ArticlePloS one2025
Channelization and flow depletion shift benthic macroinvertebrate and fish communities in urban rivers.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aquatic ecosystems worldwide are increasingly affected by human activities, with urbanization representing a major source of environmental stress. Channelization and flow depletion are key stressors in urban aquatic ecosystems. However, the combined effects of these factors on benthic macroinvertebrate and fish communities in urban rivers remain poorly understood. We examined the ecological impacts of channelization and flow depletion on benthic macroinvertebrates and fish in four urban rivers in Beijing, China: the natural high-flow Yongding River, the natural low-flow Gaojinggou River, the artificial high-flow Yongding River Diversion Channel, and the artificial low-flow Renmin Channel. By analyzing community composition, diversity, biomass, and water quality parameters, we assessed how river type (natural vs. artificial) and flow conditions (high vs. low) shape macroinvertebrate and fish communities across these urban rivers. Results showed that artificial channels had higher water temperatures, lower pH and DO, and higher concentrations of COD, NH4+, TP, fluorides, and sulfides compared to natural rivers, with flow depletion intensifying these effects. Both macroinvertebrate and fish community compositions varied significantly between river types and flow conditions. Channelization and flow depletion significantly reduced species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity, and biomass in both macroinvertebrates and fish. Furthermore, we found a significant interaction between river type and flow depletion, as revealed by two-way ANOVA, with macroinvertebrate and fish communities in natural rivers being more sensitive to flow reductions than artificial channels. Redundancy analyses (RDAs) revealed that total phosphorus (TP) was the primary driver of macroinvertebrate community variation (contributing 23.6%), while DO played a crucial role in fish assemblages (contributing 20.6%). These findings underscore the significant impacts of channelization and flow depletion on urban river ecosystems, highlighting the vulnerability of natural rivers to flow depletion. Our study calls for urgent implementation of integrated management strategies to mitigate hydrological alterations, restore natural flow regimes, and reduce nutrient inputs, thereby enhancing the ecological resilience of urban aquatic ecosystems.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.