Hydrobiologia

Cannucci, Silvia; Fanfarillo, Emanuele; Maccherini, Simona; Bolpagni, Rossano; Bonari, Gianmaria; de Simone, Leopoldo; Fiaschi, Tiberio; Mascia, Francesco; Pafumi, Emilia; Angiolini, Claudia

doi: 10.1007/s10750-025-05884-4pmid: N/A

Wetlands are among the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems. Particularly in the Mediterranean region, farmland ponds are strongly influenced by the agricultural land use in their surroundings, though supporting unique biodiversity. This study aimed to highlight the patterns of farmland pond plant diversity across different pondscapes—networks of interconnected ponds within a landscape—and different spatial scales, from local (pond-scale) to landscape level (pondscape-scale), with the aim of informing conservation planning. We surveyed plant communities across 45 farmland ponds located in three pondscapes of Tuscany in central Italy, with different agricultural land-use extents. We tested species richness and composition differences using permutational analysis of variance. Species richness and plant community composition varied with the extent of agricultural land use in the pondscape. Pondscapes with the highest agricultural land use extent had lower aquatic plant species richness, with dominance of species adapted to anthropogenic disturbance. In contrast, the pondscape with the lowest agricultural land-use extent hosted a richer aquatic biodiversity, particularly of helophytes. We found that pond-specific features, possibly related to pond management, play a more significant role than landscape-scale features in shaping plant diversity. This underscores the importance of acting on individual ponds in addition to whole pondscapes for plant conservation purposes.

Pace, Giorgio; Melfe, Francisco; Rodrigues, Carolina; Ribeiro, Diogo; Lourenço, José; Carvalho, Francisco; Ribeiro, Carlos. A.; Cássio, Fernanda; Pascoal, Cláudia; Arunava, Pradhan

doi: 10.1007/s10750-025-05882-6pmid: N/A

Microplastics accumulation in freshwater organisms is expected to rise with the level of urbanization occurring near riverbanks, although other factors also contribute to this trend. Benthic macroinvertebrates, in particular, may be disproportionately affected by microplastic accumulation due to their feeding strategies (e.g., filter vs deposit feeders), highlighting feeding type-specific ingestion patterns. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain whether these impacts translate into detectable changes at the community level, underscoring the need for in situ investigations. We quantified the accumulation of microplastics in Chironomidae and Oligochaeta across 15 stream reaches along a rural–urban environmental gradient, within 3 Northern Atlantic rivers in Portugal. Microplastics were detected in organisms regardless of their river’s Ecological Quality Status, suggesting that the impact of urban land use is not the only factor that drives microplastics at a local scale. We also found microplastics across different Chironomidae subfamilies and tribes belonging to different functional feeding groups, potentially facilitating a higher influx of microplastics into the aquatic food web. This study demonstrates that even well-maintained ecosystems are not immune to microplastics pollution, emphasizing the urgent need for enhanced research efforts to develop methods for more effectively assessing and mitigating the impacts of microplastics on aquatic organisms.

Liro, Maciej; Gallitelli, Luca

doi: 10.1007/s10750-025-05875-5pmid: N/A

Wood jams, composed of branches, root wads, fine organic matter, and mineral sediments deposited in river channel zones, play several important roles in river ecosystem functioning. Recent studies conducted in mountain rivers in temperate climates showed that wood jams effectively trap macroplastics, which can pose various risks to the organisms inhabiting them. There is no verification of similar effects in mountain rivers in other climates, where riparian vegetation, wood jam characteristics and river hydrological regime can be different. We sampled macroplastics deposited on wood jams and other surfaces within the channel of the small mountainous Mediterranean Aniene river in central Italy. Our results showed that mass of macroplastic debris trapped by wood jams exceeded those trapped by woody vegetation, herbaceous vegetation, and exposed river sediments by factors of 10, 150, and 600, respectively. These results confirm previous observations from temperate mountain rivers, indicating that wood jams act as temporary hotspots for macroplastic accumulation and potential source of its future remobilization along rivers. Based on this similarity in macroplastic-wood jam interaction, we introduced the term “plastic-wood jam” to describe a specific depositional form that links wood jams with plastic debris in plastic-polluted river systems.

Fois, M.; Cuena-Lombraña, A.; Boi, M. E.; McInnes, R. J.; Bacchetta, G.

doi: 10.1007/s10750-025-05892-4pmid: N/A

Quarry and mining ponds are often considered environments of poor quality or marginal for biodiversity conservation, as they pose a risk to human’s health and wildlife. Conversely, once abandoned, they could be recolonised naturally and provide ecosystem services (ES), by, for example, improving water quality and providing new habitats. We visited 34 quarry and 14 mining ponds in Sardinia to gather information about their general characteristics, such as time since abandonment, diversity of animals, plants, habitats, and ecosystem services, to summarise them in a Bioindex and Ecosystem Services Index (ESI). Mines were abandoned mainly in the 1960s and 1990s, and quarries in the 1980s and 1990s; none were actively restored. The presence of 524 animals, vascular plants and habitats was recorded; 18% of the 303 ES data reflected disservices. Bioindex and ESI were poorly correlated, suggesting that an intervention might be deserved for the reintroduction of key species. Both indexes increase significantly with time to disposal, confirming that ponds in quarries and mines can naturally self-recovered. ESI is higher in quarry than in mining ponds, suggesting a greater need for active restoration in the latter. Results support the debate on managing these environments from the perspective of resource and conservation optimization.