File(s) under permanent embargo
Potential for water-resource infrastructure to act as refuge habitat
journal contribution
posted on 2015-11-01, 00:00 authored by Bryce Halliday, Ty MatthewsTy Matthews, Dion IervasiDion Iervasi, David DodemaideDavid Dodemaide, Patrick Pickett, Matthew Linn, A Burns, I Bail, Rebecca LesterRebecca LesterPermanent sources of natural water are expected to decline in Mediterranean-climate regions under future climate change. Therefore, stable water bodies that act as refuge habitats will become increasingly important to the maintenance of freshwater biodiversity. Man-made water bodies such as those associated with water-resource infrastructure could contribute to the available refuge habitat but little is known about fish, zooplankton and frog assemblages in such water bodies. We quantified the diversity and abundance of fish, zooplankton and frogs that reside within raw water storages and water reclamation plants and compared them to assemblages from nearby natural water bodies over a total of 19 water bodies.Overall, the faunal assemblages within the man-made water bodies showed similarities to the nearby natural water bodies with very few differences found among the three water body types. Diversity of available substrates and of submerged and emergent macrophytes were the habitat variables best correlated with diverse faunal assemblages. This study suggests that the faunal assemblages within raw water storages and water reclamation plants resemble those found within nearby natural water bodies and that there is therefore potential for water-resource infrastructure to act as an important refuge habitat during drought. Furthermore, small changes in the management of these storages to maximise habitat diversity could increase the value of the refuge, complementing their role in water-resource delivery.
History
Journal
Ecological engineeringVolume
84Pagination
136 - 148Publisher
ElsevierLocation
Amsterdam, The NetherlandsPublisher DOI
ISSN
0925-8574Language
engPublication classification
C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2015, ElsevierUsage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC