Invertebrate

The invertebrates compete feed on the plants, on each other, or both.

From: Advances in Ecological Research, 2013

Related terms:

Larvae, Contaminant, Alga, Biodiversity, Biomass, Crustacean, Wetland

The Biota of Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral

Streams: Terrestrial AND Semiaquatic Invertebrates
Alisha L. Steward, ... Thibault Datry, in Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams,
2017

4.4.9 Conclusions
TSAIs are important ecological, functional, and taxonomic components of IRES
that have previously been overlooked. Recent studies have revealed a unique
diversity of TSAIs that inhabit IRES during flow, no-flow, and dry events. However,
TSAI faunal communities are at risk of degradation due to limited policies and
legislation to protect them and their IRES habitats. TSAIs are currently being
considered as biological indicators to monitor and assess the health of IRES. Future
strategies in IRES research and management need to consider the TSAI fauna in
addition to the routinely sampled aquatic fauna. Research questions addressing the
response of TSAIs to anthropogenic impacts should be given high priority and the
results used to inform IRES policy and management.

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Status and Trends of Water Quality Worldwide
T.F. Cuffney, ... I.R. Waite, in Comprehensive Water Quality and Purification, 2014

[Link].4.2 RIVPACS-type predictive models

RIVPACS or Australian RIVPACS (AUSRIVPACS) analysis addresses the inability of
the O/E method to explain variation in reference-site assemblages by including
natural factors in the determination of the expected (E) conditions (Figure 11).
RIVPACS (Davies, 2000) uses cluster analysis to group sites based on their
community characteristics (regional framework) and multiple discriminant analysis
to determine the value of E that is associated with each cluster. RIVPACS-O/E
estimates of reference conditions for benthic invertebrates have been shown to
provide a more linear response over a gradient of perturbation than multimetric
indices, which tend to be less responsive between intermediate and high levels of
perturbations (Hawkins et al., 2010).
Figure 11. Flow diagram showing the RIVPACS approach to establishing reference
conditions (E) and measuring departure from reference conditions (O/E). The
RIVPACS approach uses classification techniques (two-way indicator species
analysis (TWINSPAN)) to divide reference sites into biologically homogeneous
groups. Predictive models are constructed using physical and chemical data to
predict the expected condition (E) that is matched with the observed sites (O). This
reduces the variability in E values arising from uncontrolled differences in
environmental conditions (i.e., Figure 10). Bootstrapping methods are used to
determine the validity of the predictive model by randomly resampling the data,
with replacement, to estimate the mean and variance.
Adapted from Van Sickle, J. US EPA presentation that describes the derivation of O/E in RivPacs.
Corvallis, Oregon: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Available at
[Link] (accessed on 29 March 2012).

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Ecotoxicology, Invertebrate
Pawel J. Migula, in Encyclopedia of Toxicology (Second Edition), 2005

