Response of functional diversity of fish communities to habitat alterations in small lowland rivers

Abstract

Functional diversity has proven to be more responsive than traditional taxonomic diversity to alterations for a wide set of communities, especially in aquatic ecosystems. Habitat alterations are among the most relevant causes of biodiversity loss in freshwater ecosystems, nevertheless their effect on functional diversity has been scarcely investigated so far. In this study, functional diversity of fish communities in the River Po basin, north Italy, were related to habitat quality at different spatial scales. Land use and riparian vegetation were identified as the most influent factors on freshwater fish functional diversity. On the other hand, habitat descriptors at smaller scale did not influence functional diversity of fish. The evidenced responses were driven by the contribution of exotic species, which maximized ecological niche occupancy, either by exploiting increased habitat heterogeneity or by interaction with native species. Moreover, traits filtering, disadvantaging large predators such as salmonids, was also observed in the studied communities, but likely this effect was related to other factors than habitat alterations. Overall, this study confirms that land use changes can be considered as valid proxies for anthropogenic alterations. Moreover, possible effects at ecosystem level, also related to the spread of exotic species, could be hypothesized, giving that traits mostly influencing the observed patterns of diversity in communities were related to trophic niche, a factor that has been associated with crucial processes like nutrient cycling or energy transfer.