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At the Pingorsuit Glacier in North‐West Greenland, an organic‐rich deposit that had recently emerged from the retreating ice cap was discovered at an elevation of 480 m above sea level. This paper reports on macrofossil analyses of a coarse detritus gyttja and peaty soil, which occurred beneath a thin cover of till and glacifluvial deposits. The sediments contained remains of vascular plants, mosses, beetles, caddisflies, midges, bryozoans, sponges and other invertebrates. The flora includes black spruce, tree birch, boreal shrubs and wetland and aquatic taxa, which shows that mires, lakes and ponds were present in the area. We describe a new extinct waterwort species Elatine odgaardii. The fossils were deposited in a boreal environment with a mean July air temperature that was at least 9 °C higher than at present. The fossil assemblages show strong similarities with others from Greenland that have been assigned an Early Pleistocene age, and we suggest a similar age for the sediments found at the margin of the Pingorsuit Glacier. At the Pingorsuit Glacier in North‐West Greenland, an organic‐rich deposit was discovered at an elevation of 480 m above sea level. The sediments contained remains of vascular plants, mosses, beetles, caddisflies, midges, bryozoans, sponges and other invertebrates. The fossils were deposited in a boreal environment with a mean July air temperature that was at least 9 °C higher than at present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of macrofossils indicate that the vegetation near Regstrup in north-west Sjælland, Denmark, from c. 13 600 to 13 500 cal. years BP was dominated by dwarfshrub heaths. Betula pubescens (downy birch) arrived at c. 13 500 cal. years BP and became common after c. 13 200 cal. years BP. Open forests with B. pubescens and Populus tremula (aspen) dominated until c. 12 500 cal. years BP, indicating that an Allerød-type environment persisted for c. 350 years after the cooling at the onset of the Younger Dryas, which is dated to c. 12 850 years BP in ice cores from Greenland. Betula nana was common after c. 12 500 cal. years BP, indicating a return to a tundra-like landscape with dwarf-shrub heaths. The fauna included Rangifer tarandus (reindeer), Castor fiber (Eurasian beaver) and possibly Lemmus lemmus (Norway lemming). The lake deposits contain remains of many species of aquatic plants and animals, including three species of fish. The flora and fauna indicate that the lake water was fairly nutrient-rich and alkaline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of insecticides on terrestrial adult life stages of otherwise aquatic insects, such as mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), and caddisflies (Trichoptera), are largely unknown. In the present study, a risk model was used to pinpoint the species most likely to experience effects due to spray drift exposure during the adult life stage. Using data from an earlier case study with lambda‐cyhalothrin, 6 species with different life cycle traits were used to explore how life cycle characteristics may influence vulnerability. In addition, we performed a generic calculation of the potential effect on the terrestrial life stages of 53 species (including 47 species with unknown sensitivity). Our approach incorporated temporal and spatial distribution of both the insect and the insecticide, creating different exposure conditions among species due to variation in the relative proportion of the populations present at the time of insecticide spraying. The Ephemeroptera species represented were least vulnerable due to their extremely short adult life span and relatively short flight period. Based on their life cycle characteristics, Plecoptera and Trichoptera species were more vulnerable. These vulnerable species segregated into 2 distinct groups; one with a long adult life span to emergent period ratio and another with a high overlap between emergent period and spraying season. We therefore recommend that future ecotoxicological tests be done on species with these life cycle characteristics. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:1778–1787. © 2021 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lateglacial submarine lake sediments are reported for the first time from the Kattegat Sea in southern Scandinavia. The Lateglacial sediments were collected from a vibrocore that contained, from top to bottom, Holocene marine muddy sand, Holocene brackish‐water mud, Early Holocene peat with remains of Betula pubescens and telmatic plants, Lateglacial lake deposits that are the focus of this paper, and homogenous sand. Radiocarbon dating of terrestrial plant remains from the Lateglacial sediments gave ages between 12 400 and 12 800 cal a bp, corresponding to the Younger Dryas. The Lateglacial sediments contain remains of Betula nana and other plants indicating a tundra‐like open landscape with dwarf shrub heaths, which is typical for the region. Remains of macrolimnophytes indicate shallow carbonate‐rich, cool lake waters. Remains of larvae of Trichoptera and Chironomidae dominate the invertebrate fauna and indicate a fairly species‐rich fauna. Half of the trichopteran taxa today have their distribution north of Denmark or show a generally northern distribution in Europe. The lake sediments are found at ∼ 24 m below sea level, and the presence of lake sediments shows that this part of Kattegat had not been transgressed by the sea during the Younger Dryas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of interglacial successions are critical to our understanding of the environmental history of an area. Analyses of macrofossil remains of plants and invertebrates from Eemian sediments exposed in a coastal cliff section at Borðoyarvík near Klaksvík, Bordoy, northeastern Faroe Islands, indicate that the sediments accumulated in a coastal lagoon. The fossil flora comprises tree birch Betula sect. Albae and we suggest that birch forests were found locally at sheltered sites in the area. Tree birch