The Background and Basic Concepts

Ecotoxicology concentrates on studies of toxic effects on organization levels higher
than organisms. Ecotoxicology differs from toxicology and relies on the
fundamentals of ecology, which means that ecotoxicologists study pollutants and
their effects on different ecosystems. The objectives of ecotoxicology cover both
fundamental and applied aspects.
Invertebrate ecotoxicology is a specialized area of ecotoxicology that deals with all
aspects of ecological and toxicological effects of toxic substances on invertebrates
and their consequences at the population level and above. The main objectives of
invertebrate ecotoxicology are similar to those of ecotoxicology itself, related to the
areas where invertebrates can be used:
• Obtaining data for risk assessment and environmental management.
• Meeting the legal requirements for the development and release of new
chemicals into the environment.
• Developing empirical or theoretical principles to improve our knowledge of the
behavior and effects of either natural or anthropogenic chemicals and to
predict and evaluate changes caused by them in ecosystems.
There are many important factors which determine the study of invertebrates in
ecotoxicology at both population and ecosystem levels. They represent more than
90% of all animal species and are much more abundant than vertebrates. They are
present in nearly all types of ecosystems, from the deep oceanic bottom, through
the surface water to soil and other terrestrial areas, including those with the most
severe conditions for biological life. They often play a key role in different chains of
the food web, determining interrelationships within the nets and participating in
upward biomagnification of chemicals in the net. They are present in all
heterotrophic layers, utilizing variety of food, take part in the decomposition of
organic matter, transfer of biogenic substances and xenobiotics. Despite their small
dimensions they exist in large quantities and represent animals that are short- or
long-lived; they can also be maintained in the laboratory more easily and cheaply
than vertebrates. Many species are abundant throughout the year, especially in the
soil or in sediments. Invertebrates raise less ethical concern than vertebrates,
especially mammals. In cases where mechanisms of toxic action of chemicals are
similar to those observed in the case of vertebrates they may replace them in
routine toxicity tests of novel compounds or pesticides. Invertebrates are more
useful as the key animals in standardized ecotoxicological testing of soils or
sediments. They should also provide a useful material for better understanding the
interactions of chemicals with the biotic part of the environment and their
consequences to an assessed ecosystem. Moreover, short generation time and
abundance make some species useful models to study microevolution during long-
term in situ investigations of populations living in stressed environments for many
generations. They can develop resistance to toxic substances such as pesticides or
heavy metals.
There are also several disadvantages of the use of invertebrate species in
ecotoxicological investigations. Many of them are not suitable for continuous
assessments of seasonal effects. Their generation time is limited to certain periods
when they are active. Depending on physical conditions and food availability, they
may disappear or be present as inactive forms (different diapausing stages, insect
pupae, dormant eggs). In many species only adults can be used, because in case of
their immature forms there are difficulties in determining their taxonomic position
which cannot be overcome without sectioning, and, in turn, cannot be done prior
to laboratory assays. In such a case they can serve only for studies at the
community or ecosystem level where pooling of samples is acceptable, and their
selection is based on similarities of their body size/biomass or feeding habits. More
individuals are necessary in a sample than in the case of vertebrates; preparatory
techniques are more complicated, more practice and sometimes pooling of
individuals in a sample are needed. At the molecular level invertebrates may
respond to the same chemical in a way similar to vertebrates. External factors
cannot interfere with such responses causing sometimes insensitivity of
invertebrates. On the contrary, due to lower activity of microsomal detoxification
enzymes, insecticides are often more toxic to invertebrates than to vertebrates.
Population ecotoxicology of invertebrates covers broad ecological and evolutionary
aspects of the chemical effects on individuals, changes in population demography
and interrelations between various populations and species. Fitness can be a good
measure of management of organisms with toxicants. Changes in relative fitness
may lead to the evolution of resistance. The best-known example is the evolution of
insect resistance to insecticides, and more recently resistance of various soil-
dwelling invertebrates to heavy metals.

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Wetland Ecology and Management for Birds and

Mammals
P.W. Brown, ... L.H. Fredrickson, in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, 2009

Macroinvertebrates
Invertebrates provide important food for wetland wildlife. Invertebrates <0.5 mm
(microinvertebrates) are eaten by some vertebrates with specialized feeding
adaptations and by larger invertebrates. Larger invertebrates >0.5 mm,
macroinvertebrates, are important food for many species of birds and mammals
and provide higher levels of protein than most plant foods. Many species of birds
select invertebrates preferentially during reproduction and development of young
to acquire requisite protein. Certain amino acids (e.g., tryptophan, methionine, and
lysine) are much more abundant in animal foods than in plant foods. Thus,
invertebrates provide essential nutrients for reproduction and growth to many
vertebrates.
Vegetation structure and hydrologic conditions strongly influence wetland
macroinvertebrate populations (Figure 7). In hydrologically dynamic wetlands, the
most successful species are often highly mobile and able to emigrate to other
wetlands, complete the life cycle in 1 year, survive drought, and produce large
numbers of progeny. Because of these common adaptations, densities and
biomass may increase rapidly (i.e., in 1–3 weeks) to remarkable peaks. Many
species (e.g., midges and mayflies) have predictable population pulses and
emergence patterns that occur annually at specific sites. Bird use of wetlands is
strongly linked to the pattern of invertebrate abundance, with the timing of
reproduction synchronized with predictable peaks in invertebrate abundance.
Figure 7. A schematic model of the changes in vegetation and the relative
abundance of major groups of invertebrates in a prairie wetland. Adapted from
Voights (1976), from Weller (1994), with permission. Summary observations of
populations and conditions in several different wetlands. Its value may not be so
much its precise accuracy for any single wetland but rather a demonstration of the
dynamics of vegetation and invertebrates. Voights DK (1976) Aquatic invertebrate
abundance in relation to changing marsh vegetation. American Midland Naturalist
95: 312–322.

