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Diatom-based assays have been successfully associated worldwide with the tropic status of lakes. Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between epiphytic diatoms and nutrient load in shallow lakes and wetlands. We examine the relative importance of environmental factors in explaining the structure of epiphytic diatom communities in a set of Western European shallow lakes. The effects of lake physical/chemical, morphometric, and geographical variables on diatom assemblages were tested using distance-based, canonical correspondence and regression analyses. Our results show that epiphytic diatom communities respond, mainly to physical/chemical variables, overriding the effects of lake depth, size, and location. The clustering of studied systems based along a total phosphorus concentration gradient concurs with previous classification of diatom taxa and nutrient state. Assessment of epiphytic diatoms provided a potential method for shallow lake classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dominance by cyanobacteria hampers human use of lakes and reservoirs worldwide. Previous studies indicate that excessive nutrient loading and warmer conditions promote dominance by cyanobacteria, but evidence from global scale field data has so far been scarce. Our analysis, based on a study of 143 lakes along a latitudinal transect ranging from subarctic Europe to southern South America, shows that although warmer climates do not result in higher overall phytoplankton biomass, the percentage of the total phytoplankton biovolume attributable to cyanobacteria increases steeply with temperature. Our results also reveal that the percent cyanobacteria is greater in lakes with high rates of light absorption. This points to a positive feedback because restriction of light availability is often a consequence of high phytoplankton biovolume, which in turn may be driven by nutrient loading. Our results indicate a synergistic effect of nutrients and climate. The implications are that in a future warmer climate, nutrient concentrations may have to be reduced substantially from present values in many lakes if cyanobacterial dominance is to be controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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1. A 2-year study was carried out on the roles of nutrients and fish in determining the plankton communities of a shallow lake in north-west Spain. Outcomes were different each year depending on the initial conditions, especially of macrophyte biomass. In 1998 estimated initial‘per cent water volume inhabited’ (PVI) by submerged macrophytes was about 35%. Phytoplankton biomass estimated as chlorophyllawas strongly controlled by fish, whereas effects of nutrient enrichment were not significant. In 1999 estimated PVI was 80%, no fish effect was observed on phytoplankton biomass, but nutrients had significant effects. Water temperatures were higher in 1998 than in 1999.2. In the 1998 experiment, cladoceran populations were controlled by fish and cyanobacteria were the dominant phytoplankton group. There were no differences between effects of low (4 g fresh mass m−2) and high (20 g fresh mass m−2) fish density on total zooplankton biomass, but zooplankton biomass was higher in the absence of fish. With the high plant density in 1999, fish failed to control any group of the zooplankton community.3. Total biovolume of phytoplankton strongly decreased with increased nutrient concentrations in 1998, although chlorophyllaconcentrations did not significantly change. At higher nutrient concentrations, flagellate algae became more abundant with likely growth rates that could have overcompensated cladoceran feeding rates. This change in phytoplankton community composition may have been because of increases in the DIN : SRP ratio. Both chlorophyllaconcentration and total phytoplankton biovolume increased significantly with nutrients in the 1999 experiment.4. A strong decline of submerged macrophytes was observed in both years as nutrients increased, resulting in shading by periphyton. This shading effect could account for the plant decline despite lower water turbidity at the very high nutrient levels in 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparison with conventional activated sludge treatment systems, for which a large body of research has been carried out on their microfauna and their role in bacteria and pollutant removal, only a few studies have focused on microfaunal communities inhabiting constructed wetlands (CWs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the microfaunal communities of horizontal CWs with differing design configurations in order to determine those design factors affecting their abundance and community structure and to discover their role in bacteria removal. Total bacteria, ciliates, amoebae and metazoa were counted in the effluents of an experimental plant combining the most common design configurations of CWs. Three different hydraulic designs (hydroponic, free water surface—FWS and subsurface flow—SSF), presence vs . absence of vegetation, two plant species ( Typha angustifolia vs. Phragmites australis ) and two organic loading rates were compared. SSF and vegetation favoured bacteria removal whereas abundance of protozoa and diversity of metazoa was greater in FWS-planted wetlands. Microfauna community structure and bacterial removal were clearly affected by vegetation and flow type, although no significant relationships were observed between microfauna and bacteria abundance at the outflow. Therefore, other mechanisms such as filtration, sedimentation or adsorption, seem to be more important than predation in removing bacteria from constructed wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven mesocosm-scale constructed wetlands (CWs) with different design configurations, dealing with primary-treated urban wastewater, were assessed for the concentration, distribution and fate of ten pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) [ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, salicylic acid, caffeine, carbamazepine, methyl