also occurred on the islands during the mid-Holocene. The only other woody plant recovered from the Eemian deposit is the dwarf-shrub Empetrum nigrum, which is common on the islands today. Remains of herbaceous plants are rare but include Viola, Ajuga, Myosotis, Urtica dioica and Ranunculus. The bryophyte flora is species-rich and most of the fragments belong either to stream species or to species of humid or wet habitats. The fossil flora and fauna also comprise a number of freshwater species that probably lived in an oligotrophic lake and in streams in the catchment of the lagoon. The climate during deposition of the lagoonal sediments was similar to the Holocene oceanic climate of the Faroe Islands. The study adds to our understanding of Eemian environments in the North Atlantic region and helps to fill a knowledge gap about the history of the flora and fauna of the Faroe Islands, which is of biogeographical importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lowland stream ecosystems are subjected to multiple anthropogenic stressors, usually nutrient enrichment in combination with sedimentation of fine particles and low flow periods in summer. Here, we investigated the temporal development of the benthic algae community in response to these three stressors and linkages to the trait characteristics of the community to explore the mechanisms responsible for stress-induced community changes., We investigated the response of benthic algae species composition, traits (life forms, cell size categories), biovolume and chlorophyll a (Chl- a) concentration to low flow in combination with nutrient enrichment and fine sedimentation in twelve large outdoor stream flumes (12 m long) resembling small streams in size and habitat characteristics. The experiment consisted of two phases: a normal-flow phase followed by a low-flow phase (90% current velocity reduction), each spanning 4 weeks. We applied a eutrophication scenario (mean increases of 1.14-5.48 mg N/L and 0.01-0.06 mg P/L in the flumes for dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate respectively) throughout the experiment. Under low flow, we supplemented this with a fine sedimentation scenario (>90% stream bed cover). We took samples once in the normal-flow phase and every week during the low-flow phase., We observed strong responses in the benthic algae community to sudden changes in low flow and fine sedimentation, mediating rapid species turnover with a decreased algal biovolume and increased abundance of large, motile species. However, we did not observe any pronounced responses to nutrient enrichment. In contrast to the observations for other variables, we found a continuous increase in Chl- a concentration during low flow. This was likely due to continuous fine sedimentation during this phase, reducing light availability which probably resulted in an increase of cell-level Chl- a concentration in response to light limitation and lower rates of light-induced Chl- a degradation., The rapid response of the benthic algal community to the applied stressors suggests that even short periods of major stressor exposure may significantly affect benthic algae in lowland systems. We suggest that short-term stress events may have cascading effects on several important ecosystem processes given the importance of benthic algae for the productivity of these systems. [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 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]

Abstract: Pyrethroids are widely used insecticides that may seriously harm aquatic organisms. Being strongly hydrophobic, pyrethroids in solution occur only in short pulses but may be retained in sediments for longer periods. Consequently, most studies consider the chronic exposure of sediment dwelling organisms. We collected data from 16 studies to determine effect thresholds for stream macroinvertebrates exposed to short pyrethroid pulses evaluating lethal and sublethal ecologically relevant endpoints. Dose–response models showed EC50 for lethality, functional and behavioural endpoints down to 1/100, 1/100 and 1/1000 of the 48 h LC50 for Daphnia magna, respectively. The results indicate that the overall sensitivity of stream macroinvertebrates to pyrethroids may be higher than previously believed. This review shows the relevance of incorporating data on sublethal endpoints and appropriate post-exposure observation periods in future studies. The current risk assessment procedures and the higher tier approach are discussed in the light of our results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Agricultural pesticides continue to impair surface water ecosystems, although there are few assessments of interactions with other modifications such as fine sediment and physical alteration for flood drainage. We, therefore, surveyed pesticide contamination and macroinvertebrates in 14 streams along a gradient of expected pesticide exposure using a paired-reach approach to differentiate effects between physically modified and less modified sites. Apparent pesticides effects on the relative abundance of SPEcies At Risk (SPEAR) were increased at sites with degraded habitats primarily due to the absence of species with specific preferences for hard substrates. Our findings highlight the importance of physical habitat degradation in the assessment and mitigation of pesticide risk in agricultural streams. