Combined impact of stream drying and organic pollution on invertebrate seedbank: Experimental rehydration of dry riverbed sediment
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Due to the climate change more and more streams becoming intermittent, even in temperate regions with humid climate as is the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, there is still lack of information about co-influence of drying with other common anthropogenic stressors, such as organic pollution, on instream biota. Benthic invertebrates can reveal different responses (e.g. different resistance level to drying) to isolated or combined impacts of multiple stressors. In our study, we compared benthic invertebrates from dry riverbed sediment of 6 intermittent streams with (3 sites) and without (3 sites) organic pollution using laboratory rehydration of the sediment. At each site we sampled 10 plots from 10 selected mesohabitats according to their proportional representation within the reach. Samples of benthic invertebrates were rehydrated for 2 months under controlled laboratory conditions to observe invertebrate seedbank hatching. Besides the duration of drying and organic pollution impacts, we also analyse substrate structure and moisture content of mesohabitats samples as important factors affecting invertebrate resistance. Results may help understand differences in invertebrate seedbank composition in organic-polluted and unpolluted intermittent streams and differences in species resistance to both stressors. |
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