Franco Teixeira de Mello

Universidad de la República de Uruguay- CURE-Maldonado · Ecología y Gestión Ambiental

The use of macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality is an effective and low-cost tool, which is widely implemented in biomonitoring programmes. Certain taxa are characteristic of impaired watercourses (e.g. Oligochaeta, Chironomidae and Amphipoda), while others are characteristic of good-quality watercourses (e.g. Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera...

Submerged macrophytes promote water clarity in shallow lakes in temperate regions via zooplankton refuge, allelopathy, and nutrient competition with phytoplankton, thereby increasing zooplankton grazing. However, in high-altitude Andean ecosystems, these interactions in shallow lakes have received far less attention. To understand the role of subme...

Biodiversity loss is a global concern, and agriculture is one of the economic sectors responsible for this impact. The assessment of ecosystems under the influence of livestock production is essential for knowing their integrity and ability to provide ecosystem services. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the application of LEAP/FAO guid...

The widespread use of plastic products in our modern life represents a serious threat to aquatic environments and wild animals that are exposed to plastic waste. Although microplastics (MPs) have been reported in fish from several freshwater environments around the world, mountain environments have been little studied so far. The occurrence of MPs...

Using pellet analysis, we characterized the diet and plastic and non-plastic debris ingestion of skuas (Catharacta spp.) during 2017-2020 summer seasons along the coastal sector of Fildes Peninsula (King George Island, Antarctica). In addition, we conducted the same analysis during the 2020 breeding season on reproductive territories of south polar...

Stream functioning is energetically dependent on terrestrial vegetation due to the input of leaves. The decomposition process of this allochthonous resource may be controlled by leaf identity and abiotic and biological predictors that are also influenced by the presence of riparian cover. In subtropical Uruguayan streams, most of the riparian zones...

With 6 main basins, and being the second smallest country in South America, Uruguay has a high freshwater ecosystem diversity. The study of zooplankton communities dates back to 1949, but remained marginal until the end of the 20th century when the number of publications increased notably. Here, we revise the history and accumulated knowledge on th...

Many studies have shown that biodiversity regulates a multitude of ecological functions that are needed to maintain the productivity and efficiency of a variety of types of ecosystems. What is not known is how human activities may change the ‘multifunctionality’ of ecosystems as they have both direct impacts on ecosystems and indirect effects on th...

Microplastics (MPs) have been reported in fish species from several freshwater environments. However, the mechanisms underlying MPs ingestion by fish are still unclear, although they are important to determine the pathway of MPs along freshwater environments food webs. Here, we investigates a fundamental question of why wild freshwater fish ingest...

Plasticity of resource use represents an important strategy for fish species living in unstable freshwater environments. Trophic polymorphism (i.e. variation in the morphology of the alimentary tract) has been observed in dozens of vertebrate species in response to diet variation. The digestive tract has been reported as one of the most reactive sy...

Supplementary material = Does color play a predominant role in the intake of microplastics fragments by freshwater fish? An experimental approach with Psalidodon eigenmanniorum

Supplementary material of the paper: "Does color play a predominant role in the intake of microplastics fragments by freshwater fish? An experimental approach with Psalidodon eigenmanniorum"

Land-use changes have negative effects on stream conditions and fish assemblages, but their effects on water quality and the use of microhabitats by fish in subtropical lowland streams are unclear. We evaluated the effects of urban patches (two urban streams) in an agricultural matrix (two ‘agricultural’ streams) on water quality, microhabitat dive...

Plastic and microplastic debris is transported by ocean currents over long distances, reaching remote areas, far from its original source. In Polar Regions, microplastics (MPs) can come from local activities or be transported from lower latitudes, with the former being the likely and major source. Although historically Antarctica was considered iso...

The Neotropical region hosts 4,225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world’s most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north, to the sout...

1. Under increasing nutrient loading, shallow lakes may shift from a state of clear water dominated by submerged macrophytes to a turbid state dominated by phytoplankton or a shaded state dominated by floating macrophytes. How such regime shifts mediate the relationship between taxonomic and functional diversity and lake multifunctionality is poorl...

Microbes play a critical role in plant litter decomposition and influence the fate of carbon in rivers and riparian zones. When decomposing low‐nutrient plant litter, microbes acquire nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the environment (i.e., nutrient immobilization), and this process is potentially sensitive to nutrient loading and changing clima...

RESUMEN El monitoreo de especies y comunidades es clave en la gestión de la conservación de la biodiversidad, la elaboración y la planificación de políticas de conservación. Los anfibios experimentan a nivel global una importante crisis de diversidad. En el caso de Uruguay se cuenta con un registro de 47 especies nativas, donde el 34% de ellas se e...

ABSTRACT List of aquatic insects from the Limnology Section deposited in the Entomology Collection of the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. The inventory of insects collected by the Section of Limnology in various aquatic environments of Uruguay between 1984 and 2007 is described with the aim of publicizing their entry int...

To investigate the potential long-term consequences of environmental warming in subtropical systems, we compare the trophic structure of shallow lakes in tropical and subtropical regions. In total, 25 meso-eutrophic lakes with piscivorous fish were sampled during summer along a latitudinal gradient in South America. The fish catch per unit of effor...

Body size is usually considered a good indicator of trophic position in fish communities. Indeed, the proverbial wisdom that “Big Fish Eat Little Fish” is consistent with observations from marine systems where systematic removal of the largest individuals has occurred, with cascading effect in the ecosystems. Trophic cascades are also well document...

A recent paper by Beretta-Blanco and Carrasco-Letelier (2021) claims that agricultural eutrophication is not one of the main causes for cyanobacterial blooms in rivers and artificial reservoirs. By combining rivers of markedly different hydrological characteristics e.g., presence/absence and number of dams, river discharge and geological setting, t...

Newspaper interview.

Stream macroinvertebrate communities are modulated by different ecological processes that occur from the watershed to reaches and local sites, which can be directly or indirectly affected by human activities and changes in land use. This study evaluated the effects of water quality on macroinvertebrate structure in a low-impacted highland watershed...

The invasive freshwater dinoflagellate Ceratium furcoides is extending its distribution in South America with increasing environmental impacts associated with its bloom. We here report two events related to C. furcoides distribution expansion in Uruguay: (1) the main environmental drivers (physical and chemical factors, extreme wind events and zoop...

The conversion of natural streams to urbanized systems with the intention of supplying the cities' water demand causes species loss across many trophic groups, with negative consequences for ecosystem functioning. High levels of watershed urbanization cause environmental changes through water quality deterioration and loss of habitat heterogeneity....

Neotropical Ichthyology promotes the Special Issue (SI) “Human impacts and the loss of Neotropical freshwater fish diversity” with the purpose of publishing relevant scientific articles on the current biodiversity crisis and the loss of Neotropical freshwater fishes in the Anthropocene. The SI is composed of 22 publications, being two review articl...

• Annual killifishes inhabit seasonal ponds and wetlands that dry out completely during the dry season, and tend to present very restricted distributions, meaning that local extinctions can lead to the disappearance of entire populations. • Using morphological and genetic approaches the present study identifies a new population of Austrolebias char...

Aquaculture has tremendous importance in providing food for a growing world population. Nevertheless, unsustainable aquaculture causes nutrient build-up and favors biological invasions in natural habitats, demanding strategies to regulate such activity and therefore minimize environmental risks. Contrary to these concerns, the Brazilian Government...

Global change drivers including eutrophication, hydrological disturbance, climate change, chemical pollution, overexploitation, invasive species, and land-use change are affecting the function and structure of freshwater ecosystems. South American freshwater ecosystems are especially threatened by the combination of rising human pressures on natura...

Plastics have been found in several compartments in Antarctica. However, there is currently no evidence of their presence on Antarctic glaciers. Our pilot study investigated plastic occurrence on two ice surfaces (one area around Uruguay Lake and another one around Ionosferico Lake) that constitute part of the ablation zone of Collins Glacier (King...

Physical-chemical and biologicaldiversity of streams are influenced by the land use in their watersheds. Plastics currently make up the most important waste asset, representing an important part of the transported and accumulated material in water courses. This work analyzes the consumption of plastics debris by the fish communities in streams with...

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04580-3

In alluvial plains, where shallow lakes are subject to inputs of sediments, the impact of turbidity on predator-prey interactions needs to be studied. We conducted an in situ mesocosm study in a shallow floodplain lake during 36 days to evaluate the main and interactive effect of fish predation and turbidity on the abundances, composition and habit...

Shifts between the alternative stable states have been a popular topic of ecological studies for over 50 years. However, identifying the mechanisms that drive these regime shifts remains a challenging task in the field of applied ecology and ecosystem management. Herein, we applied a Bayesian latent variable regression (BLR) to the dataset obtained...

• Genidens barbus is a vulnerable marine migrant catfish with low fecundity, a complex life cycle (i.e. mouth breeding), and is the target of industrial and artisanal fisheries of several countries. This species regularly migrates from marine to freshwater environments of the south‐western Atlantic. • The aim of this work was to delve deeper into t...

In arid and semiarid regions, extreme temperature events and the frequency and duration of drought will increase toward 2050, leading to increased salinisation of inland waters, aggravated by catchment erosion and human activities (e.g., crop irrigation). With salinisation, a decline in biodiversity is expected, with potential negative effects on f...

Cryptic species are a major challenge for morphologically based species identification. Molecular approaches to species delimitation can be a valuable tool to provide preliminary taxonomic hypotheses and significantly complements morphological taxonomy. In South America, the freshwater crabs of the genus Aegla have sparked much interest as they are...

The invasive freshwater dinoflagellate Ceratium furcoides is extending its distribution in South America with increasing environmental impacts associated with its blooms. We here report two events related to C. furcoides distribution expansion in Uruguay: 1) the first appearance and main environmental drivers (physico-chemical variables, extreme wi...

Urbanization is regarded a major global threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Streams are among the most severely affected ecosystems due to worldwide urbanization. An increase in urbanization causes water quality deterioration and loss of habitat heterogeneity in streams. However, it is unclear how water quality deterioration and loss...

