both significantly and similarly predicted total leaf breakdown rates (P < 0.05). Total leaf breakdown rates were significantly correlated with the densities of both C. pseudogracilis (P < 0.001) and A. aquaticus (P < 0.001), however partial correlations indicated that the former showed the strongest association. The process of urbanisation can have significant, and negative impacts upon freshwater ecosystems, including small water bodies such as ponds both regarding biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. The findings of the current study suggest that ecosystem functioning indicators such as leaf litter decomposition should be paired with structural measures. This is because function sustained by tolerant invading species would not otherwise be detected, and their presence is increasingly likely due to climate change and urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils are currently leaching out dissolved organic matter (DOM) at an increasing pace due to climate and land use change or recovery from acidification. The implications for stream biogeochemistry and food webs remain largely unknown, notably the metabolic balance (biotic CO2 emissions) and carbon cycling between autotrophs and bacteria. We increased by 12% the flux of DOM in a stream for three weeks to mimic a pulse of natural DOM supply from soils rich in organic matter. We were able to track its fate into the food web through the use of a before and after control impact experimental design and the addition of DOM with a distinctive δ13C signature. We used whole‐stream metabolism to quantify carbon fluxes. Both photosynthesis and heterotrophic respiration increased rapidly following C addition, but this was short lived, likely due to nutrient limitations. Carbon exchange between autotrophs and bacteria in the control stream accounted for about 49% of bacterial production and 37% of net primary production, under stable flow conditions. Net primary production relied partly (19% in the control) on natural allochthonous dissolved organic carbon via the CO2 produced by bacterial respiration, intermingling the green and brown webs. The preferential uptake of labile carbon by bacteria and excess bacterial CO2 relative to nutrients (N, P) for autotrophs shifted the reciprocal carbon exchange between bacteria and autotrophs to a predominantly one‐way carbon flow from bacteria to autotrophs, increasing the C:N:P molar ratios of autotrophs, the latter likely to become less palatable to consumers. The bacterial response to sucrose addition shifted the metabolic balance toward heterotrophy increasing biotic CO2 emissions (+125%), shortened the average distance travelled by a molecule of organic matter (−40%), and thus provided less organic matter of lower quality for downstream ecosystems. Even a small increase in labile dissolved organic matter supply due to climate and land use change could significantly alter in‐stream carbon cycling, with large effects on stream food web and biogeochemistry in small streams draining catchments with soils rich in organic carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic freshwaters support biota adapted to the harsh conditions at these latitudes, but the climate is changing rapidly and so are the underlying environmental filters. Currently, we have limited understanding of broad‐scale patterns of Arctic riverine biodiversity and the correlates of α‐ and β‐diversity.Using information from a database set up within the scope of the Arctic Council's Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Plan, we analysed patterns and correlates of α‐ and β‐diversity in benthic diatom and macroinvertebrate communities across northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. We analysed variation in total β‐diversity and its replacement and richness difference components in relation to location of the river reach and its drainage basin (Baltic Sea in the south, the Barents Sea in the east and the north, and the Norwegian Sea in the west), in addition to climate and environmental variables.In both macroinvertebrates and diatoms, the replacement and richness difference components showed wide variation. For macroinvertebrates, the richness difference component was the more important, whereas for diatoms, the replacement component was the more important in contributing to variation in β‐diversity. There was no significant difference in β‐diversity between the three main drainage basins, but species composition differed among the drainage basins.Based on the richness difference component of β‐diversity, climate variables were most strongly associated with community variation in macroinvertebrates. In diatoms, both environmental and climate variables were strongly correlated with community compositional variation. In both groups, there were also significant differences in α‐diversity among the three main drainage basins, and several taxa were significant indicators of one of these drainage basins. Alpha diversity was greater in areas with a continental climate, while the oceanic areas in the west harboured greatly reduced flora and fauna.The correlates of biodiversity were relatively similar in macroinvertebrates and diatoms. Climate variables, in particular temperature, were the most strongly associated with biodiversity patterns in the Arctic rivers of Fennoscandia. Sedimentary geology may be associated with increased productivity and, to a lesser extent, with sensitivity to acidification. There was considerable variation in community composition across Arctic Fennoscandia, indicating the necessity of protecting several stream reaches or even whole catchments within each region to conserve total riverine biodiversity. Furthermore, it is likely that the predicted changes in temperature in Arctic areas will influence riverine diversity patterns across Fennoscandia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of bacteria in aquatic ecosystems and their predictable diversity patterns across space and time, biomonitoring tools for status assessment relying on these organisms are widely lacking. This is partly due to insufficient data and models to identify reliable microbial predictors. Here, we show metabarcoding in combination with multivariate statistics and machine learning allows to identify bacterial bioindicators for existing biological status classification systems. Bacterial beta-diversity dynamics follow environmental gradients and the observed associations highlight potential bioindicators for ecological outcomes. Spatio-temporal links spanning the microbial communities along the river allow accurate prediction of downstream biological status from upstream information. Network analysis on amplicon sequence veariants identify as good indicators genera Fluviicola, Acinetobacter, Flavobacterium, and Rhodoluna, and reveal informational redundancy among taxa, which coincides with taxonomic relatedness. The redundancy among bacterial bioindicators reveals mutually exclusive taxa, which allow accurate