In the above mentioned publication, incorrect values for P. segnis are shown on the right hand side of Fig. 4. The correct version of Fig. 4 and its caption is published here.

The group of large five-spotted Hemichromis species from West Africa and Lower Guinea was revised using an integrative approach combining morphometry (measurements, meristics and colour patterns) and genetics (cytochrome b gene). Specimens from 100 populations were sorted into three main groups on the basis of morphological criteria. Samples from Lake Bosumtwi clustered together with others from West

While warming and eutrophication have increased the frequency and magnitude of harmful cyanobacterial blooms globally, the scenario for many eutrophic tropical freshwaters is a perennial year-round bloom. Yet, the drivers of persistent blooms are less understood when conditions such as light, temperature, and nutrients favor cyanobacteria growth year-round, and especially in regions facing recurrent

The global and seemingly unstoppable spread of invasive alien plants emerges as one of the main topics of current science. This is due to the multiple repercussions of invasive plants on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, plus huge consequences on human existence. In freshwaters, lots of invaders are extremely competitive by virtue of their idiosyncratic reproductive and adaptive strategies. As

The abundance of aquatic vegetation is increasing in rivers and lakes worldwide. The aim of this study was to find how the macrophyte Juncus bulbosus Linnaeus affects salmonids and benthic macroinvertebrates in Norwegian rivers. The proliferation of J. bulbosus in the study rivers commenced after the development of hydropower in the 1960s and 1970s. J. bulbosus is now considered a nuisance for humans

Genome size, known also as the C-value, has been proposed as an important determinant of life-history variation in numerous animal taxa. We assessed the relationships between genome size and fitness-related life-history traits in six species of interstitial marine annelids of the genus Ophryotrocha. Life-history traits and genome size data obtained from 18 additional annelid species were included in

Agribusiness is one of the main economic activities in Brazil, which caused the removal of much of its natural vegetation for the expansion of monoculture areas. Once aquatic environments have a direct relationship with the surrounding terrestrial environment, it is essential to understand the monocultures’ impact on adjacent streams and, especially, how aquatic communities react to these impacts.

After publication of the above mentioned article, previously undisclosed material was made available resulting in an altered population status for the below mentioned species:

The effects of invaders on native species are usually tested using species mean trait values over long time scales. However, considering individual variation over short timescales can help us better understand the interaction between invaders and native species. We compared trophic traits of the non-native guppy (Poecilia reticulata) and the native Brazilian poeciliid Phalloceros harpagos using experiments

Seabird colonies influence ecosystems by releasing high concentrations of nutrients, metals, and contaminants via their wastes. Here, we examined seven lentic waterbodies impacted by two major colonies of Leach’s Storm-petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous), six from Baccalieu Island, Newfoundland and Labrador with ~ 1.95 million breeding pairs, and another from Grand Colombier Island, St. Pierre and Miquelon

Early life conditions can have lifelong impacts on survival and fitness. Silver spoon effects occur when favorable early life conditions provide advantages through adulthood, even if conditions worsen. Alternatively, compensatory growth allows organisms initially reared in unfavorable conditions to grow more quickly than expected should conditions improve. We examined these possibilities in the American

Building on a summary of how turbulence influences biological systems, we reviewed key phytoplankton-turbulence laboratory experiments (after Peters and Redondo in Scientia Marina: Lectures on plankton and turbulence, International Centre for Coastal Resources, Barcelona, 1997) and Peters and Marrasé (Marine Ecology Progress Series 205:291–306, 2000) to provide a current overview of artificial turbulence

Clonal fragmentation (CF), caused by various disturbances, significantly affects the growth performance of plants. However, little is known about how CF affects the growth of submersed macrophytes facing light limitation and nutrient enrichment, a typically situation found in eutrophic lakes. To examine the effects of CF on Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara, a common submersed macrophyte species in warm

Fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK) has contributed to a better understanding about the reproduction of fishery resources, especially where biological data are scarce or unavailable. We analyzed FEK on the reproduction of five fishery resources in the Paranaguá estuarine complex and adjacent coastal area, Brazil, including fishes (Genidens barbus, Centropomus parallelus, Chaetodipterus faber, Pseudobatos

The diversity of aquatic macrophytes can offer different local conditions required to support an increased number of microhabitats, therefore resulting in diverse biotic communities. This study assessed the influence of macrophyte diversity on the ecological attributes of the associated invertebrates (diversity, richness and abundance), as well as the diet composition of a small fish, Moenkhausia forestii

Inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) involves the transport of water from one geographically distinct basin to another to balance the distribution of water resources. Although the socio-economic benefits of implementing these projects are well recognized, little is known about the subsequent effects on the water quality of the receiving systems. We evaluated the effects of an IBWT on the water quality

