title: Quantified biotic and abiotic responses to multiple stress in freshwater, marine and ground waters.
abstract: We reviewed 219 papers and built an inventory of 532 items of ecological evidence on multiple stressor impacts in rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters, as well as groundwaters. Our review revealed that, despite the existence of a huge conceptual knowledge base in aquatic ecology, few studies actually provide quantitative evidence on multi-stress effects. Nutrient stress was involved in 71% to 98% of multi-stress situations in the three types of surface water environments, and in 42% of those in groundwaters. However, their impact manifested differently along the groundwater-river-lake-transitional-coastal continuum, mainly determined by the different hydro-morphological features of these ecosystems. The reviewed papers addressed two-stressor combinations most frequently (42%), corresponding with the actual status-quo of pressures acting on European surface waters as reported by the Member States in the WISE WFD Database (EEA, 2015). Across all biological groups analysed, higher explanatory power of the stress-effect models was discernible for lakes under multi-stressor compared to single stressor conditions, but generally lower for coastal and transitional waters. Across all aquatic environments, the explanatory power of stress-effect models for fish increased when multi-stressor conditions were taken into account in the analysis, qualifying this organism group as a useful indicator of multi-stress effects. In contrast, the explanatory power of models using benthic flora decreased under conditions of multiple stress.
authors.affiliation: Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Limnology, 61117 Rannu, Tartu County, Estonia. Electronic address: peeter.noges@emu.ee.
authors.forename: Peeter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nõges
authors.affiliation: Irstea, UR HYAX, Centre d'Aix-en-Provence, F-13612 Le Tholonet, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Argillier
authors.affiliation: AZTI, Marine Research Division, Herrera Kaia, Portualdea s/n, 20110 Pasaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Ángel
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Borja
authors.affiliation: AZTI, Marine Research Division, Herrera Kaia, Portualdea s/n, 20110 Pasaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Joxe Mikel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Garmendia
authors.affiliation: Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, 165 Babadag Street, Tulcea 820112, Romania.
authors.forename: Jenică
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hanganu
authors.affiliation: Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Department of Water Quality, Na Šabatce 17, 14306 Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Vit
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kodeš
authors.affiliation: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, Max-Emanuel-Straße 17, 1180 Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pletterbauer
authors.affiliation: Irstea, UR HYAX, Centre d'Aix-en-Provence, F-13612 Le Tholonet, France; Irstea, UR LISC, Centre de Clermont-Ferrand, F-63172 Aubière, France.
authors.forename: Alban
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sagouis
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstraße 5, 45141 Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Birk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004463:Ecology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Biological group; Hydromorphology; Nutrient stress; Paradigm; Stressor combination; Stressor interaction