biological status modeling using as few as 2–3 amplicon sequence variants. As such our models show that using a few bacterial amplicon sequence variants from globally distributed genera allows for biological status assessment along river systems. Bacterial communities sampled over 2,600 km of the River Danube revealed the predictability of downstream river conditions from upstream microbiota, with variance and prevalence of dominant taxa linked to environmental gradients, unveiling potential bioindicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pesticides are constantly being applied to agricultural catchments, but little is known about their impact on aquatic biota during natural exposure. In the present study, the impact of the pyrethroid lambda-cyhalothrin was studied in an in-stream mesocosm setup. Twice during the summer of 2002, the natural macroinvertebrate community was exposed in situ to a 30-min pulse of lambda-cyhalothrin. Pyrethroid doses were released through a modified drip set with nominal concentrations of 0.10, 1.00, and 10.0 µ g L-1 during the first exposure and 0.05, 0.50, and 5.00 µ g L-1 in the second exposure. Before, during, and after exposure, drifting macroinvertebrates were caught in nets. Quantitative benthic samples were taken both before and on two occasions after exposure. Macroinvertebrate drift increased immediately after the pulse exposure, with total drift being significantly higher at all concentrations. Gammarus pulex, various Ephemeroptera, Leuctra sp., and Simuliidae were some of the taxa showing the most pronounced drift response. Structural change in the community was found only at 5.00 and 10.0 µ g L-1, and recovery occurred within approximately two weeks. The present study may be valuable in assessing extrapolations based on laboratory results as well as in evaluating pyrethroid impact on natural freshwater environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. We investigated the growth of the detritivore-shredder Sericostoma personatum by feeding groups of larvae on a fresh macrophyte, Potamogeton perfoliatus, conditioned sitka spruce needles, Picea sitchensis, conditioned alder leaves, Alnus glutinosa, conditioned ash leaves, Fraxinus excelsior, and a fresh filamentous green alga, Microspora sp. A sixth treatment group of larvae was fasted. 2. The nitrogen content of the food items ranged from 1.4% dry weight (DW) for Picea needles to 4.4% DW for Microspora filaments. Consumption of the various food items by Sericostoma differed significantly, being highest for Picea, and lowest for Potamogeton and Microspora. 3. The instantaneous growth rate ranged from -1.3% DW day-1 in the fasting group to 0.75% DW day-1 in the Alnus group. The growth rate of larvae fed on Alnus, Fraxinus and Microspora was similar, and significantly higher than that of the other three groups. An increase in the size of larval cases followed the same pattern as larval growth, although with less variation between food items. 4. Larvae fed on Microspora exhibited the greatest increase in fat content, while that of the larvae fed on Picea and those in the fasting group decreased. The gross growth efficiency (G/I%) of Sericostoma (larva + case) ranged from 2% when fed on Picea to 34% when fed on Microspora. Consumption was significantly correlated with the nutrient content of food items, whereas G/I% and growth rate were only weakly related to food quality. 5. The growth of Sericostoma varies with diet and the food items sustaining highest growth rate are not necessarily the ‘typical’ shredder food resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the restoration of physical habitats and its influence on macroinvertebrate community structure in 18 Danish lowland streams comprising six restored streams, six streams with little physical alteration and six channelized streams. We hypothesized that physical habitats and macroinvertebrate communities of restored streams would resemble those of natural streams, while those of the channelized streams would differ from both restored and near-natural streams. Physical habitats were surveyed for substrate composition, depth, width and current velocity. Macroinvertebrates were sampled along 100 m reaches in each stream, in edge habitats and in riffle/run habitats located in the center of the stream. Restoration significantly altered the physical conditions and affected the interactions between stream habitat heterogeneity and macroinvertebrate diversity. The substrate in the restored streams was dominated by pebble, whereas the substrate in the channelized and natural streams was dominated by sand. In the natural streams a relationship was identified between slope and pebble/gravel coverage, indicating a coupling of energy and substrate characteristics. Such a relationship did not occur in the channelized or in the restored streams where placement of large amounts of pebble/gravel distorted the natural relationship. The analyses revealed, a direct link between substrate heterogeneity and macroinvertebrate diversity in the natural streams. A similar relationship was not found in either the channelized or the restored streams, which we attribute to a de-coupling of the natural relationship between benthic community diversity and physical habitat diversity. Our study results suggest that restoration schemes should aim at restoring the natural physical structural complexity in the streams and at the same time enhance the possibility of re-generating the natural geomorphological processes sustaining the habitats in streams and rivers. Documentation of restoration efforts should be intensified with continuous monitoring of geomorphological and ecological changes including surveys of reference river systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warming in the Arctic is predicted to change freshwater biodiversity through loss of unique taxa and northward range expansion of lower latitude taxa. Detecting such changes requires establishing circumpolar baselines for diversity, and understanding the primary drivers of diversity.We examined benthic macroinvertebrate diversity using a circumpolar dataset of >1,500 Arctic lake and river sites. Rarefied α diversity within catchments was assessed along latitude and temperature gradients. Community composition was assessed through region‐scale analysis of β diversity and its components (nestedness and turnover), and analysis of biotic–abiotic relationships.Rarefied α diversity of lakes and rivers declined with increasing latitude, although more strongly across mainland regions than islands. Diversity was strongly related to air temperature, with the lowest diversity in the coldest catchments. Regional dissimilarity was highest when mainland regions were compared with islands, suggesting that connectivity limitations led to the strongest dissimilarity. High contributions of nestedness indicated that island regions contained a subset of the taxa found in mainland regions.High Arctic rivers and lakes were predominately