The spread of non-native species results in novel and often unexpected assemblages. Using stable isotopes, we disentangled the trophic relationships between three invasive crayfish species at two sites of a small thermal tributary of the Barát stream, Hungary. We studied Procambarus virginalis and Faxonius limosus living in sympatry in the upper section of this thermal tributary, and then an assemblage

Stream macroinvertebrates, as non-target organisms, may face with either a single or a complex stressor during a restoration treatment. We quantified the structural, phylogenetic, and functional responses to both single (water retention) and complex (water retention and grazing) stressors and analysed how the ecological quality changes, in order to reveal the potential unwanted consequences in a soda

Phragmites australis is a cosmopolitan plant species with high intraspecific diversity and phenotypic plasticity. Due to its variability and large ecological niche breadth, subgroups of P. australis have become invasive in North America, and this invasion has been recognized late. While this cryptic invasion on the American continent has received much attention, little is known about the potential

The bivalve Corbicula japonica is a popular food in Japan. The abundance of the clam in a lake changes over time. Clam transport is assumed to be passive even after the clam’s settlement. But it is not clear whether clams can be considered like sand particles, or whether biological features of the clams affect their movement. Features of clams that differ from sediment particles and may affect movement

The population of horseshoe crabs, Tachypleus gigas, in Malaysian waters is declining due to overexploitation, pollution, and loss of natural habitats. As an initiative to increase their population, adult T. gigas were reintroduced in Setiu lagoon, Terengganu. In the interest of sustainable management of bivalve resources in that area, feeding experiments were carried out to determine quantity consumption

Differences in reproductive allocation of male and female fishes could lead to sexual divergence in nutritional requirements, trophic ecologies, and metabolisms that may be reflected in isotopic compositions. We compared muscle C:N ratio, δ13C, and δ15N between mature females and males for eight fish species from 21 North American populations. We also compared isotopic compositions between muscle and

Beta diversity typically increases with decreasing latitude, with explanations of this pattern often based on tropical origins of most clades. Black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) are at odds with this trend, having a northern origin. Increasing β-diversity with decreasing latitude might also be a product of changes in causal mechanisms structuring local assemblages among biogeographical realms. We tested

Danube Delta shallow lakes experience cyanobacteria blooms that can negatively affect the aquatic ecosystem. Although there are several studies on Danube Delta cyanobacteria, little is known about their spatial–temporal patterns and the potential predictive role they can offer. We therefore analyzed the distribution of cyanobacteria in 19 lakes belonging to three lake complexes and tested whether their

Evolutionary history, systematics and taxonomy of charrs of the genus Salvelinus and especially of the representatives of the S. alpinus–S. malma species complex remain confused that is connected with a substantial ecological and morphological flexibility of this group and with supposed ancient hybridization between some taxa. For the analysis of phylogenetic relationships and introgressive hybridization

Available ecological information, an extensive distributional range, conflicting osteological data, and a proposed early Miocene origin provide the impetus for the present study which investigates genetic structuring, biogeographic, and phylogenetic relationships within the Aplocheilichthys spilauchen lineage. Through the analysis of the mitochondrial gene COI, species delimitation methods (ABGD, GB

Hydropeaking refers to the mode of hydropower dam operation where sub-daily changes in flow are used to vary the generation of electricity in accordance with demand. A typical pattern produces maximum power during the day (i.e., the peak), and minimal power at night. Hydropeaking is considered necessary to stabilize the energy grid since it is the only reliably flexible method of producing electricity

Subfossil chironomids are regarded as a useful biological proxy for palaeoenvironmental research, but picking chironomid head capsules from aquatic sediments is extremely time-consuming. This is often the case for finding and isolating small head capsules from the deflocculated sediment. In this study, two stains (aniline blue and cotton blue) were used to dye chironomid head capsules in lake and peat

Assessing the environmental variables that influence freshwater bivalve filtration activity is key to better understand the functioning of stream ecosystems. In the present study, the effects of light (0 ± 0 µmol m−2 s−1 and 19 ± 2 µmol m−2 s−1) and temperature (10, 15, 20 and 25°C) on the clearance rates of two bivalve species: the Asian clam Corbicula fluminea (Cyrenidae) and pocketbook Lampsilis

Males of many species display conspicuous colors to attract mates and deter rivals, although this benefit can incur an increased predation risk. In the African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni, males can change both their social status (dominant, DOM, or subordinate, SUB) and primary body color (yellow or blue). We hypothesized that these phenotypes vary in conspicuousness to predators and conspecifics

