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Filter and deposit: a potential role of freshwater mussels in ecosystem functioning associated with enhanced macroinvertebrate assemblage structure in a Neotropical river

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Abstract

Mussels provide important ecological functions in freshwater ecosystems but the associations between Amazonian mussels, macroinvertebrate assemblage and habitat quality remain poorly understood. We investigated whether changes in macroinvertebrate assemblage structure and ecological functioning were associated with mussel presence. We compared sites with and without mussels, with similar habitat conditions, in an eastern Amazonian river, using field measurements of macroinvertebrate structure, hydrological variables and sediment organic matter, and laboratory experiments of mussel clearance rate and biodeposition. Sites with mussels were associated with higher macroinvertebrate abundance and number of taxa, especially for trichopterans Marilia (shredder), Oecetis (predator) and Antarctoecia (collector). Decreased chlorophyll-a in the water column and increased sediment organic matter were positively associated with mussel presence. Laboratory experiments corroborated these patterns, which were stronger with higher mussel density. Mussel filtration and biodeposition may be associated with habitat quality for other invertebrates by lowering phytoplankton density in the water column and increasing inputs of sediment organic matter. This suggests a potential role of freshwater mussels in ecosystem function associated with high taxonomic and functional diversity in the macroinvertebrate assemblages of an eastern Amazon river, enhancing the already high mussel conservation priority.

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Data associated with this manuscript are available on Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14787813.v1)

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried out as a part of DS’s Ph.D. degree in Environmental Biology, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA). DS thanks the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for a postgraduate scholarship and the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Ambiental at UFPA for logistic support. We are grateful to Ádila Kelly Rodrigues da Costa (UFPA) for help with the chlorophyll-a analysis. We also thank Jaqueline Feitosa, Jeovana Lima and Lilian Amorim (UFPA) for help with the laboratory experiments and the people of the Arimbu and Mocajuba settlements on the Caeté River for their kind assistance. Fieldwork was carried out under License 21187-1 from the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade – ICMBio.

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  1. Laboratório de Conservação da Biodiversidade e das Águas, Instituto de Estudos Costeiros, Universidade Federal do Pará, Bragança, Pará, Brazil

    Diego Simeone, Claudia Helena Tagliaro & Colin Robert Beasley

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  1. Diego Simeone
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  2. Claudia Helena Tagliaro
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Simeone, D., Tagliaro, C.H. & Beasley, C.R. Filter and deposit: a potential role of freshwater mussels in ecosystem functioning associated with enhanced macroinvertebrate assemblage structure in a Neotropical river. Hydrobiologia 848, 4211–4223 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04633-7

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