occupied by Chironomidae and Oligochaeta, whereas Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera taxa were more abundant at lower latitudes. Community composition was strongly associated with temperature, although geology and precipitation were also important correlates.The strong association with temperature supports the prediction that warming will increase Arctic macroinvertebrate diversity, although low diversity on islands suggests that this increase will be limited by biogeographical constraints. Long‐term harmonised monitoring across the circumpolar region is necessary to detect such changes to diversity and inform science‐based management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There is a long tradition of river monitoring using taxonomy-based metrics to assess environmental quality in Europe via benthic macroinvertebrate communities. A promising alternative is the use of their species life-history traits. Both methods (taxonomy-based and trait-based), however, have relied on the time-consuming identification of taxa. River biotopes, (i.e. 1–100m2 ‘habitats’ with associated species assemblages), have long been seen as a useful and meaningful way of linking the ecology of macroinvertebrates and river hydro-morphology and can be used to assess hydro-morphological degradation in rivers. However, between-river taxonomic differences, especially at large spatial scale, had prevented a general test of this concept until now. The species trait approach may overcome this obstacle across broad geographical areas, using biotopes as the hydro-morphological units which have characteristic species trait assemblages. We collected macroinvertebrate data from discrete 512 patches, comprising 13 river biotopes, from seven rivers in England and Wales. The aim was to test whether river biotopes were better predictors of macroinvertebrate trait profiles than taxonomic composition (genera, families, orders) in rivers, independently of the phylogenetic effects and catchment scale characteristics (i.e. hydrology, geography and land cover). We also tested whether species richness and diversity were better related to biotopes than to rivers. River biotopes explained 40% of the variance in macroinvertebrate trait profiles across the rivers, largely independently of catchment characteristics. There was a strong phylogenetic signature, however. River biotopes were better at predicting macroinvertebrate trait profiles than taxonomic composition across rivers, whatever the taxonomic resolution. River biotopes were better than river identity at explaining the variability in taxonomic richness and diversity (40% and ≤10%, respectively). Detailed trait-biotope associations agreed with independent a priori predictions relating trait categories to near river bed flows. Hence, species traits provided a much needed mechanistic understanding and predictive ability across a broad geographical area. We show that integration of the multiple biological trait approach with river biotopes at the interface between ecology and hydro-morphology provides a wealth of new information and potential applications for river science and management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The annual global loss of organic carbon from terrestrial ecosystems into rivers is similar to the organic carbon stored in soils each year. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) flows through the food web to macroinvertebrates, but little is known about the effect of DOM increase on stream food webs and how much macroinvertebrates may contribute to the regulation of carbon fluxes in rivers. Using a before and after control impact (BACI) experimental design, we increased by 12% (+ 0.52 mg C L−1) the concentration of DOM in a stream for three weeks by adding sucrose, with a distinctive δ13C signature, to simulate a pulse of natural DOM supply from soils. We partitioned the diet of macroinvertebrates from carbon sources according to the green pathway (autotrophs) and detrital pathways (bacteria and terrestrial organic matter). Our flow food web approach based on C fluxes, with bacteria as a key node, showed the dominant contribution of the detrital pathways for macroinvertebrates in the reference stream. DOM addition induced changes in the diets of individual taxa, but did not have any strong effects on the relative overall contribution of the detrital pathways versus the green pathway. Autotrophic uptake of CO2 respired by bacteria was much larger than bacterial C flux to invertebrates (that is, the classic microbial loop) and allowed a significant fraction of natural allochthonous organic carbon to make its way to macroinvertebrates via autotrophs fixing CO2 respired by bacteria. Overall macroinvertebrates did not regulate directly to any great extent the flux of stream DOM towards downstream ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial communities are major players in the biogeochemical processes and ecosystem functioning of river networks. Despite their importance in the ecosystem, biomonitoring tools relying on prokaryotes are still lacking. Only a few studies have employed both metabarcoding and quantitative techniques such as catalysed reported deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD‐FISH) to analyse prokaryotic communities of epilithic biofilms in river ecosystems. We intended to investigate the efficacy of both techniques in detecting changes in microbial community structure associated with environmental drivers. We report a significant correlation between the prokaryotic community composition and pH in rivers from two different geographical areas in Norway. Both CARD‐FISH and metabarcoding data were following the pattern of the environmental variables, but the main feature distinguishing the community composition was the regional difference itself. Beta‐dispersion analyses on both CARD‐FISH abundance and metabarcoding data revealed higher accuracy of metabarcoding to differentiate regions and river systems. The CARD‐FISH results showed high variability, even for samples within the same river, probably due to some unmeasured microscale ecological variability which we could not resolve. We also present a statistical method, which uses variation coefficient and overall prevalence of taxonomic groups, to detect possible biological indicators among prokaryotes using metabarcoding data. The development of new prokaryotic bioindicators would benefit from both techniques used in this study, but metabarcoding seems to be faster and more reliable than CARD‐FISH for large scale bio‐assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing use of functional traits in ecological research has brought new insights into biodiversity responses to global environmental change. However, further progress depends on overcoming three major challenges involving (a) statistical correlations between traits, (b) phylogenetic constraints on the combination of traits possessed by any single species, and (c) spatial effects on trait