Strong and recurring seasonality revealed within stream diatom assemblages.

ABSTRACT: Improving stream water quality in agricultural landscapes is an ecological priority and a legislative duty for many governments. Ecosystem health can be effectively characterised by organisms sensitive to water quality changes such as diatoms, single-celled algae that are a ubiquitous component of stream benthos. Diatoms respond within daily timescales to variables including light, temperature, nutrient availability and flow conditions that result from weather and land use characteristics. However, little consideration has been given to the ecological dynamics of diatoms through repeated seasonal cycles when assessing trajectories of stream function, even in catchments actively managed to reduce human pressures. Here, six years of monthly diatom samples from three independent streams, each

SUBMITTER: Snell MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6397146 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature