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Introduction
Additional affiliations
November 2018 - present
October 2014 - October 2018
September 2007 - December 2007
Education
September 2006 - November 2010
Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Biologia, Departament d'Ecologia
Field of study
- Ecology
Publications
Publications (70)
The conservation of freshwater ecosystems has lagged behind that of marine and terrestrial ecosystems and often requires the integration of large‐scale approaches and transboundary considerations. This study aims to set the foundations of a spatial conservation strategy by identifying the most important catchments for the conservation of freshwater...
Variability in flow as a result of seasonal precipitation patterns is a defining element of streams and rivers in Mediterranean-climate regions of the world and strongly influences the biota of these unique systems. Mediterranean-climate areas include the Mediterranean Basin and parts of Australia, California, Chile, and South Africa. Mediterranean...
Rapid shifts in biotic communities due to environmental variability challenge the detection of anthropogenic impacts by current biomonitoring programs. Metacommunity ecology has the potential to inform such programs, because it combines dispersal processes with niche-based approaches and recognizes variability in community composition. Using interm...
Dispersal is an essential process in population and community dynamics, but is difficult to measure in the field. In freshwater ecosystems, information on biological traits related to organisms' morphology, life history and behaviour provides useful dispersal proxies, but information remains scattered or unpublished for many taxa. We compiled infor...
Regional‐scale ecological processes, such as the spatial flows of material, energy, and organisms, are fundamental for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in river networks. Yet these processes remain largely overlooked in most river management practices and underlying policies. Here, we propose adoption of a meta‐system approach, wh...
More than half of the world’s rivers dry up periodically, but our understanding of the biological communities in dry riverbeds remains limited. Specifically, the roles of dispersal, environmental filtering and biotic interactions in driving biodiversity in dry rivers are poorly understood. Here, we conduct a large-scale coordinated survey of patter...
Amphibians, the most threatened vertebrates globally, face risks due to climate change, habitat loss, and fragmentation. Their sensitivity to environmental changes highlights their importance as ecological indicators. Temporary rivers, influenced by geological, climatic, and anthropogenic factors, play a critical role in shaping biodiversity and co...
Temporary rivers, forming the majority of river networks worldwide, are key biodiversity hotspots. Despite their great value for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, they are often neglected in biomonitoring programs due to several challenges, such as their variable hydromorphology and the difficulty of establishing reference conditi...
In Mediterranean climate regions, intermittent rivers (IRs) harbor highly dynamic communities with species and trait composition changing over time and space. Simultaneously considering multiple biodiversity facets and a spatiotemporal perspective is, therefore, key to developing effective conservation strategies for these ecosystems. We studied th...
Temporary rivers (TRs) have been largely overlooked in conservation assessments. Because TRs are such dynamic ecosystems, spatial and temporal aspects of their hydrology and ecology need to be taken into account when designing conservation plans.
The aim of this paper is to propose a set of recommendations that could be useful for managers to do th...
Los ríos temporales (RTs) son ecosistemas fluviales en los que los efectos de las perturbaciones antrópicas se mezclan con los de la propia perturbación natural que impone la temporalidad del flujo. A pesar de los avances en el conocimiento de los RTs, todavía persisten muchas lagunas de conocimiento que limitan el desarrollo de metodologías adecua...
The EU Nature Restoration Law represents an important opportunity for freshwater habitat restoration and, consequently, freshwater biodiversity protection. However, a number of challenges must be anticipated in its implementation, which may compromise its success. Some aspects, particularly those relating to freshwater ecosystems, require more clar...
Temporary rivers, forming the majority of river networks worldwide, are key biodiversity hotspots. Despite their great value for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, they are often neglected in biomonitoring programs. This is mainly due to several challenges such as their variable hydromorphology and the difficulty of establishing re...
Non-perennial river segments — those that recurrently cease to flow or frequently dry — occur in all river networks and are globally more abundant than perennial (always flowing) segments. However, research and management have historically focused on perennial river segments. In this Review, we outline how non-perennial segments are integral parts...
In Mediterranean climate regions, intermittent rivers (IRs) harbor highly dynamic communities with species and trait composition changing over time and space. Considering simultaneously multiple biodiversity facets and a spatiotemporal perspective is, therefore, key to develop effective conservation strategies for these ecosystems. We studied the s...
The growing interest in combining spatial and temporal patterns in nature has been fostered by the current availability of high‐frequency measurements. However, we still lack a methodological framework to process and interpret spatiotemporal datasets into meaningful values, adaptable to different time windows and/or responding to different spatial...
Freshwater ecosystems host disproportionately high numbers of species relative to their surface area yet are poorly protected globally. We used data on the distribution of 1631 species of aquatic plant, mollusc, odonate and fish in 18,816 river and lake catchments in Europe to establish spatial conservation priorities based on the occurrence of thr...
River networks are among Earth’s most threatened hot-spots of biodiversity and provide
key ecosystem services (e.g., supply drinking water and food, climate regulation) essential to sustaining human well-being. Climate change and increased human water use are causing more rivers and streams to dry, with devastating impacts on biodiversity and ecosy...
Rivers are dynamic ecosystems in which both human impacts and climate‐driven drying events are increasingly common. These anthropogenic and natural stressors interact to influence the biodiversity and functioning of river ecosystems. Disentangling ecological responses to these interacting stressors is necessary to guide management actions that supp...
As complex mosaics of lotic, lentic, and terrestrial habitats, intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) support high biodiversity. Despite their ecological importance, IRES are poorly represented in routine monitoring programs, but recent recognition of their considerable—and increasing—spatiotemporal extent is motivating efforts to better...
Ecological processes occurring at the regional scale, such as the dispersal of organisms, and spatial flows of material and energy are fundamental for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in river networks, yet they remain largely overlooked in most river management practices and underlying policies. We propose a meta-system approach...
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) mandates to incorporate the participation of stakeholders and the general public in the development and updating of the river basin management plans. So far, the WFD implementation has been mainly focused on perennial rivers without considering temporary rivers properly, neither in biomonitoring programs...
The biomonitoring methods implemented by water authorities are mostly developed for perennial rivers, and do not apply to temporary rivers (TRs). We propose a new classification for TRs to better assess their ecological status. It arises from the LIFE+ TRivers project, which was conducted in the Catalan and the Júcar Mediterranean river basin distr...
Climate change is altering the water cycle globally, increasing the frequency and magnitude of floods and droughts. An outstanding question is whether biodiversity responses to hydrological disturbance depend on background climatic context – and if so, which contexts increase vulnerability to disturbance. Answering this question requires comparison...
Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, isolated pools, and dry phases. Despite the fact that temporary rivers are currently receiving increasing attention by researchers and managers, the isolated pools phase has been largely disregarded. However, isolated pools in temporary rivers are transitional habitats of majo...
Section 4.6. Aquatic Plants
Aim
To analyse temporal metacommunity dynamics in river networks in relation to hydrological conditions and dispersal.
Location
Fifteen river reaches from the Llobregat, Besòs and Foix catchments in the North‐Eastern Iberian Peninsula.
Taxon
Aquatic macroinvertebrates belonging to 99 different families.
Methods
We sampled aquatic macroinvertebra...
In this overview (introductory article to a special issue including 14 papers), we consider all main types of natural and artificial inland freshwater habitas (fwh). For each type, we identify the main biodiversity patterns and ecological features, human impacts on the system and environmental issues, and discuss ways to use this information to imp...
Ecosystems experience natural disturbances and anthropogenic impacts that affect biological communities and ecological processes. When natural disturbance modifies anthropogenic impacts, current widely used bioassessment metrics can prevent accurate assessment of biological quality.
Our aim was to assess the ability of biomonitoring metrics to dete...
Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) may represent over half the global stream network, but their contribution to respiration and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is largely undetermined. In particular, little is known about the variability and drivers of respiration in IRES sediments upon rewetting, which could result in large pulses of...
Climate change and human pressures are changing the global distribution and the extent of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), which comprise half of the global river network area. IRES are characterized by periods of flow cessation, during which channel substrates accumulate and undergo physico‐chemical changes (preconditioning), and...