structure and trait–environment relationships. Here, we introduce a new framework for quantifying trait correlations, phylogenetic constraints and spatial variability at large scales by combining openly available species' trait, occurrence and phylogenetic data with gridded, high‐resolution environmental layers and computational modelling. Our approach is suitable for use among a wide range of taxonomic groups inhabiting terrestrial, marine and freshwater habitats. We demonstrate its application using freshwater macroinvertebrate data from 35 countries in Europe. We identified a subset of available macroinvertebrate traits, corresponding to a life‐history model with axes of resistance, resilience and resource use, as relatively unaffected by correlations and phylogenetic constraints. Trait structure responded more consistently to environmental variation than taxonomic structure, regardless of location. A re‐analysis of existing data on macroinvertebrate communities of European alpine streams supported this conclusion, and demonstrated that occurrence‐based functional diversity indices are highly sensitive to the traits included in their calculation. Overall, our findings suggest that the search for quantitative trait–environment relationships using single traits or simple combinations of multiple traits is unlikely to be productive. Instead, there is a need to embrace the value of conceptual frameworks linking community responses to environmental change via traits which correspond to the axes of life‐history models. Through a novel integration of tools and databases, our flexible framework can address this need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial organisation of biotic communities derives from factors operating at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Despite strong scientific evidence of prevalent spatial control of community composition in freshwater ecosystems, local environmental factors are often considered as the main drivers of community change. Furthermore, taxonomic approaches are most frequently used, and few studies have compared the relative importance of local and regional control of trait versus the taxonomic composition in stream ecosystems., Using a spatially dense data set covering all stream sizes in a lowland European region of c. 42 000 km2 and three organism groups (macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and fishes), we compared the relative importance of spatial and environmental determinants of species and trait composition in the study streams, classified into headwaters (stream order 1-2) and downstream sites (stream order >2)., We hypothesised that (i) there is a higher correspondence between environmental conditions and trait composition than with species composition, (ii) dispersal limitation (pure spatial structuring) is greater in headwaters than in downstream sites and (iii) dispersal limitation (pure spatial structuring) is weakest for macroinvertebrates, intermediate for macrophytes and strongest for fishes., The most consistent pattern across organisms and stream order groups was a higher correspondence between environmental variation and trait composition as well as a higher number of environmental variables significantly related to trait composition than with species composition (hypothesis 1). Spatial structuring peaked in headwater macrophyte communities and downstream fish communities (hypotheses 2 & 3) - a pattern that was amplified when separate analyses of traits describing species dispersal potential were undertaken., Our study highlights the potential of traits to capture multiple environmental changes in stream ecosystems and illustrates how organism-specific and highly context-dependent patterns in community organisation can emerge as a consequence of interactions between habitat connectivity (i.e. top versus lower parts of the stream network) and organism dispersal potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review approaches and tools currently used in Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) for integrated assessment of 'ecological status' sensu the EU Water Framework Directive as well as assessment of 'eutrophication status' in coastal and marine waters. Integration principles for combining indicators within biological quality elements (BQEs) and combining BQEs into a final-integrated assessment are discussed. Specific focus has been put on combining different types of information into indices, since several methods are currently employed. As a consequence of the variety of methods used, comparisons across both BQEs and water categories (river, lakes and coastal waters) can be difficult. Based on our analyses, we conclude that some principles and methods for integration can be critical and that a harmonised approach should be developed. Further, we conclude that the integration principles applied within BQEs are critical and in need of harmonisation if we want a better understanding of potential transition in ecological status between surface water types, e.g. when riverine water enters a downstream lake or coastal water body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoration has been increasingly applied over the last decades as a way to improve the ecological conditions in stream ecosystems, but documentation of the impact of restoration on ecosystem functions is sparse. Here, we applied a space-for-time approach to explore effects of stream restoration on metabolism and organic matter decomposition in lowland agricultural streams. We included stream reaches that were restored >10 years ago and compared ecosystem functioning in these streams with those in channelized and naturally meandering stream reaches from the same geographical region. Specifically, we tested the following hypotheses: 1) rates of stream metabolism (gross primary production, GPP, and ecosystem respiration, ER) and organic matter decomposition in restored reaches resemble rates in naturally meandering reaches more than rates in channelized stream reaches and 2) higher resemblance in ecosystem metabolism and organic matter decomposition between restored reaches and meandering reaches can be attributed to the improved physical habitat conditions in the restored stream reaches. Overall, we did not find that stream metabolism or organic matter decomposition differed among restored, channelized and naturally meandering stream reaches even though habitat conditions differed among the three stream types. Instead, we found a large variation in ecosystem function characteristics across all sites. When analyzing all stream types combined, we found that GPP increased with increasing plant coverage and that ER increased with increasing stream size and with the coverage of coarse substratum on the stream bottom. Organic matter decomposition, on the other hand, only slightly increased with the number of plant species and declined with increasing concentrations of nutrients. Overall, our findings suggest that physical habitat improvements