Impacts of urban and industrial pollution on functional traits of benthic macroinvertebrates: Are some traits advantageous for survival?

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 807; no. Pt 2; p. 150650
• Main Authors: Paz, L.E., Rodriguez, M., Gullo, B., Rodrigues Capítulo, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 10-02-2022
• Subjects: Animals; Aquatic invertebrates; Argentina; Ecosystem; Environmental Pollution - adverse effects; Functional diversity; Industrial Development; Invertebrates - drug effects; Invertebrates - physiology; Land use; Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin; Species traits; Streams; Urbanization; Argentina; Aquatic invertebrates; Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin; Streams; Land use; Functional diversity; Species traits
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150650

Urbanization and industrialization produce substantial changes in biodiversity and in the functionality of ecosystems. However, little is known about how anthropic pressures might drive these changes and about their functional consequences. We aimed to determine the responses of macroinvertebrate biological traits to urban and industrial pollution and assess the impacts of these disturbances on the functional diversity of these assemblages. We sampled benthic macroinvertebrates in 27 sites of four basins with different urban disturbance gradients (rural, peri-urban, and urban-industrial), among them the Matanza-Riachuelo River, one of the most polluted basins in the world. We classified macroinvertebrates into 11 traits and 56 categories. Then, we performed an RLQ analysis and computed functional richness, evenness, divergence and Rao diversity indexes for each site and community weighted means for each trait category. The urban and industrial sites (mainly low and middle Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin) showed high concentrations of ammonium, SRP, conductivity, COD, BOD, and organic matter, as well as the lowest values of DO. The functional richness and Rao index of these sites were significantly lower than that of the other sites. Macroinvertebrate traits associated with urban and industrial sites were aerial respiration (spiracles), forms of resistance (eggs or statoblast), cylindrical body shape, oviparity, feeding on microinvertebrates, and full water swimmers. These traits potentially enabled tolerant species persistence at polluted sites while gills, grazers, and crawlers were sensitive to these disturbances. Urban and industrial activities influence biological traits, producing the disappearance or dominance of certain traits in macroinvertebrate assemblages. As a consequence, extreme pollution caused predictable trait-based community changes resulting in reduced functional diversity, and potentially altered the ecosystem function.
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•Urbanization and industrialization decrease functional richness and Rao diversity.•Gills, grazers, and crawlers are sensitive traits to these disturbances.•Spiracles, resistance forms and cylindrical body are related to these disturbances.