title: Shared effects of organic microcontaminants and environmental stressors on biofilms and invertebrates in impaired rivers.
abstract: Land use type, physical and chemical stressors, and organic microcontaminants were investigated for their effects on the biological communities (biofilms and invertebrates) in several Mediterranean rivers. The diversity of invertebrates, and the scores of the first principal component of a PCA performed with the diatom communities were the best descriptors of the distribution patterns of the biological communities against the river stressors. These two metrics decreased according to the progressive site impairment (associated to higher area of agricultural and urban-industrial, high water conductivity, higher dissolved organic carbon and dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations, and higher concentration of organic microcontaminants, particularly pharmaceutical and industrial compounds). The variance partition analyses (RDAs) attributed the major share (10%) of the biological communities' response to the environmental stressors (nutrients, altered discharge, dissolved organic matter), followed by the land use occupation (6%) and of the organic microcontaminants (2%). However, the variance shared by the three groups of descriptors was very high (41%), indicating that their simultaneous occurrence determined most of the variation in the biological communities.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aquatic Ecology, GRECO, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain; ICRA, Carrer Emili Grahit 101, Girona 17003, Spain. Electronic address: ssabater@icra.cat.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sabater
authors.affiliation: ICRA, Carrer Emili Grahit 101, Girona 17003, Spain; Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barceló
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, University of Barcelona. Fac. Biology, Avda. Diagonal 645, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Castro-Català
authors.affiliation: Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ginebreda
authors.affiliation: Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuzmanovic
authors.affiliation: ICRA, Carrer Emili Grahit 101, Girona 17003, Spain; ICREA, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrovic
authors.affiliation: Food and Environmental Safety Research Group, Department of Medicine Preventive and Public Health, Food Sciences, Toxicology and Legal Medicine, University of Valencia, Av. Vicent Andrés Estellés s/n., 46100, Burjassot, València, Spain.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Picó
authors.affiliation: ICRA, Carrer Emili Grahit 101, Girona 17003, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ponsatí
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aquatic Ecology, GRECO, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain; ICRA, Carrer Emili Grahit 101, Girona 17003, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tornés
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, University of Barcelona. Fac. Biology, Avda. Diagonal 645, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Muñoz
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects; D058448:Biota / Q000187:drug effects; D007448:Invertebrates; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014872:Water Movements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Biofilm; Dissolved inorganic nitrogen; Invertebrates; Mediterranean; Organic microcontaminants; Water scarcity