Floodplains are some of the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth. The Usumacinta River Basin, in the Southern Gulf of Mexico, hosts several floodplain lakes, whose integrity is threatened by water resource development. We aimed to investigate how food webs in these ecosystems vary in relation to their hydrological connectivity and seasonal flood cycles. To do this, we combined analysis of

Scyphozoan jellyfish blooms display high interannual variability in terms of timing of appearance and size of the bloom. To understand the causes of this variability, the conditions experienced by the polyps prior to the production of ephyrae in the spring were examined. Polyps reared from planula larvae of Aurelia aurita medusae collected from southern England (50°49′58.8; − 1°05′36.9) were incubated

Attempts to restore Lake Lugano, Switzerland and Italy, from eutrophication have produced weak responses in the target variables (primary productivity and hypolimnetic oxygen concentrations), indicating shortcomings in the underlying eutrophication model. An analysis of monitoring data showed that the decrease in phosphorus concentration, although nearly compliant with restoration targets, produced

Fish that perform paternal care may increase their fitness by choosing nest sites that enhance survival and development of embryos. We studied nest-site choice with respect to dissolved oxygen concentration and water temperature in males of the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a small fish species with exclusive male parental care that usually breeds in the littoral zone of freshwaters

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened habitats on Earth, due mainly to anthropogenic pollutants made up of complex mixtures. The Iguaçu River is world famous for the Iguaçu Falls and highlighted by its endemism. Unfortunately, it is considered the second most polluted urban river in Brazil. We aimed to perform an environmental evaluation of Neotropical streams in the Iguaçu River basin

The functional roles of freshwater mussels (Unionida) in tropical systems are poorly understood. We quantified the effects of mussel filtration, excretion and deposition in three anthropogenic tropical systems, i.e. a man-made lake, abandoned mining pool and rice paddy channel. Sinanodonta cf. woodiana (non-native) was present at all three sites, whilst Pilsbryoconcha compressa (native) was present

Estuaries are complex systems where environmental fluctuations occur over distinct timescales due to local meteorological and large-scale climatic factors. Consequently, studies with low temporal resolution and taxonomic coverage may fail to detect isotopic variations in basal sources, providing biased interpretations of isotope mixing models. We investigated the seasonal and El Niño Southern Oscillation

Hydrilla verticillata is an aquatic weed that grows densely throughout the water column and is costly to manage. The hydrilla tip mining midge, Cricotopus lebetis, a potential augmentative biological control agent of hydrilla, feeds on the apical meristem preventing growth. The goal of this study was to quantify the influence of a predator (mosquitofish, Gambusia sp.) and a competitor (hydrilla leafcutter

Species invasions often occur on coasts and estuaries where abiotic conditions vary, e.g. salinity, temperature, runoff etc. Successful establishment and dispersal of non-indigenous species in many such systems are poorly understood, partially since the species tend to show genetic and ecological plasticity at population level towards many abiotic conditions, including salinity tolerance. Plasticity

Eutrophication of lake ecosystems is a pervasive global environmental problem, exacerbated by urbanization, industrialization, and intensification of agriculture. Excess loading of the macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus from a myriad of human activities in catchment areas has forced many lake ecosystems into turbid, eutrophic states from which natural recovery is slow. A wide array of tools is

The River Continuum Concept implies that consumers in headwater streams have greater dietary access to terrestrial basal resources, but recent studies have highlighted the dietary importance of high-quality algae. Algae provide consumers with physiologically important omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). However, terrestrial plants and most benthic

As parasites depend on their hosts and play a significant role in their ecology and evolution, we hypothesized an association between the host dispersal capacity and the intraspecific variability of their host-specific parasites. We investigated the morphological variability of the gill monogeneans Cichlidogyrus gistelincki and C. milangelnari parasitizing the Tanganyika cichlids ‘Ctenochromis’ horei

Lake Tegel is an extreme case of restoration: inflow treatment reduced its main external phosphorus (TP) load 40-fold, sharply focused in time, and low-P water flushed the lake volume ≈ 4 times per year. We analysed 35 years of data for the time TP concentrations took to decline from ≈ 700 to 20–30 µg/l, biota to respond and cyanobacteria to become negligible. The internal load proved of minor relevance

Even after almost 30 years of Limnoperna fortunei introduction into South America, it is still unclear how the source and propagules are connected. Here, we present genetic evidence of population connectivity and gene flow of L. fortunei propagules from Asia into South America, proposing the main invasion routes into South America. To achieve that we expanded the sampling effort to cover all occurrence

Shallow lakes can change states in response to manipulations of top predators. In most reported experiments, the top piscivore has been a fish. However, low-latitude lakes typically support non-piscine piscivores, including mammals, birds, and reptiles. The roles of these groups have been little investigated, and whether they are more important as piscivores than fish remains unknown. We report both