in restored stream reaches can affect ecosystem functions, but also that the restoration outcome is context-dependent since many of the physical characteristics playing a role for the measured functions were only to some extent affected by the restoration and/or clouded by interference with factors operating at a larger-scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is widely predicted to reduce the biomass production of top predators, or even result in species loss. Several exceptions to this expectation have been identified, however, and it is vital that we understand the underlying mechanisms if we are to improve our ability to predict future trends. Here, we used a natural warming experiment in Iceland and quantitative theoretical predictions to investigate the success of brown trout as top predators across a stream temperature gradient (4-25 °C). Brown trout are at the northern limit of their geographic distribution in this system, with ambient stream temperatures below their optimum for maximal growth, and above it in the warmest streams. A five-month mark-recapture study revealed that population abundance, biomass, growth rate, and production of trout all increased with stream temperature. We identified two mechanisms that contributed to these responses: (1) trout became more selective in their diet as stream temperature increased, feeding higher in the food web and increasing in trophic position; and (2) trophic transfer through the food web was more efficient in the warmer streams. We found little evidence to support a third potential mechanism: that external subsidies would play a more important role in the diet of trout with increasing stream temperature. Resource availability was also amplified through the trophic levels with warming, as predicted by metabolic theory in nutrient-replete systems. These results highlight circumstances in which top predators can thrive in warmer environments and contribute to our knowledge of warming impacts on natural communities and ecosystem functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exposed 34 species of stream macroinvertebrate's, representing 29 families, to a 90 min pulse of the pyrethroid λ-cyhalothrin. For 28 of these species, no pyrethroid ecotoxicity data exist. We recorded mortality rates 6 days post-exposure, and the behavioral response to pyrethroid exposure was recorded using automated video tracking. Most arthropod species showed mortality responses to the exposure concentrations (0.01-10 μg L-1), whereas nonarthropod species remained unaffected. LC50 varied by at least a factor of 1000 among arthropod species, even within the same family. This variation could not be predicted using ecotoxicity data from closely related species, nor using species-specific indicator values from traditional ecological quality indices. Moreover, LC50 was not significantly correlated to effect thresholds for behavioral responses. Importantly, however, the measured surface area-weight ratio and the preference for coarse substrates significantly influenced the LC50 for arthropod species, with the combination of small individuals and strong preference for coarse substrates indicating higher pyrethroid sensitivity. Our study highlights that existing pesticide ecotoxicity data should be extrapolated to untested species with caution and that actual body size (not maximum potential body size, as is usually available in traits databases) and habitat preference are central parameters determining species sensitivities to pyrethroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Restoration of river hydromorphology often has limited detected effects on river biota. One frequently discussed reason is that the restored river length is insufficient to allow populations to develop and give the room for geomorphological processes to occur. 2. We investigated ten pairs of restored river sections of which one was a large project involving a long, intensively restored river section and one represented a smaller restoration effort. The restoration effect was quantified by comparing each restored river section to an upstream nonrestored section. We sampled the following response variables: habitat composition in the river and its floodplain, three aquatic organism groups (aquatic macrophytes, benthic invertebrates and fish), two floodplain-inhabiting organism groups (floodplain vegetation, ground beetles), as well as food web composition and land-water interactions reflected by stable isotopes. 3. For each response variable, we compared the difference in dissimilarity of the restored and nearby non-restored section between the larger and the smaller restoration projects. In a second step, we regrouped the pairs and compared restored sections with large changes in substrate composition to those with small changes. 4. When comparing all restored to all non-restored sections, ground beetles were most strongly responding to restoration, followed by fish, floodplain vegetation, benthic invertebrates and aquatic macrophytes. Aquatic habitats and stable isotope signatures responded less strongly. 5. When grouping the restored sections by project size, there was no difference in the response to restoration between the projects targeting long and short river sections with regard to any of the measured response variables except nitrogen isotopic composition. In contrast, when grouping the restored sections by substrate composition, the responses of fish, benthic invertebrates, aquatic macrophytes, floodplain vegetation and nitrogen isotopic composition were greater in sections with larger changes in substrate composition as compared to those with smaller changes. 6. Synthesis and applications. The effects of hydromorphological restoration measures on aquatic and floodplain biota strongly depend on the creation of habitat for aquatic organisms, which were limited or not present prior to restoration. These positive effects on habitats are not necessarily related to the restored river length. Therefore, we recommend a focus on habitat enhancement in river restoration projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Previous studies investigating community-level relationships between plant functional trait characteristics and stream environmental characteristics remain scarce. Here, we used community-weighted means to identify how plant traits link to lowland stream typology and how agricultural intensity in the catchment affects trait composition. 2. We analysed plant trait characteristics in 772 European lowland streams to test the following two hypotheses: (i) trait characteristics differ between plant communities in small and medium-sized streams, reflecting adaptations to different habitat characteristics, and (ii) trait characteristics vary with the intensity of agricultural land use in the stream catchment, mediated either directly by an increase in productive species or indirectly by an increase in species that efficiently intercept and utilize light. 