Are populations of Gammarus fossarum able to reflect stream drying?

DOSTÁLOVÁ, Alena and Petr PAŘIL. Are populations of Gammarus fossarum able to reflect stream drying? In Book of abstracts, 6th Fresh Blood for Fresh Water Conference (FBFW 2019) 23-27 April 2019 Tihany, Hungary, p. 62, 2019. 2019.

Basic information

• Original name: Are populations of Gammarus fossarum able to reflect stream drying?
• Name in Czech: Jsou populace blešivce potočního schopné reflektovat vysychání toků?
• Authors: DOSTÁLOVÁ, Alena (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Petr PAŘIL (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Book of abstracts, 6th Fresh Blood for Fresh Water Conference (FBFW 2019) 23-27 April 2019 Tihany, Hungary, p. 62, 2019. 2019.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 10600 1.6 Biological sciences
• Country of publisher: Hungary
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14310/19:00110108
• Organization unit: Faculty of Science
• Keywords (in Czech): vysychavé toky; Gammarus fossarum; populační struktura; fekundita; rekolonizace; Česká republika
• Keywords in English: intermittent streams; Gammarus fossarum; population structure; fecundity; recolonization; Czech Republic
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

Stream intermittency is one of the typical consequences of climate change with longterm effects on aquatic biota. Dry episodes are becoming more frequent in the Czech Republic. Especially during supra-seasonal drought, they can completely change a population structure of permanent fauna. Gammarus fossarum is key taxa (ecosystem engineer), strongly affected by stream intermittency. Mostly because it inhabits small, often drying streams across the whole Czech Republic and lacks any drought-resistant stages. We compared its population structure (sex ratio and size distribution) on 12 pairs of intermittent and perennial streams during 2012-2016. Populations from intermittent streams after the dry period had a higher proportion of larger males and a lower proportion of juveniles in comparison to populations of neighboring perennial streams. This result supports a hypothesis, suggesting a higher male recolonization ability resulting from their larger body size which enables higher mobility in comparison to smaller females andjuveniles. Fecundity analyses of the same species in residual pools persisting in otherwise dry riverbed of intermittent streams showed a lower proportion of breeding females in residual pools than in comparable nearby perennial streams. This difference can be explained by an increase in predation of overcrowded refuge pools or overall stress in this highly unstable habitat, leading to possible egg loss, indicating a limited possibility of rapid population recovery from residual pools after flow resumption. Our study confirms that alterations in the population structure of Gammarus fossarum could indicate an impact of previous dry episodes on small streams of Central Europe.

Links

• LTC17017, research and development project: Name: Validace bioindikačních metod jako nástrojů pro udržitelný management středoevropských vysychavých toků a přenos těchto metod do praxe (Acronym: InterStreaM)

Investor: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR, INTER-COST