Abstract
Beaver ponds favour lentic species over the original lotic animals. The typical lentic animals are zooplankton, which can be good predictors of hydrological changes in streams caused by beaver activity. We analysed the effects of beaver dams on the zooplankton communities in small lowland streams in stream-beaver pond-stream systems. All spatial changes in the composition of zooplankton reflected the effects of physical changes introduced by the beaver dams. The rapid increase in the density of the aforementioned taxa was possible because the features typical of stagnant water reservoirs are present in beaver ponds. The number of taxa and the abundance and biodiversity of zooplankton, especially planktonic rotifers, were higher in the dam and downstream sites than in the upstream sites. Therefore, the impact of beaver ponds on the composition of zooplankton in streams below the dams is considerable, and there is an increase in the organic matter downstream, which leads to trophic changes in the stream.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akopian M., Garnier J. & Pourriot R. 1999. A large reservoir as a source of zooplankton for the river: structure of the populations and influence of fish predation. J. Plankton Res. 21: 285–297. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/21.2.285
Allan J.D. & Castillo M.M. 2007. Stream Ecology: Structure and Function of Running Waters. Springer Science & Business Media, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 435 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4020-5583-6
Anderson C.B., Pastur G.M., Lencinas M.V., Wallem P.K., Moorman M.C. & Rosemond A.D. 2009. Do introduced North American beavers Castor canadensis engineer differently in southern South America. An overview with implications for restoration. Mammal Rev. 39 (1): 33–52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.2008.00136.x
Armitage P.D. & Capper M.H. 1976. The numbers, biomass and transport downstream of micro-crustaceans and Hydra from Cow Green Reservoir (Upper Teesdale). Freshwater Biol. 6: 425–432. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.1976.tb01630.x
Arndt E. & Domdei J. 2011. Influence of beaver ponds on the macroinvertebrate benthic community in lowland brooks. Pol. J. Ecol. 59: 799–811.
Basu B.K. & Pick F.R. 1997. Phytoplankton and zooplankton development in a lowland, temperate river. Plankton Res. 19: 237–253. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/19.2.237
Chang K.H., Doi H., Imai H., Gunji F. & Nakano S.I. 2008. Longitudinal changes in zooplankton distribution below a reservoir outfall with reference to river planktivory. Limnology 9: 125–133. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-008-0244-6
Czerniawski R. 2012. Spatial pattern of potamozooplankton community of the slowly flowing fishless stream in relation to abiotic and biotic factors. Pol. J. Ecol. 60: 323–338.
Czerniawski R. 2013. Zooplankton community changes between forest and meadow sections in small headwater streams, NW Poland. Biologia 68 (3): 448–458. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-013-0170-x
Czerniawski R. & Domagala J. 2010. Similarities in zooplankton community between River Drawa and its two tributaries (Polish part of River Odra). Hydrobiologia 638: 137–149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-0036-y
Czerniawski R. & Domagala J. 2013. Reduction of zooplankton communities in small lake outlets in relation to abiotic and biotic factors. Oceanol. Hydrobiol. St. 42: 123–131. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s13545-013-0065-z
Czerniawski R. & Domagała J. 2014. Small dams profoundly alter the spatial and temporal composition of zooplankton communities in running waters. Int. Rev. Hydrobiol. 99: 300–311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/iroh.201301674
Czerniawski R. & Pilecka-Rapacz M. 2011. Summer zooplankton in small rivers in relation to selected conditions. Cent. Eur. J. Biol. 6: 659–674. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11535-011-0024-x
Czerniawski R., Sługocki Ł. & Kowalska-Góralska M. 2016. Diurnal changes of zooplankton community reduction rate at lake outlets and related environmental factors. PLoS One 11: e0158837. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158837
Doi H., Chang K.H., Ando T., Imai H., Nakano S.I., Kajimoto A. & Katano I. 2008. Drifting plankton from a reservoir subsidize downstream food webs and alter community structure. Oecologia 156: 363–371. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-0988-z
Dussart B. & Defaye D. 2006. World Directory of Crustacea Copepoda of Inland Waters. II Cyclopiformes. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, 354 pp. ISBN: 9057821753, 9789057821752
Ejsmont-Karabin J. 2008. Vertical microzonation of psammon rotifers (Rotifera) in the psammolittoral habitat of an eutrophic lake. Pol. J. Ecol. 56: 351–357.