3. We found that the communities in small streams were characterized by a higher abundance of light-demanding species growing from single apical meristems, reproducing by seeds and rooted to the bottom with floating and/or heterophyllous leaves, whereas the community in medium-sized streams was characterized by a higher abundance of productive species growing from multi-apical and basal growth meristems forming large canopies. 4. We also found indications that community trait characteristics were affected by eutrophication. We did not find enhanced abundance of productive species with an increasing proportion of agriculture in the catchments. Instead, we found an increase in the abundance of species growing from apical and multi-apical growth meristems as well as in the abundance of species tolerant of low light availability. The increase in the abundance of species possessing these traits likely reflects different strategies to obtain greater efficiency in light interception and utilization in nutrient-enriched environments. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our findings challenge the general assumption of the EU Water Framework Directive compliant assessment systems that plant community patterns in streams reflect the nutrient preference of the community. Instead, light availability and the ability to improve interception and utilization appeared to be of key importance for community composition in agricultural lowland streams. We therefore suggest moving from existing approaches building on species-specific preference values for nutrients to determine the level of nutrient impairment to trait-based approaches that provide insight into the biological mechanisms underlying the changes. We recommend that existing systems are critically appraised in the context of the findings of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We revealed a history of legacy pesticides in water and sediment samples from 19 small streams across an agricultural landscape. Dominant legacy compounds included organochlorine pesticides, such as DDT and lindane, the organophosphate chlorpyrifos and triazine herbicides such as terbutylazine and simazine which have long been banned in the EU. The highest concentrations of legacy pesticides were found in streams draining catchments with a large proportion of arable farmland suggesting that they originated from past agricultural applications. The sum of toxic units (SumTU D.magna ) based on storm water samples from agriculturally impacted streams was significantly higher when legacy pesticides were included compared to when they were omitted. Legacy pesticides did not significantly change the predicted toxicity of water samples to algae or fish. However, pesticide concentrations in bed sediment and suspended sediment samples exceeded safety thresholds in 50% of the samples and the average contribution of legacy pesticides to the SumTU C.riparius was >90%. Our results suggest that legacy pesticides can be highly significant contributors to the current toxic exposure of stream biota, especially macroinvertebrate communities, and that those communities were primarily exposed to legacy pesticides via the sediment. Additionally, our results suggest that neglecting legacy pesticides in the risk assessment of pesticides in streams may severely underestimate the risk of ecological effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and predicting how global warming affects the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems is a key challenge of the 21st century. Isolated laboratory and field experiments testing global change hypotheses have been criticized for being too small-scale and overly simplistic, whereas surveys are inferential and often confound temperature with other drivers. Research that utilizes natural thermal gradients offers a more promising approach and geothermal ecosystems in particular, which span a range of temperatures within a single biogeographic area, allow us to take the laboratory into nature rather than vice versa. By isolating temperature from other drivers, its ecological effects can be quantified without any loss of realism, and transient and equilibrial responses can be measured in the same system across scales that are not feasible using other empirical methods. Embedding manipulative experiments within geothermal gradients is an especially powerful approach, informing us to what extent small-scale experiments can predict the future behaviour of real ecosystems. Geothermal areas also act as sentinel systems by tracking responses of ecological networks to warming and helping to maintain ecosystem functioning in a changing landscape by providing sources of organisms that are preadapted to different climatic conditions. Here, we highlight the emerging use of geothermal systems in climate change research, identify novel research avenues, and assess their roles for catalysing our understanding of ecological and evolutionary responses to global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater habitats and organisms are among the most threatened on Earth, and freshwater ecosystems have been subject to large biodiversity losses. We developed a Climate Change Sensitivity (CCS) indicator based on trait information for a selection of stream- and lake-dwelling Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera taxa. We calculated the CCS scores based on ten species traits identified as sensitive to global climate change. We then assessed climate change sensitivity between the six main ecoregions of Sweden as well as the three Swedish regions based on Illies. This was done using biological data from 1,382 stream and lake sites where we compared large-scale (ecoregional) patterns in climate change sensitivity with potential future exposure of these ecosystems to increased temperatures using ensemble-modelled future changes in air temperature. Current (1961~1990) measured temperature and ensemble-modelled future (2100) temperature showed an increase from the northernmost towards the southern ecoregions, whereas the predicted temperature change increased from south to north. The CCS indicator scores were highest in the two northernmost boreal ecoregions where we also can expect the largest global climate change-induced increase in temperature, indicating an unfortunate congruence of exposure and sensitivity to climate change. These results are of vital importance when planning and implementing management and conservation strategies in freshwater ecosystems, e.g., to mitigate increased temperatures using riparian buffer strips. We conclude that traits information on taxa specialization, e.g., in terms of feeding specialism or taxa having a preference for high altitudes as well as sensitivity to changes in temperature are important when assessing the risk from future global climate change to freshwater ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Lambda-cyhalothrin overrules anti-predator behaviour of Gammarus pulex during exposure. [•] Lambda-cyhalothrin overrules