Biodiversity provides multiple functions and services to ecosystems. However, the role of biodiversity in sustaining multiple functions simultaneously (multifunctionality) is still poorly understood in natural communities, especially in hyperdiverse tropical freshwater ecosystems. Studies have focused on the effect of single trophic groups on ecosy...

Habitat complexity is recognized to mediate predator–prey relationships by offering refuge or not. We investigated the availability of planktonic microcrustaceans and the diet of a planktivorous fish (Hyphessobrycon eques) at different levels (low, intermediate and high) of aquatic macrophyte biomass. Sampling was carried out in a river with low fl...

Non-native species are considered a major global threat to biodiversity, and their expansion to new ecosystems has recently increased. However, the effect of non-native species on ecosystem functioning is poorly understood, especially in hyperdiverse tropical ecosystems where long-term studies are scarce. We analyzed the relationship between richne...

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 relevan...

This study provides the length-weight relationship in four nonnative and one native fish species of the central Andes, Argentina. The only species showing positive allometric growth was the native torrent catfish Hatcheria macraei.

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The original version of this article unfortunately contained an error in the published paper.

Plastics have been found in marine water and sediments, sea ice, marine invertebrates, and penguins in Antarctica; however, there is no evidence of their presence in Antarctic glaciers. Our pilot study investigated plastic occurrence on two ice surfaces that constitute part of the ablation zone of Collins Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica). O...

South America hosts some of the world’s most prominent biodiversity hotspots. Yet, Uruguay – a country where multiple major ecosystems converge – ranks amongst the countries with the lowest levels of available digital biodiversity data in the continent. Such prevalent data scarcity has significantly undermined our ability to progress towards eviden...

Aim The aim was to analyze the incidence of microplastics in the diet of fish in the middle Uruguay River. Methods The present work analyzed the gastrointestinal content of two species: Astyanax lacustris and Iheringichthys labrosus. Results This study provides the first evidence of synthetic materials, such as fibres and plastics in the gastroin...

Poor water quality in urban streams places at risk the health of urban residents and the integrity of urban environments, ultimately leading to the “urban stream syndrome.” In response to growing concerns regarding urban streams in Uruguay, we evaluated the spatiotemporal variation in water quality parameters in two urban streams, the Ceibal and La...

• The flow of individuals among communities and their interactions with local environmental filters are increasingly recognised as determinants of biodiversity patterns in riverine ecosystems. Both incoming dispersers and local conditions are expected to systematically change along connectivity gradients from headwaters to downstream communities. H...

This work provides new length‐weight information for seven species of freshwater fishes. The analyzed specimens were collected monthly during a year (April 2018–March 2019) in a coastal lagoon system and its associated streams in southern Uruguay. During each sampling campaign, fishes were captured using gillnets in the lagoon and electrofishing in...

Los estresores ambientales tienen efectos medibles en el ecosistema fluvial y sus organismos, por lo que estos últimos son de interés para estimar la integridad o el estado ecológico de los ríos. En Suramérica los métodos para la evaluación de los ríos varían entre países, con lo cual es necesario conocer cuáles receptores biológicos y ambientales...

In this work, the presence of O. argentinensis-a species considered marine or estuarine-is reported in fully freshwaters along four localities located in Río Uruguay, extending the habitat range of this species ca. 120 kilometers upstream from the mouth of this river. Resumen: Confirmación de la presencia de Odontesthes argentinensis (Valenciennes,...

In this study, we focused on the seasonal variation of the determinants of territory size in the weakly electric fish Gymnotus omarorum. This species is a seasonal breeder that displays year-round territorial aggression. Female and male dyads exhibit indistinguishable non-breeding territorial agonistic behavior and body size is the only significant...

Effect of environmental filters on Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) assemblages of neotropical watersheds Environmental filters act at different spatial scales, selecting species with characteristics that allow them to successfully establish and survive under local environmental conditions. We sought to evaluate how environmental filters (physical/c...

Although the Upper Paraná is the most significant contributor to the water budget of the river, the largest proportion of transported suspended sediment and the organic material are carried into the Middle Paraná from the Paraguay River. Increased sediment load constitutes a stressor and is caused by changes in land-use and land-based pollution. Su...

Temporal variation in the diet of the Kelp Gull in relation to feeding on refuse was studied at a reproductive colony on Isla de las Gaviotas, Uruguay. Diet was assessed temporally within the reproductive season, and inter-annually for 2011 and 2012 reproductive seasons, and the 2013 non-reproductive season. Data analysis was focused on the proport...

Nitrogen lost from agriculture has altered the geochemistry of the biosphere, with pronounced impacts on aquatic ecosystems. We aim to elucidate the patterns and driving factors behind the N fluxes in lowland stream ecosystems differing about land-use and climatic-hydrological conditions. The climate-hydrology areas represented humid cold temperate...

Soybean has undergone the greatest expansion of any global crop, fuelled by the emergence of herbicide-resistant crops. In Uruguay, soybean croplands have increased from virtually zero to more than 1 million ha in 20 years. Uruguay is also implementing its system of protected areas. Here, we assess the presence of pesticides within a Ramsar site an...