Anthropogenic disturbances influencing ciliate functional feeding groups in impacted tropical streams

作者：Segovia Bianca Trevizan^*; Lansac Toha Fernando Miranda; de Meira Bianca Ramos; Cabral Adalgisa Fernanda; Lansac Toha Fabio Amodeo; Machado Velho Luiz Felipe

来源：Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2016, 23(19): 20003-20016.

DOI：10.1007/s11356-016-7185-0

• Bioindicator
• Guilds
• Impacted streams
• Protist
• Saprobity

Anthropogenic disturbances change the trophic structure of streams, ultimately affecting ecosystem functioning. We investigated the effects of human disturbances, mainly organic pollution, on ciliate functional feeding groups (FFG) in 10 tropical streams near agricultural and urban habitats, in the dry and rainy seasons. We hypothesised that the organic pollution would affect the ciliate composition and that the richness and abundance of ciliate FFG would be associated with different disturbances, such that an increase in the load of organic matter would result in an increase in the percentage of bacterivores ciliates, while streams with low organic matter concentration and wide canopy openness will determine a higher contribution of algivorous ciliates. Our results corroborate our hypothesis of an increased development of bacterivorous ciliates with increasing organic pollution, but only in the abundance of this FFG. Also, algivorous ciliates were found to be related to riparian vegetation clearing. Thus, ciliate FFG accurately reflected different anthropogenic disturbances, revealing a change in the trophic structure of the streams. In addition, we found that organic pollution can lead to both taxonomic and functional homogenization of the ciliate community, which implies serious consequences for ecosystem functioning.

• 出版日期2016-10