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Rare and Endangered Cave Invertebrates, Caucasus
Mountains
Oksana Lipka, ... Tatiana Shishkina, in Reference Module in Earth Systems and
Environmental Sciences, 2021

Abstract
Invertebrates which are native to the caves of the Caucasus Mountains are still
poorly studied. Many of them are endemics with narrow ecological tolerances, and
new species are frequently discovered. Regrettably, none of the Caucasian cave
invertebrate species is included in the IUCN Red List, and very few are protected on
the national level by inclusion in national Red Books and Red Lists. The restricted
range area, increasing pressure on the habitats from tourism development, and
lack of protection measures make cave invertebrates vulnerable. For the purpose of
effective protection, it is advisable to assess Caucasian cave invertebrates using the
IUCN categories and criteria. The official inclusion in the Red List would facilitate
setting up protected areas in the caves where they live and thereby ensure the
conservation of species.

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Littoral Zone
J.A. Peters, D.M. Lodge, in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, 2009

Invertebrates
Invertebrates are very diverse, and include: zooplankton, crayfish, insects, worms,
and leeches. Invertebrates living on the bottom of lakes are referred to as
zoobenthos, and are far more abundant and diverse in the littoral zone than in
other lake zones. Therefore the ratio of the abundance of zoobenthos to
zooplankton is inversely related to lake size. However, the absolute diversity and
abundance of zoobenthos increases with lake size. Invertebrate diversity is also
positively related to habitat complexity, macrophyte abundance, conductivity, and
the presence of stream connections.
Habitat availability within the littoral zone influences the type of invertebrates that
will colonize (Figure 2). For instance, ephemeroptera (mayflies) and plecoptera
(stoneflies) generally prefer substrates that have higher wave action and coarser
substrates, while lightly disturbed fine sediments are colonized by chironomids
(midge larvae), bivalves (clams), and oligochaetes (worms). Substrate, macrophyte
abundance, and detritus are the three main factors controlling the diversity and
distribution of invertebrates, but water depth, wave exposure, and water clarity,
(which influence the first three main factors) may consequently also affect
invertebrate abundance and distribution.

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Freshwater Invertebrates
Randall L. Howard, ... Joe C. Truett, in The Natural History of an Arctic Oil Field,
2000

Predation
Pond invertebrates are eaten by other invertebrates and by fish and birds. Predatory
invertebrates such as Cyclops (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) may consume substantial
proportions of the zooplankton biomass (Dodson, 1975; Hobbie, 1984, p. 24).
When fish occupy ponds, they may strongly control both the species composition
(Stross et al., 1980) and abundance (Pehrsson, 1973) of invertebrates, especially
zooplankton. Birds feed on both zooplankton (e.g., Dodson and Egger, 1980) and
benthic organisms (e.g., Taylor, 1986), but may be less capable than fish of
controlling populations of their prey (see Dodson and Egger, 1980).
The impacts of predation are complex, relating often to physical characteristics of
the water bodies. Invertebrates in shallow ponds are not exposed to predation from
fish. Large lakes thaw more slowly than small water bodies and for this reason may
be used less intensively in early summer by invertebrate predators such as
oldsquaw (Taylor, 1986) and Pacific loon (Bergman and Derksen, 1977). Emergent
vegetation attracts some birds that eat invertebrates (Bergman et al., 1977), but at
the same time the vegetation may shelter some invertebrates from predation.