Ejsmont-Karabin J. & Kruk M. 1998. Effects of contrasting land use on free-swimming rotifer communities of streams in Masurian Lake District, Poland. Hydrobiologia 387/388: 241–249. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017081407452
Ejsmont-Karabin J., Wegleńska T. & Wiśniewski R.J. 1993. The effect of water flow rate on zooplankton and its role in phosphorus cycling in small impoundments. Water Sci. Tech-nol. 28 (6): 35–43.
Elmeros M., Madsen A.B. & Berthelsen J.P. 2003. Monitoring of reintroduced beavers (Castor fiber) in Denmark. Lutra 46 (2): 153–162.
Estlander S. Nurminen L., Olin M., Vinni M. & Horppila J. 2009. Seasonal fluctuations in macrophyte cover and water transparency of four brown-water lakes: implications for crustacean zooplankton in littoral and pelagic habitats. Hydrobiologia 620: 109–120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9621-8
Fontaneto D., Melone G. & Ricci C. 2005. Connectivity and nestedness of the meta-community structure of moss dwelling bdelloid rotifers along a stream. Hydrobiologia 542: 131–136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4111-X_16
Fuller M.R. & Peckarsky B.L. 2011. Ecosystem engineering by beavers affects mayfly life histories. Freshwater Biol. 56: 969–979. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2010.02548.x
Gliwicz Z.M. 1986. A lunar cycle in zooplankton. Ecology 67: 883–897. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1939811
Goldyn R. & Kowalczewska-Madura K. 2008. Interactions between phytoplankton and zooplankton in the hypertrophic Swarzędzkie Lake in western Poland. J. Plankton Res. 30: 33–42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbm086
Hanelore M. 2013. The process of self-purification in the rivers, pp. 409–416. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5593/SGEM2013/BC3/S12.052. In: 13th SGEM GeoConference on Water Resources. Forest, Marine And Ocean Ecosystems, www.sgem.org, SGEM2013. Conference Proceedings, 478 pp. ISBN: 978-619-7105-02-5
Hilbricht-Ilkowska A. 1999. Shallow lakes in lowland river systems: Role in transport and transformations of nutrients and in biological diversity. Hydrobiologia 408: 349–358. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2986-4_39
Jeppesen E., Nőges P., Davidson T.A., Haberman J., Nőges T., Blank K., Lauridsen T.L., Søndergaard M., Sayer C., Laugaste R., Johansson L.S., Bjerring R. & Amsinck S.L. 2011. Zooplankton as indicators in lakes: a scientific-based plea for including zooplankton in the ecological quality assessment of lakes according to the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Hydrobiologia 676: 279–297. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0831-0
Kamarainen A.M., Rowland F.E., Biggs R. & Carpenter S.R. 2008. Zooplankton and the total phosphorus-chlorophyll a relationship: hierarchical Bayesian analysis of measurement error. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 65: 2644–2655. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/F08-161
Kemp P.S., Worthington T.A., Langford T.E., Tree A.R. & Gaywood M.J. 2012. Qualitative and quantitative effects of reintroduced beavers on stream fish. Fish and Fish. 13 (2): 158–181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2011.00421.x
Kobayashi T., Shiel R.J., Gibbs P. & Dixon P.I. 1998. Freshwater zooplankton in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River: comparison of community structure with other rivers. Hydrobiologia 377: 133–145. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003240511366
Krylov A.V. 2002. Activity of beavers as an ecological factor affecting the zooplankton of small rivers. Rus. J. Ecol. 33: 349–356. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020221911648
Krylov A.V. 2008. Impact of the activities of beaver on the zooplankton of a piedmont river (Mongolia). Inland Water Biol. 1: 73–75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12212-008-1011-4
Kuczyńska-Kippen N.M. & Nagengast B. 2006. The influence of the spatial structure of hydromacrophytes and differentiating habitat on the structure of rotifer and cladoceran communities. Hydrobiologia 559: 203–212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-0867-0
Lair N. 2006. A review of regulation mechanisms of meta-zoan plankton in riverine ecosystems: aquatic habitat versus biota. River Res. Appl. 22: 567–593. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.923