predator behaviour of G. pulex during exposure. [•] Sublethal lambda-cyhalothrin concentrations may have cascading effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Environmental warming is predicted to rise dramatically over the next century, yet few studies have investigated its effects in natural, multi-species systems. We present data collated over an 8-year period from a catchment of geothermally heated streams in Iceland, which acts as a natural experiment on the effects of warming across different organisational levels and spatiotemporal scales. Body sizes and population biomasses of individual species responded strongly to temperature, with some providing evidence to support temperature–size rules. Macroinvertebrate and meiofaunal community composition also changed dramatically across the thermal gradient. Interactions within the warm streams in particular were characterised by food chains linking algae to snails to the apex predator, brown trout. These chains were missing from the colder systems, where snails were replaced by much smaller herbivores and invertebrate omnivores were the top predators. Trout were also subsidised by terrestrial invertebrate prey, which could have an effect analogous to apparent competition within the aquatic prey assemblage. Top-down effects by snails on diatoms were stronger in the warmer streams, which could account for a shallowing of mass–abundance slopes across the community. This may indicate reduced energy transfer efficiency from resources to consumers in the warmer systems and/or a change in predator–prey mass ratios. All the ecosystem process rates investigated increased with temperature, but with differing thermal sensitivities, with important implications for overall ecosystem functioning (e.g. creating potential imbalances in elemental fluxes). Ecosystem respiration rose rapidly with temperature, leading to increased heterotrophy. There were also indications that food web stability may be lower in the warmer streams. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Ecosystem respiration is a primary component of the carbon cycle and understanding the mechanisms that determine its temperature dependence will be important for predicting how rates of carbon efflux might respond to global warming. We used a rare model system, comprising a network of geothermally heated streams ranging in temperature from 5 °C to 25 °C, to explore the nature of the relationship between respiration and temperature. Using this 'natural experiment', we tested whether the natal thermal regime of stream communities influenced the temperature dependence of respiration in the absence of other potentially confounding variables. An empirical survey of 13 streams across the thermal gradient revealed that the temperature dependence of whole-stream respiration was equivalent to the average activation energy of the respiratory complex (0.6-0.7 eV). This observation was also consistent for in-situ benthic respiration. Laboratory experiments, incubating biofilms from four streams across the thermal gradient at a range of temperatures, revealed that the activation energy and Q10 of respiration were remarkably consistent across streams, despite marked differences in their thermal history and significant turnover in species composition. Furthermore, absolute rates of respiration at standardised temperature were also unrelated to ambient stream temperature, but strongly reflected differences in biofilm biomass. Together, our results suggest that the core biochemistry, which drives the kinetics of oxidative respiratory metabolism, may be well conserved among diverse taxa and environments, and that the intrinsic sensitivity of respiration to temperature is not influenced by ambient environmental temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Eight adjacent sub-arctic streams with consistently different temperatures but broadly similar chemistry, other than some differences in conductivity and linked pH, were used to investigate effects of temperature regime on the structure of primary producer communities. Grazing by invertebrates was also taken into account to detect possible effects on the primary producers. The moss species Fontinalis antipyretica Hedw. (Bryophyta) was only observed in the warmer streams and its cover was positively linked with temperature. The liverwort Jungermannia exsertifolia (Steph.) was absent from the warmer streams and scarce in the colder streams. The biomass of F. antipyretica was inversely correlated with concentration of epilithic chlorophyll a, possibly due to shading from the bryophyte and/or competition between algae and bryophytes for nutrients. Epilithic algae and bryophyte biomass were not related to density of the main grazer, Radix peregra Müller (Gastropoda). A high biovolume of green algae (Chlorophyta) occurred in all streams. The biovolume Cyanobacteria was greatest in the coldest stream and in the two intermediately warm streams. Diatom biovolume was low compared with the biovolumes of Cyanobacteria and green algae in all streams, except in the two warmest streams, where the highest biovolume of diatom occurred. Regularized Canonical Correlation Analysis (RCCA) classification based on all primary producer assemblages and invertebrates indicated that warm streams (16.7–22.2°C) were similar to each other. It also showed that the colder streams (6.6–13.2°C) were different from the warmer streams and from each other because of differences in conductivity. Temperature and conductivity were the most influential variables in determining overall stream diversity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

1. It is becoming increasingly clear that fresh waters play a major role in the global C cycle. Stream ecosystem respiration (ER) and gross primary productivity (GPP) exert a significant control on organic carbon fluxes in fluvial networks. However, little is known about how climate change will influence these fluxes. 2. Here, we used a 'natural experiment' to demonstrate the role of temperature and nutrient cycling in whole-system metabolism (ER, GPP and net ecosystem production - NEP), in naturally heated geothermal (5-25 °C) Icelandic streams. 3. We calculated ER and GPP with a new, more accurate method, which enabled us to take into account the additional uncertainties owing to stream spatial heterogeneity in oxygen concentrations within a reach. ER ranged 1-25 g C m day and GPP 1-10 g C m day. The median uncertainties (based on 1 SD) in ER and GPP were 50% and 20%, respectively. 4. Despite extremely low water nutrient concentrations, high metabolic rates in the warm streams were supported by fast cycling rates of nutrients, as revealed from inorganic nutrient (N, P) addition experiments. 5. ER exceeded GPP in all streams (with average GPP/ER = 0.6) and was more strongly related to temperature than GPP, resulting in elevated negative NEP with warming. We show that, as a first approximation based on summer investigations, global stream carbon emission to the atmosphere would nearly double from 0.12 Pg C year at 13 °C to 0.21 (0.15-0.33) Pg C year with a 5 °C warming. 