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Agricultural pesticides are known to significantly impact the composition of communities in stream ecosystems. Moreover, agricultural streams are often characterised by loss of physical habitat diversity which may impose additional stress resulting from suboptimal environmental conditions. We surveyed pesticide contamination and rates of leaf litter decomposition in 14 1st and 2nd order Danish streams using litter bags with coarse and fine mesh sizes. Two sites differing in physical habitat complexity were sampled in each stream, and we used this approach to differentiate the effects of pesticides between sites with uniform (silt and sand) and more heterogeneous physical properties. Microbial litter decomposition was reduced by a factor two to four in agricultural streams compared to forested streams, and we found that the rate of microbial litter decomposition responded most strongly to pesticide toxicity for microorganisms and not to eutrophication. Moreover, the rate of microbial litter decomposition was generally 50% lower at sites with uniform physical habitats dominated by soft substrate compared to the sites with more heterogeneous physical habitats. The rate of macroinvertebrate shredding activity was governed by the density of shredders, and the density of shredders was not correlated to pesticide contamination mainly due to high abundances of the amphipod Gammarus pulex at all sites. Our study provides the first field based results on the importance of multiple stressors and their potential to increase the effect of agricultural pesticides on important ecosystem processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Analyses of a sediment core from the Great Belt documented the local presence of fluvial deposits. The sediments consisted of silt, clay, sand and organic detritus and they contained macroscopical remains of a mixture of terrestrial, telmatic, lacustrine and fluvial plants and animals. Most noteworthy was the abundance of remains of caddisfly larvae, totalling at least 24 species, which were dominated by fluvial species. Thus, filter-feeding hydropsychids made up approximately 95% out of 1496 identified specimens, the dominating species being Hydropsyche contubernalis and H. pellucidula. The present-day requirements of the recorded species point to a fairly fast-flowing river, at least locally, with areas of stones (some with moss growth) and gravel, but also to more slowly-flowing parts with sand, fine and coarse detritus. This river may have been considerably larger than any present-day Danish river. It appears that the fluvial deposits formed locally in connection with flooding of the area south of the core position. AMS radiocarbon dating shows that the sequence was deposited very rapidly during the early Holocene, about 10650 to 10250 cal. years BP. The occurrence of the lentic Leptocerus tineiformis points to a climate at least as warm as today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a re-description of the poorly known larva of Paroecetis strucki (Klapálek, 1903). Information for the identification of this species is given, and the most important diagnostic features are illustrated. In addition, some zoogeographical and ecological notes are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exposed twelve mesocosm stream channels and four instream channels to one, two, and four pulses of the insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin (0.1 μg L−1) applied at two day intervals, each pulse lasting 90 min. Unexposed controls were included. We monitored macroinvertebrate taxonomic composition in the channels and in deployed leaf packs one day before and 29 days after the first exposure. Further, we measured drift in and out of the channels and leaf litter decomposition. Lambda-cyhalothrin exposures induced significantly increased drift in both experiments especially for Gammarus pulex , Amphinemura standfussi , and Leuctra spp. Macroinvertebrate taxonomic composition increasingly changed with increasing number of lambda-cyhalothrin exposures being most pronounced in the mesocosm channels. Further, leaf decomposition significantly decreased with increasing number of exposures in the mesocosm channels. Our study showed that species with predicted highest sensitivity to lambda-cyhalothrin were primary drivers of significant changes in taxonomic composition lasting for at least one month despite continuous recolonization of exposed channels from upstream parts of the natural stream and from the water inlet in the mesocosm channels. The overall results highlight the importance of sequential exposures to insecticides for understanding the full impact of insecticides on macroinvertebrates at the community level in streams. Image 1 • Sequential exposures increased changes in macroinvertebrate community structure. • Sequential exposures decreased leaf litter decomposition. • Species with predicted high pyrethroid sensitivity governed community changes. Increasing number of sequential exposures with lambda-cyhalothrin increased changes in macroinvertebrate community structure and decreased their ecological function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We collected quantitative macroinvertebrate samples and measured environmental and geographical parameters at 13 sites: six along the main stem and seven in tributaries close to the main channel over a 700 m gradient in altitude and 22 km longitudinal distance along the River Kokra in the Slovenian Alps. Our objectives were 1) to compare longitudinal patterns in richness and community composition between main stem and tributary sites, and 2) to determine the relative importance of the replacement and richness difference component for overall beta diversity and of environmental versus spatial distance on beta diversity among main stem and tributary sites. In total 138 taxa were identified. There were no differences between main stem and tributary sites in mean abundance or taxon richness (67 and 58, respectively). A nMDS and ANOSIM based on Bray-Curtis similarities found no separation of main stem and tributary sites, but that upper (≥880 m a.s.l) and lower sites (≤680 m a.s.l.) formed two different groups. In both main stem and tributaries taxon richness increased only slightly going downstream while the community composition (DCA1) was much better explained by altitude and distance from source. Overall, beta diversity (Sørensen and Bray-Curtis dissimilarity) was similar for the two groups, and total Sørensen dissimilarity was driven mainly by replacement in main stem (78 %) and tributary sites (77 %). Mantel tests showed that main stem dissimilarities were significantly