Mutinova, Petra Thea and Kahlert, Maria and Kupilas, Benjamin and Mckie, Brendan and Friberg, Nikolai and Burdon, Francis
(2020).
Benthic Diatom Communities in Urban Streams and the Role of Riparian Buffers.
Water. 12
, 2799
[Journal article]
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Abstract
Urbanization impacts stream ecosystems globally through degraded water quality, altered hydrology, and landscape disturbances at the catchment and riparian scales, causing biodiversity losses and altered system functioning. Addressing the "urban stream syndrome" requires multiple mitigation tools, and rehabilitation of riparian vegetation may help improve stream ecological status and provide key ecosystem services. However, the extent to which forested riparian buffers can help support stream biodiversity in the face of numerous environmental contingencies remains uncertain. We assessed how a key indicator of stream ecological status, benthic diatoms, respond to riparian habitat conditions using 10 urban site pairs (each comprising of one unbuffered and one buffered reach), and additional urban downstream and forest reference upstream sites in the Oslo Fjord basin. Diatom communities were structured by multiple drivers including spatial location, land use, water quality, and instream habitat. Among these, riparian habitat condition independently explained 16% of variation in community composition among site pairs. Changes in community structure and indicator taxa, along with a reduction in pollution-tolerant diatoms, suggested tangible benefits of forested riparian buffers for stream biodiversity in urban environments. Managing urban impacts requires multiple solutions, with forested riparian zones providing a potential tool to help improve biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Authors/Creators: | Mutinova, Petra Thea and Kahlert, Maria and Kupilas, Benjamin and Mckie, Brendan and Friberg, Nikolai and Burdon, Francis | ||||||
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Title: | Benthic Diatom Communities in Urban Streams and the Role of Riparian Buffers | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Water | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2020 | ||||||
Volume: | 12 | ||||||
Article number: | 2799 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 21 | ||||||
Publisher: | MDPI | ||||||
ISSN: | 2073-4441 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 105 Earth and Related Environmental Sciences > Environmental Sciences (social aspects to be 507) | ||||||
Keywords: | urban stream syndrome, urbanization, riparian buffer, nature-based solutions, habitat restoration, blue-green infrastructure | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-108981 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-108981 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 19081 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 02 Dec 2020 11:23 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 15 Jan 2021 19:44 |
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