Edna Cabecinha

Ecological relationships between phytoplankton communities and different spatial scales in European reservoirs: implications at catchment level monitoring programmes

Phytoplankton communities are structured by factors acting over temporal and spatial scales. Identifying which factors are driving spatial patterns in aquatic communities is the central aim of ecology. In this study, data sets of phytoplankton communities and environmental data of two Portuguese reservoirs types (lowland “riverine reservoirs” and higher altitude “artificial lake reservoirs”) were used to determine the importance of environmental variables at different spatial (geographical, regional and local) and time scales (seasons, years) on the community structure. In all the data sets, the multivariate ordination technique Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that regional and local scales explained the majority (9–18% and 13–19%, respectively) of the taxa variance. However, for “riverine reservoirs”, time variables were more important, explaining 27% of the variability in phytoplankton assemblages. Variance partitioning was used to assess the individual importance of the three spatial scales and time for the community structure of the two reservoir types. The majority of among-site variability (5.9–21.4%) was accounted for by time variables, with local, regional, and geographical scale variables accounting for 3.3–5.6%, 3.7–4.5% and 2.6–2.9%, respectively. The effects of different spatial scales on phytoplankton communities were clearly interrelated; thus, implying that phytoplankton assemblages are capable of detecting stress from catchment to site scales.

The role of non-natural capital in the co-production of marine ecosystem services

ABSTRACT A growing concern is arising to recognize that ecosystem services (ES) production often requires the integration of non-natural capital with natural capital in a process known as co-production. Several studies explore co-production in different terrestrial ecosystems, such as agriculture or water delivery, but less attention has been paid to marine ecosystems. Coastal activities such as aquaculture, shellfish harvesting, and small-scale fishing deliver important benefits for seafood provision, but are also inextricably linked to cultural and recreational ES. The degree to which co-production can determine the provision of ES in marine systems has yet not been explored. This paper addresses this key topic with an exploratory analysis of case studies where marine ES are co-produced. We look at five small-scale fisheries that range from intensive semi-aquaculture in Galicia (Spain), to wild harvesting in Northern Portugal, and discuss to what extent co-production influences ES delivery. We find that a direct relationship exists between co-production level and ES delivery in the case of provisioning ES (e.g., fish harvest), but not necessarily in the delivery of other ES. We also find that management practices and property regimes may be affecting trade-offs between co-production and ES. EDITED BY Evangelia Drakou