Bacterial rarity in a subarctic stream network: Biodiversity patterns, assembly mechanisms and types of rarity.

Dendritic stream networks are an intriguing subject for exploring the spatial and temporal variability of the rare and common bacterial biosphere, yet very few such studies have been conducted. We sampled riverine bacterioplankton at 13 sites in a subarctic riverine network across 3 years, with five sampling times each year. Ordinations showed a consistent pattern of downstream shift for both rare and abundant subcommunities. We also detected a temporal signal, with seasonal community shifts reflecting changes in water temperature and groundwater contribution, and an inter-annual pattern where the year 2018 differed from other years. Phylogenetic turnover of the rare subcommunity indicated homogeneous selection, whereas the abundant subcommunity was mainly stochastically structured. Transiently rare taxa were the dominant type of rarity with the highest proportion at the headwater regions. The bacterioplankton community was characterized by a small group of core taxa that occurred at most sites with little temporal variation, a very large number of permanently or transiently rare taxa, and taxa shifting through time between the rare and abundant biosphere. While this basic structure could have been detected with less extensive temporal replication, a comprehensive understanding of the rare biosphere in riverine bacterioplankton can only be achieved via inter-annual, spatially replicated sampling that covers the whole stream network.

Thermal and hydrologic responses to climate change predict marked alterations in boreal stream invertebrate assemblages.

Air temperature at the northernmost latitudes is predicted to increase steeply and precipitation to become more variable by the end of the 21st century, resulting in altered thermal and hydrological regimes. We applied five climate scenarios to predict the future (2070-2100) benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages at 239 near-pristine sites across Finland (ca. 1200 km latitudinal span). We used a multitaxon distribution model with air temperature and modeled daily flow as predictors. As expected, projected air temperature increased the most in northernmost Finland. Predicted taxonomic richness also increased the most in northern Finland, congruent with the predicted northwards shift of many species' distributions. Compositional changes were predicted to be high even without changes in richness, suggesting that species replacement may be the main mechanism causing climate-induced changes in macroinvertebrate assemblages. Northern streams were predicted to lose much of the seasonality of their flow regimes, causing potentially marked changes in stream benthic assemblages. Sites with the highest loss of seasonality were predicted to support future assemblages that deviate most in compositional similarity from the present-day assemblages. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were also predicted to change more in headwaters than in larger streams, as headwaters were particularly sensitive to changes in flow patterns. Our results emphasize the importance of focusing protection and mitigation on headwater streams with high-flow seasonality because of their vulnerability to climate change.

Sediments and flow have mainly independent effects on multitrophic stream communities and ecosystem functions.

Stream ecosystems are affected by multiple abiotic stressors, and species responses to simultaneous stressors may differ from those predicted based on single-stressor responses. Using 12 semi-natural stream channels, we examined the individual and interactive effects of flow level (low or high flow) and addition of fine sediments (grain size <2 mm) on key ecosystem processes (leaf breakdown, algal biomass accrual) and benthic macroinvertebrate and fungal communities. Both stressors had mostly independent effects on biological responses, with sand addition being the more influential of the two. Sand addition decreased algal biomass and microbe-mediated leaf breakdown significantly, whereas invertebrate shredder-mediated breakdown only responded to flow level. Macroinvertebrate community composition responded significantly to both stressors. Fungal biomass decreased and shredder abundance increased when sand was added; thus, organisms at different trophic levels can exhibit highly variable responses to the same stressor. Terrestrial endophytic fungi were abundant in low-flow flumes where leaf mass loss was also highest, indicating that terrestrial endophytes may contribute importantly to leaf decomposition in the aquatic environment. Leaf breakdown rates depended on the identity and abundance of the dominant decomposer species, suggesting that the effects of anthropogenic activities on ecosystem processes may be driven by changes in the abundance of a few key species. The few observed interactive effects were all antagonistic (i.e., less than the sum of the individual effects); for example, increased flow stimulated algal biomass accumulation but this effect was largely cancelled by sand. While our finding that sand and stream flow did not have strong synergistic effects can be considered reassuring for management, future experiments should manipulate these and other human stressors in experiments that run for much longer periods, thus focusing on the long-term impacts of multiple simultaneously operating stressors.