EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
5/20/2019 | 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM | RESILIENCE AND REGIME SHIFTS: NOVEL BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IMPEDE ECOLOGICAL RECOVERY IN A HISTORICALLY METAL-CONTAMINATED STREAM | 150 G
RESILIENCE AND REGIME SHIFTS: NOVEL BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IMPEDE ECOLOGICAL RECOVERY IN A HISTORICALLY METAL-CONTAMINATED STREAM
Novel communities resulting from exposure to anthropogenic stressors often persist in ecosystems that have experienced regime shifts. We report results of a long-term (28 year) observational study and a series of stream mesocosm to test the hypothesis that establishment of a novel, metal-tolerant macroinvertebrate community in a previously contaminated stream impeded recovery of sensitive species. Although abundance and species richness recovered following reductions in metal concentrations, we observed persistent changes in community composition and trophic structure downstream from a former source of metal contamination. These novel communities persisted, despite significant improvements in water quality over the last 20 years Mesocosm experiments conducted with reference and downstream communities demonstrated that novel communities retained their tolerance to metals but were significantly more sensitive to other stressors. In systems where restoration to pre-disturbance conditions is unlikely, a better understanding of the ecological resilience of novel communities may be critical for assessing the restoration success. We suggest that resilience to novel stressors is an important indicator of restoration effectiveness that may be applicable in other aquatic ecosystems.
- Restoration
- Multi-stressors
- Metals
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Presenters/Authors
Brian Wolff
(), Colorado State University, wolffba@gmail.com;
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William Clements
(), Colorado State University, william.clements@colostate.edu;
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