Coastal lagoons are dynamic systems where the mode of nutrient input, continuous or pulsed, or a combination, can significantly affect plankton community structure and function. We conducted a spring field microcosm experiment in a Mediterranean lagoon to evaluate how three nutrient delivery regimes influence planktonic dynamics, using biomass measurements and extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) as functional indicators. Conti...

Evaluations of wetland restoration have often focussed on the role that dispersal, environmental filters and/or spatial features play in new habitats. Success has generally been measured by comparing new habitats with reference sites. However, in coastal ponds, hydrological connectivity can determine environmental constraints as it can influence salinity, nutrient concentration, and connectivity strength. Based on these premis...

This study investigates how pondscapes, networks of ponds, and their surrounding environments contribute to supporting identities across diverse cultural contexts. Supporting identities is a non-material Nature’s Contribution to People referring to people’s sense of place, belonging and connection to nature. We draw on data on landscape features from 17 pondscapes across eight countries in Europe and South America, along with...

Mountain ponds are vulnerable to climate change, particularly because of their dependence on precipitation for inundation. Pond functioning, and survival of macroinvertebrate communities, is tied to water permanence, among other factors such as altitude. Few studies examined the relationship between water permanence and the macroinvertebrate community as a whole in mountain ponds. We investigated permanent and temporary mounta...

The inherent nature of coastal ponds and their small size make them highly dynamic ecosystems, with great variations in their environmental conditions, such as changes in conductivity (due to sea storms or freshwater inputs), water level, or dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration. Because of these frequent fluctuations, aquatic communities are generally adapted to them, which often hinders the detection of the effects of disturba...

Mediterranean coastal lagoons are increasingly affected by nutrient enrichment from both natural and anthropogenic sources. While most studies focus on total nutrient loads, little is known about how the mode of nutrient delivery, pulsed or continuous, affects plankton community dynamics. This study aimed to experimentally test how different nutrient input regimes influence zooplankton community structure and plankton biomass...

Ponds are key freshwater habitats supporting biodiversity and ecosystem services, yet they remain understudied in the context of land use and climate change. We examined 240 ponds across eight countries (seven in Europe and Uruguay) to assess how internal pond characteristics, surrounding land cover and livestock intensity, seasonal climatic variation, and climate influence nutrient concentrations across spatial and temporal s...

Most amphibians found in Europe inhabit ponds, small aquatic ecosystems commonly threatened by habitat degradation and destruction. Despite this situation, ponds are rarely considered in conservation policies. Thus, their effective management may present a significant opportunity to alleviate the ongoing decline of amphibian populations. In this study, we assessed if the favourable condition of a pond and its conservation stat...

Body size is a key trait in ecology due to its influence on metabolism and many other life‐history traits that affect population and community responses to environmental variation as well as ecosystem properties. The size spectrum represents the relationship between abundance (or biomass) and body size, independent of species identity. Size spectrum parameters, such as the slope or intercept, have been applied extensively as i...

Estimations of ecosystem metabolism have rarely been used to quantify productivity in structural reductionist approaches for the description of phytoplankton composition. However, estimations of ecosystem metabolism could contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between phytoplankton composition and ecosystem functioning. To examine this, we investigated the community structure of phytoplankton in a set of Medi...

Ponds and “pondscapes” (networks of ponds) are crucial habitats for biodiversity and for delivering multiple benefits to humans, so-called “Nature’s Contribution to People”, such as climate mitigation and adaptation to climate change, creation, and maintenance of habitat for biodiversity, water purification, flood mitigation and cultural benefits (e.g., recreational possibilities). However, ponds are not often considered as Na...

Zooplankton assemblages in the confined coastal lagoons of La Pletera salt marshes (Baix Ter wetlands, Girona, Spain) are dominated by two species: one calanoid copepod ( Eurytemora velox ) and the other rotifer ( Brachionus gr. plicatilis ). They alternate as the dominant species (more than 80% of total zooplankton biomass), with the former being dominant in winter and the latter in summer. Shifts between these taxa are sudde...

We assessed the importance of temperature, salinity, and predation for the size structure of zooplankton and provided insight into the future ecological structure and function of shallow lakes in a warmer climate. Artificial plants were introduced in eight comparable coastal shallow brackish lakes located at two contrasting temperatures: cold‐temperate and Mediterranean climate region. Zooplankton, fish, and macroinvertebrates...