Davant del canvi global i la gestió d'un recurs limitat com és l'aigua, és crucial saber com es relaciona la gestió dels recursos terrestres amb la dels aquàtics, especialment en zones de clima mediterrani. Amb un mínim d'un 85 % de cobertura vegetal, les conques estudiades (Rellinars, Talamanca, Mura, Vall d'Horta i Castelló) indiquen que l'evapot...
Des de 2015, i sobretot des de 2016, hi ha hagut un canvi en el model d'explotació de les captacions d'aigua de Sant Llorenç Savall. Hi ha hagut una millora de l'estat hidrològic del torrent de la Vall d'Horta en dis-minuir dràsticament l'extracció d'aigua de dos dels pous ubicats a la conca que causava que la riera quedés seca durant bona part de...
Els rius temporals mediterranis presenten una ictiofauna autòctona adaptada a la variabilitat hidrològica d'aquests sistemes. Tot i això, degut al canvi climàtic, a l'activitat humana i a la introducció d'espècies al-lòctones, la seva persistència es troba amenaçada. L'estudi, elaborat a quatre rieres del Parc Natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt i l'O...
Climate change and human pressures are changing the global distribution and extent of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), which comprise half of the global river network area. IRES are characterized by periods of flow cessation, during which channel substrates accumulate and undergo physico‐chemical changes (preconditioning), and peri...
El proyecto TRivers contribuye a la aplicación de la Directiva Marco del Agua a los Ríos Temporales mediante el desarrollo de herramientas de evaluación del estado ecológico e hidrológico de estos ríos para mejorar su gestión y/o conservación. Dichas herramientas son el software TREHS (Temporary Rivers’ Ecological and Hydrological Status) y la apli...
Perennial rivers and streams make a disproportionate contribution to global carbon (C) cycling. However, the contribution of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES),which sometimes cease to flow and can dry completely, is largely ignored although theymay represent over half the global river network. Substantial amounts of terrestrialplant...
In the version of this Article originally published, the affiliation for M. I. Arce was incorrect; it should have been: ⁵Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Germany. This has now been corrected in the online versions of the Article.
RiuNet is an app for smartphones and tablets to be used by citizens to assess the hydrological status and ecological quality of a river following the guidelines of the EU Water Framework Directive. Using a simplified and interactive approach, this app guides the user for the current aquatic phase of the river by the time of sampling, the classifica...
Impact of a reservoir system on benthic macroinvertebrate and diatom communities of a large Mediterranean river (lower Ebro river, Catalonia, Spain) This study included the main hydrogeomorphic categories of the lower Ebro River and aimed to detect spatial and temporal patterns of macroinvertebrates and diatoms communities inhabiting downstream a r...
Al llarg de 5 anys es van estudiar les comunitats de macroinvertebrats de trams de capçalera de dos torrents del Montseny de característiques i altitud similar però amb règims climàtics i hidrològics diferents, l’un de clima més temperat i amb règim permanent (torrent de Coll Pregon: Teb1), i l’altre de clima més mediterrani i amb règim intermitent...
Annual report of 2017 that the FEHMlab research group of the University of Barcelona performs for the Department of the Environment and the Area of Natural Areas of the Diputació de Barcelona. It is the final result of the studies of the CARIMED 2017 agreement (Efectes del Canvi Ambiental en les comunitats d'organismes dels RIus MEDiterranis). This...
Institutions and processes governing the conveyance and control of water have a long history. In this chapter, we discuss the extent to which water governance systems consider the management of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) and identify where research could inform decisions on their protection and restoration. Most water governan...
Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are common worldwide and play important roles in freshwater biodiversity and biogeochemical processes. Anthropogenic threats to IRES can be broadly classified into hydrological, physical, chemical, and biological alterations that can occur specifically during dry (e.g., sediment mining) or wet phases...
Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are common across Europe and dominate some Mediterranean river networks. In all climate zones, IRES support high biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. As dynamic ecosystems that transition between flowing, pool, and dry states, IRES are typically poorly represented in biomonitoring programmes...