6. Compared to previous studies from natural systems (including terrestrial ecosystems), the temperature dependence of stream metabolism was not confounded by latitude or altitude, seasonality, light and nutrient availability, water chemistry, space availability (water transient storage), and water availability. 7. Consequently, stream nutrient processing is likely to increase with warming, protecting downstream ecosystems (rivers, estuaries, coastal marine systems) during the summer low flows from nutrient enrichment, but at the cost of increased CO flux back to the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Earth is experiencing historically unprecedented rates of warming, with surface temperatures projected to increase by 3–5 °C globally, and up to 7.5 °C in high latitudes, within the next century. Knowledge of how this will affect biological systems is still largely restricted to the lower levels of organization (e.g. species range shifts), rather than at the community, food web or ecosystem level, where responses cannot be predicted from studying single species in isolation. Further, many correlational studies are confounded with time and/or space, whereas experiments have been mostly confined to laboratory microcosms that cannot capture the true complexity of natural ecosystems. We used a ‘natural experiment’ in an attempt to circumvent these shortcomings, by characterizing community structure and trophic interactions in 15 geothermal Icelandic streams ranging in temperature from 5 °C to 45 °C. Even modest temperature increases had dramatic effects across multiple levels of organization, from changes in the mean body size of the top predators, to unimodal responses of species populations, turnover in community composition, and lengthening of food chains. Our results reveal that the rates of warming predicted for the next century have serious implications for the structure and functioning of these fragile ‘sentinel’ ecosystems across multiple levels of organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STAR is a European Commission Framework V project (EVK1-CT-2001-00089). The project aim is to provide practical advice and solutions with regard to many of the issues associated with the Water Framework Directive. This paper provides a context for the STAR research programme through a review of the requirements of the directive and the Common Implementation Strategy responsible for guiding its implementation. The scientific and strategic objectives of STAR are set out in the form of a series of research questions and the reader is referred to the papers in this volume that address those objectives, which include: (a) Which methods or biological quality elements are best able to indicate certain stressors? (b) Which method can be used on which scale? (c) Which method is suited for early and late warnings? (d) How are different assessment methods affected by errors and uncertainty? (e) How can data from different assessment methods be intercalibrated? (f) How can the cost-effectiveness of field and laboratory protocols be optimised? (g) How can boundaries of the five classes of Ecological Status be best set? (h) What contribution can STAR make to the development of European standards? The methodological approaches adopted to meet these objectives are described. These include the selection of the 22 stream-types and 263 sites sampled in 11 countries, the sampling protocols used to sample and survey phytobenthos, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates, fish and hydromorphology, the quality control and uncertainty analyses that were applied, including training, replicate sampling and audit of performance, the development of bespoke software and the project outputs. This paper provides the detailed background information to be referred to in conjunction with most of the other papers in this volume. These papers are divided into seven sections: (1) typology, (2) organism groups, (3) macrophytes and diatoms, (4) hydromorphology, (5) tools for assessing European streams with macroinvertebrates, (6) intercalibration and comparison and (7) errors and uncertainty. The principal findings of the papers in each section and their relevance to the Water Framework Directive are synthesised in short summary papers at the beginning of each section. Additional outputs, including all sampling and laboratory protocols and project deliverables, together with a range of freely downloadable software are available from the project website at www.eu_star.at. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union requires all member countries to provide information on the level of confidence and precision of results in their river monitoring programmes to assess the ecological status class of river sites. As part of the European Union project STAR, the overall effects of sampling variation for a wide range of commonly used metrics and sampling methods were assessed. Replicate samples were taken in each of two seasons at 2–6 sites of varying ecological status class within each of 18 stream types spread over 12 countries, using both the STAR-AQEM method and a national sampling method or, where unavailable, the RIVPACS sampling protocol. The sampling precision of a combination of sampling method and metric was estimated by expressing the replicate sampling variance as a percentage P samp of the total variance in metric values with a stream type; low values of P samp indicate high precision. Most metrics had percentage sampling variances less than 20% for all or most stream types and methods. Most national methods including RIVPACS had sampling precisions at least as good as those for the STAR-AQEM method as used in their country at the same sites; the main exceptions were the national methods used in Latvia and Sweden. The national methods used in the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Poland and the RIVPACS method used in the UK and Austria all had percentage sampling variances of less than 10% for the majority of metrics assessed. In contrast, none of the metrics had percentage sampling variances less than 10% when based on either the Italian (IBE) method, which used bank-side sorting, or the Latvian national method which identifies only a limited set of taxa. P samp was lowest on average for the two stream types sampled in the Czech Republic using either the PERLA national method or the STAR-AQEM method. Averaged over all stream types and methods, the three Saprobic-based metrics had the lowest average percentage sampling variances (3–6%) amongst the 26 metrics assessed. These estimates of sampling standard deviation can be used to help assess the uncertainty in single or multi-metric systems for estimating site ecological status using the general STAR Bioassessment Guidance Software (STARBUGS) developed within the STAR project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]