dihydrojasmonate, galaxolide and tonalide] and eight of their transformation products (TPs). Apart from influent and effluent, various CW compartments were analysed, namely, substrate, plant roots and pore water. PPCP content in pore water depended on the specific CW configuration. Macrophytes can take up PPCPs through their roots. Ibuprofen, salicylic acid, caffeine, methyl dihydrojasmonate, galaxolide and tonalide were present on the root surface with a predominance of galaxolide and caffeine in all the planted systems. Naproxen, ibuprofen, salicylic acid, methyl dihydrojasmonate, galaxolide and tonalide were uptaken by the roots. In order to better understand the removal processes, biomass measurement and biodegradability studies through the characterization of internal-external isomeric linear alkylbenzenes present on the gravel bed were performed. Three TPs namely, ibuprofen-amide, 3-ethylbenzophenone and 4-hydroxy-diclofenac were identified for the first time in wetland pore water and effluent water, which suggests de novo formation (they were not present in the influent). Conversely, O -desmethyl-naproxen was degraded through the wetland passage since it was detected in the influent but not in the subsequent treatment stages. Biodegradation pathways are therefore suggested for most of the studied PPCPs in the assessed CWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disentangling the relative role of species sorting and dispersal limitation in biological communities has become one of the main issues for community ecologists and biogeographers. In this study, we analysed a data set of epiphytic diatoms comprising 34 lakes from six European countries. This data set covers a relatively large latitudinal gradient to elucidate which processes are affecting the distribution of diatom communities on a broad spatial extent. Our results show strong environmental effects on the composition of the diatom communities, while the spatial factor effects were weak, emphasising that compositional variation was mainly due to species turnover. Our data support information from the literature that local abiotic factors are the main predictors controlling the compositional variation of diatom assemblages in European shallow lakes. More specifically, changes in species composition were driven mainly by nutrient content in Northern Europe, whereas lakes located in Southern Europe were more affected by conductivity and lake depth. Our results solve pending questions in the spatial ecology of diatoms by proving that species turnover is stronger than nestedness at any spatial scale, and give support to the use of epiphytic diatoms as biological indicators for shallow lakes. Unlabelled Image • Comparative role of dispersion over environment is still unknown for diatoms of shallow lakes. • The variations of diatom communities across Europe are mainly due to environmental factors, not geography. • Most of the variation in diatom diversity is explained by the species turnover. • The results support the validity of using diatoms as ecological indicators across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degree to which dispersal limitation interacts with environmental filtering has intrigued metacommunity ecologists and molecular biogeographers since the beginning of both research disciplines. Since genetic methods are superior to coarse proxies of dispersal, understanding how environmental and geographic factors influence population genetic structure is becoming a fundamental issue for population genetics and also one of the most challenging avenues for metacommunity ecology. In this study of the aquatic macrophyte Myriophyllum alterniflorum DC., we explored the spatial genetic variation of eleven populations from the Iberian Plateau by means of microsatellite loci, and examined if the results obtained through genetic methods match modern perspectives of metacommunity theory. To do this, we applied a combination of robust statistical routines including network analysis, causal modelling and multiple matrix regression with randomization. Our findings revealed that macrophyte populations clustered into genetic groups that mirrored their geographic distributions. Importantly, we found a significant correlation between genetic variation and geographic distance at the regional scale. By using effective (genetic) dispersal estimates, our results are broadly in line with recent findings from metacommunity theory and re-emphasize the need to go beyond the historically predominant paradigm of understanding environmental heterogeneity as the main force driving macrophyte diversity patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possible effect of land uses and human-related geographic patterns (presence of roads and urban settlements) on chemical pollution was evaluated in the waters and sediments of fifty-three Mediterranean shallow lakes. The presence of fifty-nine pollutants (belonging to PAHs, insecticides and herbicides groups) was analysed in these lakes by GC-MS. The studied lakes had similar pollutant concentrations to other lakes worldwide. The distribution of the compounds between water and sediment compartments was strongly influenced by log K(ow) values (an average of 3.61 for compounds found in water and of 4.69 for compounds found in sediments). A multivariate analysis suggested that the concentration of PAHs in water could be related to agricultural activities and not related to local road traffic. When assessing nutrient levels in the lakes, it was observed that eutrophicated lakes [>300 μg L(-1) total phosphorus (TP)] appeared in areas affected by urban or industrial use (at least 2% urban use in a 1-km radius around the lake), whilst lakes with lower TP concentrations were placed in forest areas (60% of forest use in a 1-km radius); in addition, the aqueous concentrations of Σ(PAH) were lower in lakes with higher TP concentrations (>150 μg L(-1) TP), which could be related to the adsorption capacity of PAHs onto suspended matter which is present in mesotrophic and eutrophic lakes, thus being removed from the aqueous phase., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)