More than half of the global river network is composed of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), which are expanding in response to climate change and increasing water demands. After years of obscurity, the science of IRES has bloomed recently and it is being recognised that IRES support a unique and high biodiversity, provide essential...
In Europe, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive has been unable to provide a solution to determine the ecological status of Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams (IRES). A lack of adequate methods (developed exclusively for perennial streams), hydrological data, and limited recognition in environmental policies have posed a major...
When the regime of a river is not perennial, there are four main difficulties with the use of hydrographs for assessing hydrological alteration: i) the main hydrological features relevant for biological communities are not quantitative (discharges) but qualitative (phases such as flowing water, stagnant pools or lack of surface water), ii) stream f...
Resum Els cursos d'aigua de la Serralada Litoral Catalana difícilment flueixen de manera permanent ja que les conques de drenatge són relativament petites i la major part d'anys s'hi dóna dèficit hídric. Aquest fet dificulta l'avaluació de l'estat ecològic d'aquests rius i rieres temporals, ja que els indicadors biològics utilitzats han estat disse...
In intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), significant anthropogenic threats result from alterations in natural flow regimes, changes in geomorphological features, and degraded water quality. These changes may favor invasion by alien species, a major ecological problem in IRES. – Anthropogenic threats in IRES often exceed the thresholds o...
Dissemination article on temporary rivers. LIFE+ TRivers project www.lifetrivers.eu
The relationship between biodiversity and each ecosystem service or bundle of ecosystem services (e.g. win−win, win−lose or win−neutral) is an active field of research that requires structured and consistent information. The application of that research for conservation and decision-making can be hampered by the ambiguity found in the definition of...
Aquatic life in temporary streams is strongly conditioned by the temporal variability of the hydrological conditions that control the occurrence and connectivity of diverse mesohabitats. In this context, the software TREHS (Temporary Rivers' Ecological and Hydrological Status) has been developed, in the framework of the LIFE Trivers project, to hel...
AimTo assess the future climatic suitability of European catchments for freshwater species and the future utility of the current network of protected areas.LocationEurope.Methods
Using recently updated catchment-scale species data and climate projections from multiple climate models, we assessed the climate change threat by the 2050s for 1648 Europ...
This report focuses on potential effects of climate change on ecological reference conditions and on ecological responses to nutrient pressures in lakes, especially threshold-type and non-linear responses. Reference conditions and thresholds responses are both fundamental for na-tional ecological classification systems according to the European Wat...
We examined the effect of spatial scale on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in Mediterranean streams from six basins distributed across southern Europe, including Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. We classified the studied streams according to their long-term aquatic regime into the three following types: (i) permanent (P), (ii) intermittent w...
Although the ecological and economic effects of non-native species probably often change through time, few studies have documented such effects. The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is an important invader that has had large ecological and economic effects on the ecosystems it has invaded in North America and western Europe. Our 20-year study of...
This study focused on the metal bioaccumulation of two aquatic insects (Ephoron virgo and Hydropsyche spp.) in order to evaluate the spatial distribution of metals, the interspecific differences between both filter-feeders and the bioaccumulation dynamics during E. virgo development stages. Hg, Cd, Ni, Cr, As, Pb, Cu, Ti, Zn and Mn were quantified...
The life history of the burrowing mayfly Ephoron virgo (Olivier, 1791) (Ephemeroptera: Polymitarcyidae) was studied during spring and summer 2005 in the lower Ebro river (Catalonia) and compared to a previous study performed in 1987 (Ibáñez, Escosa, Muñoz and Prat 1991). The results showed an advancement of Ephoron virgo life cycle and an increase...
Se analizan series temporales de datos de calidad del agua en lo que concierne a nutrientes y clorofila del tramo bajo del río Ebro y su estuario, durante un periodo de 18 a�nos (1987-2004). Se discuten las causas y consecuencias de los cambios observados en la concentraci´on de nutrientes, y se establecen algunas hip´otesis. Se observ´o una dismin...