Ecological factors and diatom diversity at rivers of the iberian mediterranean river basinsmacro-scale, meso-scale and micro-scale

Resumen

Benthic diatoms, photoautotrophic, silicate plated, single-celled aquatic organisms dwelling on substrates, have been used in bioindication, since they are good indicators of ecological water state. In this thesis, we have used a multi-scalar approach to observe how diatoms from Spanish Mediterranean rivers are affected by the characteristics of the habitats they live in. These organisms were observed under a taxonomic-indicative, functional-grouped and morphometric prism. The samples stem from Mediterranean rivers pertaining to either the Ebro Basin, or jurisdictions of the Catalan rivers or the Júcar authorities. Ebro samples have a fundamental importance, due to their temporal frame of 10 years, which has permitted the establishment and observation of changes in diatom communities and their characteristics. Two experimental setups, comparing differing water compositions and hydrological characteristics, were made in the other basins. The structure of this thesis takes a gradual decrease in observation range. The macro-scale: chapter studied benthic diatom communities from the Ebro River Basin taxonomically, based on samplings ranging 10 years. We studied if diatom communities were maintained in time, or what parameters could help to the establishment of ecoregions. This study showed that the ecotype division of rivers established by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) did not reflect diatom assemblages well. A double approach of physico-chemical and diatom-sociological aggregation can create a better mirror of diatom communities, thus improving ecoregions for diatoms. The meso-scale chapter investigated the Segre, Ebro tributary, observing the relationship between land use and diatom assemblages and indicator values. Land uses have a direct effect on river water composition. Thus, a link between upstream land cover and diatom assemblages was expected. The results show that only the predominant covers affect both the composition of the diatom community and indicator values. Structural Equation Modelling comparisons have established changes in the importance of physicochemical parameters through time and depending on diatom community structure. Diversity indices and bioindicator values were affected mostly by physicochemical composition, and tangentially by land cover. In the micro-scale chapter, the reaction of diatoms at each site was studied. To do this, we parted the chapter in three sections, two life form experiments to observe how physicochemical composition and hydrology affect life forms, and how morphometry can be affected through abiotic parameter variation in time. The first, made in the Llobregat Basin, was an experimental approach to ascertain the effect of intrinsically different sites on diatom life forms and ecological guilds and the change when these communities are translocated. This showed that, although the physicochemical parameters seemed to favour functional groups, changing the community into a different site could still maintain some of the characteristic life forms. Then, a comparison of functional structure of the diatom community in temporary rivers (that lose part or the totality of its surface water) of Mediterranean basins along the northeast coast was made. It showed that the hydrological regime (connectedness of the stream in total) had a bigger impact than aquatic state (water quantity present at time of sampling). The disconnection of streams also affected the use of conventional diatom bioindicators that will be addressed in the future. Finally, in this microscale prism, we automatically photographed samples from the Ebro River to extract diatom morphometry features. Relating these to physicochemical parameters of each site and their temporal variability, we saw that diatom sizes are affected by water composition. The surface-to-volume ratio (S/V) was highly correlated. An up to now neglected parameter, diatom width, was highly affected by physicochemical parameters. This thesis attempted to establish how diatoms and their traits are affected by their surroundings, observing the effect of abiotic parameters, such as physicochemical composition, land use, and substrate characteristics.