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Dam promotes downriver functional homogenization of phytoplankton in a transitional river-reservoir system in Amazon

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Abstract

Dams disrupt the longitudinal gradient and decrease the natural connectivity of lotic systems and change the physical, chemical, and biological compartments of the river environment. Here, we investigated the effects of damming and seasonal variation in environmental conditions and richness, density, taxonomic and functional beta diversity patterns of phytoplankton, through dry and rainy seasons (of 2011 and 2012), among four zones (upriver, reservoir, dam, downriver) of the Tucuruí dam (Tocantins River sub-basin, eastern Amazon, Brazil). Species were quantified and classified into three functional traits (size class, floating, life form) used to estimate functional beta diversity. We showed that water transparency was higher in the dam, and dry periods presented higher total phosphorus. Our results also demonstrated that the dam promotes species turnover between zones and seasonal periods and that the functional morphological groups respond to local limnological conditions. However, the dam led to a reduction in functional beta diversity—functional homogenization—of phytoplankton species, mainly downstream. We demonstrated that the dam is promoting unfavorable conditions and reducing the environmental heterogeneity, leading to a significant loss of functional traits variation between phytoplankton communities, which compromises the ecosystem processes provided by phytoplankton.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brazil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001. L.S. Castro, A. A. Sousa Lopes also thank the CAPES for Internal Scientific Initiation and Extension Scholarship Program (PIBICE) of Federal Institute of Pará-Campus Tucuruí. L.S. Castro, A. A. Sousa Lopes, L. M. Fernandes thank the Eletrobras Eletronorte UHE Tucuruí for technical and logistical support during the performance of this study, material preparation, data collection and also thank to Federal Institute of Pará-Campus Tucuruí. L. Palheta and L. Colares thank the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) for the doctoral’s and master’s scholarship, respectively. B. Dunck, L. Palheta and L. Colares also thank the Universidade Federal do Pará and Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SEDUC-Pará Secretaria de Estado de Educação do Pará, Escola Estadual Ana Pontes Francez, Rua Betel, Bairro Jardim Marilucy, Tucuruí, PA, Brasil

    Luana Silva de Castro

  2. Laboratório de Microbiologia e Parasitologia do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Pará, IFPA Campus Tucuruí, Rua Porto Colombo, Vila Permanente, Tucuruí, Pará, Brasil

    Luana Silva de Castro, Adriani Aragão de Souza Lopes & Luciana Mendes Fernandes

  3. Universidade do Estado do Pará, Núcleo Universitário de Tucuruí Campus XIII, Rua 4, Bairro Santa Mônica, Tucuruí, Pará, Brasil

    Adriani Aragão de Souza Lopes

  4. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia-PPGECO, Laboratório de Ecologia de Produtores Primários, Universidade Federal do Pará-UFPA, Belém, PA, 66075-11, Brazil

    Lucas Colares, Leandra Palheta & Bárbara Dunck

  5. Centro de Proteção Ambiental-UHE Tucuruí-Eletrobras Eletronorte, BR 422, km 13, Tucuruí, PA, Brasil

    Mayko de Souza Menezes

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  1. Luana Silva de Castro
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  2. Adriani Aragão de Souza Lopes
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  3. Lucas Colares
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  4. Leandra Palheta
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  5. Mayko de Souza Menezes
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  6. Luciana Mendes Fernandes
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  7. Bárbara Dunck
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Contributions

LSC, AAS-L, MSM and LMF contributed to the study conception and design. Quantification of the biological material was performed by LSC and AAS-L. Quantification of the physical–chemical was performed by MSM. The data analysis and the first draft of the manuscript were performed by LSC, LC, LP, and BD. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bárbara Dunck.

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de Castro, L.S., de Souza Lopes, A.A., Colares, L. et al. Dam promotes downriver functional homogenization of phytoplankton in a transitional river-reservoir system in Amazon. Limnology 22, 245–257 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-021-00650-6

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