Lévesque S., Beisner B.E. & Peres-Neto P.R. 2010. Meso-scale distributions of lake zooplankton reveal spatially and temporally varying trophic cascades. J. Plankton Res. 32: 1369–1384. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3410/f.5118957.5053055
Lindstrom J.W. & Hubert W.A. 2004. Ice processes affect habitat use and movements of adult cutthroat trout and brook trout in a Wyoming foothills stream. N. Am. J. Fish. Manage. 24: 1341–1352. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1577/M03-223.1
McDowell D.M. & Naiman R.J. 1986. Structure and function of a benthic invertebrate stream community as influenced by beaver (Castor canadensis). Oecologia 68: 481–489. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378759
Nielsen D.L., Podnar K., Watts R.J. & Wilson A.L. 2013. Empirical evidence linking increased hydrologic stability with decreased biotic diversity within wetlands. Hydrobiologia 708: 81–96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0989-5
Nogrady T., Wallace R.L. & Snell T.W. 1993. Rotifera, pp. 1–142. In: Dumont H.J. (eds), Biology, Ecology and Systemat-ics, Vol. 1, Rotifera. Guides to the Identification of the microinvertebrates of the Continental Waters of the World, SPB Academic Publishers, The Hague, 142 pp. ISBN: 9051030800, 9789051030808
Oksanen J., Blanchet F.G., Kindt R., Legendre P., Minchin P.R., O’Hara R.B., Simpson G.L., Solymos P., Stevens M.H.H., Szoecs E. & Wagner H. 2013. Package ‘vegan’. Community Ecology Package, Version. 2(9). https://doi.org/cran.r-project.org/web/packages/vegan/vegan.pdfweb/packages/vegan/vegan.pdf
Phillips E.C. 1995. Comparison of the zooplankton of a lake and stream in Northwest Arkansas. J. Freshwater Ecol. 10: 337–341. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02705060.1995.9663456
Radwan S. 2004. Rotifers (Rotifera). Fauna Slodkowodna Polski [The Freshwater Fauna of Poland] 32. Uniwersytet Łódzki, Łódz, 447 pp.
Richardson W.B. 1992. Microcrustacea in flowing water: experimental analysis of washout times and a field test. Freshwater Biol. 28: 217–230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.1992.tb00578.x
Rosell F., Bozser O., Collen P. & Parker H. 2005. Ecological impact of beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis and their ability to modify ecosystems. Mammal Rev. 35 (3-4): 248–276. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.2005.00067.x
Rybak J.I. & Błędzki L.A. 2010. Słodkowodne skorupiaki planktonowe. Klucz do oznaczania gatunków [Freshwater planktonic crustacea. Key for species identification]. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszaw, 366 pp. ISBN: 978-83-235-0738-3
Swales S. & Levings C.D. 1989. Role of off-channel ponds in the life cycle of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and other juvenile salmonids in the Coldwater River, British Columbia. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 46: 232–242. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/f89-032
Taylor B.E. 1980. Size-selective predation on zooplankton, pp. 377–388. In: Kerfoot W.C. (eds), Evolution and Ecology of Zooplankton Communities, University Press New England: Hanover, 793 pp. ISBN: 0874511801, 9780874511802
Thorp J.H. & Casper A.F. 2003. Importance of biotic interactions in large rivers: an experiment with planktivorous fish, dreissenid mussels and zooplankton in the St. Lawrence River. Riv. Res. Appl. 19: 265–279. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.703
Thorp J.H., Thoms M.C. & Delong M.D. 2006. The riverine ecosystem synthesis: biocomplexity in river networks across space and time. Riv. Res. Appl. 22: 123–147. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.901
Vranovský M. 1995. The effect of current velocity upon the biomass of zooplankton in the River Danube side arms. Biologia 50: 461–464.
Walks D.J. & Cyr H. 2004. Movement of plankton through lake stream systems. Freshwater Biol. 49: 745–759. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2004.01220.x
Zhou S., Tang T., Wu N., Fu X. & Cai Q. 2010. Impact of small dam on riverine zooplankton. Int. Rev. Hydrobiol. 93: 297–311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/iroh.200711038
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Czerniawski, R., Sługocki, L. & Kowalska-Góralska, M. Effects of beaver dams on the zooplankton assemblages in four temperate lowland streams (NW Poland). Biologia 72, 417–430 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0047
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0047