Urbanization impacts the taxonomic and functional structure of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in a small Neotropical city

• DOI: 10.1007/s11252-017-0653-6
• Publication Date: 2017-02-07T02:51:25Z
• Authors: Stanislas Talaga; Olivier Dézerald; Alexis Carteron; Céline Leroy; Jean-François Car...; Régis Céréghino; Alain Dejean
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; 570; [SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics; 577; [SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics, Phylogenetics and taxonomy; 01 natural sciences; écologie urbaine; Aedes aegypti; [SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Ecosystems; 11. Sustainability; Diversity; Bioindicator; Phylogenetics and taxonomy; [SDV.BV.BOT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics; 15. Life on land; Aedes aegypti ;Bioindicator;Diversity;Functional traits;Tank bromeliads ;Urban ecology; Tank bromeliads; Urban ecology; 13. Climate action; [SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; guyane française; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; environment/Ecosystems; Functional traits

Due to habitat fragmentation, resource disruption and pollution, urbanization is one of the most destructive forms of anthropization affecting ecosystems worldwide. Generally, human-mediated perturbations dramatically alter species diversity in urban sites compared to the surroundings, thus influencing the functioning of the entire ecosystem. We investigated the taxonomic and functional diversity patterns of the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in tank bromeliads by comparing those found in a small Neotropical city with those from an adjacent rural site. Changes in the quality of detrital inputs in relation to lower tree diversity and the presence of synanthropic species are likely important driving forces behind the observed structural changes in the urban site. Leaf-litter processors (i.e., shredders, scrapers) were positively affected in the urban site, while filter-feeders that process smaller particles produced by the activity of the shredders were negatively affected. Because we cannot ascertain whether the decline in filter-feeders is related to food web-mediated effects or to competitive exclusion (Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were present in urban bromeliads only), further studies are necessary to account for the effects of intra-guild competition or inter-guild facilitation.