correlated to environmental PCA distance, watercourse distance, overland distance and altitudinal differences. Tributary dissimilarities were not correlated to any of these four factors. GLMs showed that dissimilarity among main stem sites was explained only by altitude difference, while no factors were significant among tributary sites, even though nearly so for environmental PCA distance. The study illustrates the importance of measuring beta diversity along ecological gradients, such as river continua and/or altitudinal gradients, where alpha diversity may fail to detect relatively minor changes in assemblage composition. Such changes are likely to occur due to present and future climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danish streams have for some decades shown a significant improvement in ecological quality. This is based on a time-series of a subset of 247 sites from the nationwide monitoring program with reoccurring annual sampling. The ecological quality is determined using the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna as bio-indicators via the Danish Stream Fauna Index (DSFI), and expressed in categorically ranked scores, with 1 as the lowest, and 7 as the highest quality. We analysed a data set on DSFI scores and the associated taxon lists from 2004 to 2013, totaling to 2411 individual samples or communities. Our main objectives were to 1) examine the temporal multidirectional dynamics underlying the overall net improving trend in the DSFI scores, and 2) to elucidate how the DSFI responds to differences in faunal community composition. Our analysis showed that most sites exhibited unchanged DSFI over the 10 year period (53%), although inter-annual shifts were still observable within these sites. The DSFI interval 1–2 showed the highest proportion of positive shifts, whereas interval 3–4 the highest proportion of negative shifts. Improvement measures should therefore be directed more specifically towards intermediate quality streams. Sites with moderate to high scores (DSFI 4–7) were most stable. Turnover (i.e., replacement of taxa) was the dominating component of overall beta diversity, while the richness change component (i.e., loss/gain of taxa) was negligible. The specific DSFI scores encompassed wide ranges of community composition, and showed a weak, but significant correlation between differences in scores and the community composition. This is to a certain degree advantageous since it gives the categorical scores robustness and plasticity, and thus makes the DSFI capable of handling natural variation in communities. The ideal biotic index should allow for natural variation, but do so while maintaining the capability of separating ecologically different communities. Our findings consequently give rise to concern to whether the DSFI is too sensitive to stochastic variation in samples with insufficient precision to assign sites to correct ecological quality classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: According to the European Water Framework Directive, member states are obliged to ensure that all surface water bodies achieve at least good ecological status and to identify major anthropogenic stressors. Non-point source contamination of agricultural pesticides is widely acknowledged as one of the most important anthropogenic stressors in stream ecosystems. We surveyed the occurrence of 31 pesticides and evaluated their potential toxicity for benthic macroinvertebrates using Toxic Units (TU) in 14 Danish 1st-and 2nd-order streams in bed sediments and stream water during storm flow and base flow. Total pesticide concentrations and toxic potential were highest during storm flow events with maximum TU ranging from −6.63 to −1.72. We found that minimum buffer strip width in the near upstream area was the most important parameter governing TU. Furthermore, adding a function for minimum buffer strip width to the Runoff Potential (RP) model increased its power to predict measured TUs from 46% to 64%. However, including a function for tile drainage capacity is probably equally important and should be considered in future research in order to further optimise the RP model. Our results clearly emphasise the importance of considering buffer strips as risk mitigation tools in terms of non-point source pesticide contamination. We furthermore apply our results for discussing the minimum dimensions that vegetated buffer strips should have in order to sufficiently protect stream ecosystems from pesticide contamination and maintain good ecological status. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A new pesticide indicator is suggested. • The target is freshwater insects during the reproductive terrestrial life stage. • Temporal and spatial distribution of abundance and deposition are combined. Many taxonomic groups of freshwater insects have a reproductive terrestrial life stage, and some are highly sensitive to insecticides. In agricultural landscapes, it is likely that streams and rivers often run along agricultural fields treated with pesticides, but the risk to insects with a reproductive terrestrial life stage due to pesticide exposure is not well-covered by existing risk indicators. Different aquatic insect species may have different strategies for feeding and mating and, thus, different spatial and temporal distribution of the terrestrial abundance. This influences the fraction of individuals that can suffer from pesticide exposure, and thus the risk indicator in this paper includes spatial and temporal distributions of both insect abundance and air born pesticide deposition, in this case multiplied together and weighted with toxicity. The indicator is denoted Adult Stage Risk Indicator, ASRI i,j , and can be calculated for every combination of insect taxon i, and pesticide active ingredient j. An Excel/VBA based model is available as Supplementary material. However, setting up the indicator using another platform is simple, and for any application please refer to this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]