Zooplankton play a key role in energy transfer within lake food webs, but we have a poor knowledge concerning their role as phytoplankton grazers in shallow subtropical lakes. In this study, we aimed to determine how zooplankton grazing upon phytoplankton is altered in different scenarios of fish predation and turbidity, and we explored the relevance of grazing compared to other environmental variables

The maternal environment may influence the quantity and quality of resources invested in offspring (per-offspring provisioning) and this trait, in turn, affects larval fitness and may carry-over into early juvenile life. Here, per-offspring investment was measured across three consecutive breeding seasons for the caridean shrimp, Palaemon varians. Egg and hatchling larval dry weight as well as hatchling

Proliferations of benthic mats dominated by anatoxin-producing Microcoleus autumnalis (basionym Phormidium autumnale) pose an increasing health risk to human and animals worldwide. This study assessed M. autumnalis mats in two in situ experiments undertaken at three spatial scales: (1) reach-scale along a river; (2) reach-scale, focusing on two sites upstream and downstream of a tributary with substantial

We investigated how the riverine network influences taxonomic and functional beta diversity patterns of fish assemblages in the mainstem/headwater (lateral) and upstream/downstream (longitudinal) gradients in a Neotropical river system. We investigated the following questions: which component (turnover or nestedness) explains taxonomic and functional beta diversity in both gradients? Is this component

Using a long time series, we analyzed trends in abundance of two characiform fishes in the upper Paraná River and its floodplain: the native Schizodon altoparanae and its alien congener Schizodon borellii, which invaded the floodplain in the last decades. We aimed to contribute to the understanding of the invasive species success and its relationship with its native congener. We compared feeding-related

Peacock basses (genus Cichla) are a group of Amazonian predatory fishes that invaded many systems worldwide. Severe ecological impacts have been reported, but no study investigated the functional response of these fishes to variations in prey abundance, a crucial information to determine predator consumption and impact. In this study, we evaluated the functional response of the highly invasive Cichla

Biogeographic investigations of Gondwanan mesic Australian fauna are scarce. The burrowing clade of Australian freshwater crayfish represent an ideal group to provide biogeographic inferences, due to their extensive distribution across the continent and their presumed ancient origin. This study tested the competing hypotheses of a ‘early’ versus ‘late’ origin of this clade, coinciding with the early

Telmatochromis temporalis is a cichlid fish endemic to Lake Tanganyika. Two morphs of this species, normal and dwarf, form a good model for the study of ecological speciation through divergent natural selection on body size. This study reports a third morph of this species, slender morph, which was collected from deep waters off Kasenga, Zambia, whereas the normal morph inhabits shallow waters of the

Temperature inducible phenotypic plasticity is a major player in plant responses to climate warming. Functional responses and their role in determining thermal plasticity of plants remain poorly understood. Our objective was to compare trait responses of six populations of Ludwigia peploides resulting from seed from Oceanic climate and from Mediterranean climate after an exposure at three temperatures

Pomacea canaliculata is a freshwater snail native to southern South America. The aims of this work are to update its distribution in Argentina and to analyze through niche models whether the environmental conditions from its original distribution can anticipate its recently expanded range. Almost all records of P. canaliculata before 1958 (original records) belong to del Plata or connected basins.

Epidermal mucus (‘mucus’) is increasingly applied to fish ecological studies based on stable isotope analysis (SIA) due to its non-invasive collection. However, knowledge on mucus SI turnover rates of individual fish remains limited, including uncertainty over how they are influenced by fish body sizes. Here, a diet switch experiment predicted mucus SI turnover rates (δ13C and δ15N) as a function of

Plant productivity is central to numerous ecosystem functions in tidal wetlands. We examined how productivity of brackish marsh plants in northern California responded to abiotic stress gradients of inundation and salinity using two experimental approaches. In a greenhouse study with varying salinity, shoot production and biomass of Juncus balticus, Schoenoplectus acutus and S. americanus all declined

The management of invasive species in large, little-known, nature reserves is difficult. Weighing the risk of invasion against the conservation value of each sector in nature reserves would help design viable management strategies. We evaluated the invasion risk of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in nature reserves in the Bahía Blanca estuary (Argentina). We tested the hypothesis that there

The recent large-scale hydropower development in the Amazon basin has raised concerns about the impacts on the movements of migratory fishes such as goliath catfish (Brachyplatystoma spp.). In the Madeira River, the efficiency of a 1400-m long fishway in the Santo Antônio hydropower plant (SAE HPP) was evaluated between 2012 and 2016 using telemetry techniques. Tagged fish (N = 388) were released 2000 m