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Benthic Invertebrate Fauna, Small Streams

J. Bruce Wallace, S.L. Eggert, in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, 2009

Wildfire
Invertebrates in small streams are more susceptible to fire disturbance than those
in larger streams. Intense heating, severely altered water chemistry, and the
smothering of food resources by ash in smaller streams can kill invertebrates
directly. Over longer time periods, changes in hydrologic runoff patterns,
vegetative cover, channel morphology, and sediment transport also affect
invertebrates in fire impacted streams. Changes in food resources over time result
in changes in the functional characteristics of the macroinvertebrate community.
Initially, scraper densities increase following a fire because of increased primary
productivity associated with canopy opening and increased available nutrients. As
transportable organic matter levels increase in the stream, abundances of collectors
increase. Shredder populations are usually the last to recover since they depend on
detrital inputs from the riparian habitat. Recovery of macroinvertebrate
communities in intact, normally functioning small streams prior to fire usually
occurs quickly (5–10 years) following fire disturbance and parallels the regeneration
of the terrestrial vegetation. Short-lived invertebrate taxa that are trophic
generalists, and have wide habitat preferences generally recover quicker.

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Ecotoxicology, Aquatic Invertebrates

A. Chaumot, ... J. Garric, in Encyclopedia of Toxicology (Third Edition), 2014

Biodiversity of Ecotoxicological Responses in Invertebrates

Invertebrates gather the overwhelming majority of animals living in ecosystems,
both in terms of biomass and number of species. They are characterized by an
extraordinary ecological diversity, being present in nearly all biotopes, where they
are living in most ecosystem habitats. Concomitantly, they present a wide variety of
biological traits (e.g., body size, mode of development, reproduction, etc.), giving a
large variety of life histories within invertebrates communities. The default
definition of this group, which does not rely on a criterion of species monophyly,
partly explains this diversity: indeed, any animal that is not vertebrate is
invertebrate. This results in a disparate and heterogeneous composition of this
paraphyletic group. From an evolutionary point of view, three major sets of
invertebrates lineages can indeed be distinguished in the tree of animal life: first,
several sister groups of vertebrates (e.g., tunicates, cephalochordates) and little
more distant lineages (e.g., echinoderms), forming with vertebrates, the group of
deuterostomes; second, the huge group of protostomes, including on a side,
lophotrochozoan lineages (e.g., mollusks, annelids), and on the other side,
ecdysozoans (e.g., arthropods, nematods); third, few metazoan lineages that
diverged before the emergence of bilaterian animals (e.g., cnidarians). As
highlighted in comparative evo–devo approaches, these evolutionary relationships
between invertebrates taxa are reflected in their modes of regulation of important
biological functions (development, metabolism, homeostasis, reproduction). This
puzzling diversity of biological functioning between these major evolutionary
lineages constitutes not only the interest but also the difficulty of studying the
biological disruption by xenobiotics in invertebrates. With a population point of
view, determinants of species ecological vulnerability toward contaminants have
been proposed to be grouped into three components: external exposure, inherent
sensitivity, and population sustainability. This scheme allows to formalize how the
great phylogenetic and ecological diversity of invertebrates results in an incredible
disparity between species in their responses to the presence of environmental
contaminants.
First, invertebrates phylogenetic diversity gives rise to molecular diversity. For
instance, compared to vertebrates, the molecular divergence in protein sequences
between invertebrate lineages is greater due to higher evolution rates and longer
evolutionary times (more ancient last common ancestor). This molecular diversity
explains disparities in inherent sensitivities to chemical compounds with specific
modes of action (e.g., enzyme or receptor inhibition through the fixation to specific
sites of action). Differences between invertebrates sensitivity to insecticides, or to
endocrine disruptors identified in vertebrates, clearly exemplify this issue. As
illustrated by the steroid hormone signaling pathway, modern endocrine systems
in metazoans result from a complex evolution of molecular players, like hormone
receptors or enzymes implicated in hormone synthesis. This diversifying biological
evolution gave rise to endocrine systems with specific modes of hormonal
regulation, divergent between extant invertebrates lineages. Consequently, as
pointed with endocrine disruptors, modes of action of chemical compounds, and
thus their toxicity among invertebrates, are limited to more or less narrow groups
of phylogenetically related species. Because of their extraordinary molecular
diversity, surprising toxicities related to unexpected side modes of actions of
chemicals could also occur in specific groups of invertebrates (e.g., photosynthesis
inhibitors in crustaceans, tributyltin (TBT) in gastropods). Furthermore, inherent
sensitivity to chemicals not only depends on the presence of target sites of action.
It also depends on toxicokinetic features and detoxification abilities, which control
internal concentrations of toxicants. For these processes of bioaccumulation, here
again, the diversity of molecular systems in invertebrates gives rise to disparity
between species. For instance, xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes, like cytochrome
P-450 proteins, present intricate evolutionary histories with specific expansion or
specialization in some invertebrates lineages. Similarly, as demonstrated between
insects lineages, toxicokinetic features correlate with phylogeny and with
susceptibilities to metals. Thus, the phylogenetic signal in uptake, excretion, or
metabolic capabilities can explain how invertebrates phylogenetic diversity results
in variability of inherent sensitivity to toxicants with or without highly specific
modes of action.
Next, some studies have highlighted empirically how phylogeny is effectively
predictive of the disparity in toxicological sensitivities in invertebrates. But once
applied to the impacts observed within natural communities, this explanatory
power can appear insufficient and can be improved by considering variability in
biological and ecological traits. This reveals the link between some of these traits
(extremely diversified in invertebrates) and the three components of the
vulnerability as defined above. First, environmental contamination is
heterogeneous in time and space in ecosystems (between compartments, between
phases). Thus, behind the diversity of invertebrates ecological types (habitat,
phenology), the large diversity of traits like alimentary, respiratory, or reproductive
modes leads to highly different levels of exposure to chemicals between species
within ecosystems (first component). Second, different studies supplied
illustrations of the link between the diversity of biological traits and inherent
sensitivity (second component) by correlating biological macroscopic traits with the
sensitivity of species toward chemicals. These traits are related to uptake capability
(e.g., body size and body shape), as it has also been more specifically pointed in
insects. Third, considering population sustainability (last component), population
modeling has permitted to decipher how invertebrates diversity in life history traits
(survival pattern, reproductive strategy, etc.) can explain differences in species
susceptibilities to toxic stress. Experimental works in invertebrates also revealed
this influence of life histories in the emergence of demographic effects. In
addition, variability in life history traits related to population recovery potential
(e.g., generation time, migration ability) has been put forward to understand the
difference in response to contamination observed within freshwater communities.
In summary, invertebrates are characterized by a great disparity in ecotoxicological
responses. This disparity is explained by their phylogenetic complexity and their
ecological diversity. Indeed, these two features give rise to high variability in
exposure, inherent sensitivity, and population sustainability of species facing
chemical stress. Thus, especially for invertebrates, advances toward a mechanistic
understanding of the processes which determine sensitivity to chemicals will
require an eco-evolutionary framework.

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YUKON RIVER BASIN

ROBERT C. BAILEY, in Rivers of North America, 2005

Invertebrates
Invertebrates of the Tanana River are poorly studied, and only a couple of more
general studies have included collections of invertebrates in the Tanana and its
tributaries that have found the same general pattern at the order level as described
for the Yukon River (e.g., Oswood et al. 1992). Like other northern rivers, the
benthos is dominated by species of chironomid midges. Stoneflies, mayflies, and
caddisflies are present but not nearly as abundant as the chironomids. There are no
published reports of the endemic stonefly Alaskaperla obivovis or endemic Yukon
floater mussel having been collected in the Tanana River basin. Given the ecological
parallels with the Yukon basin as a whole, it is probable that many of the
invertebrate species found in tributaries of the rest of the Yukon River basin would
also be found in the Tanana River basin.

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