Taxonomic distinctness along nutrient gradients: More diverse, less diverse or not different from random?

Taxonomic distinctness indices are a family of anthropogenic stress indicators that have been used widely in marine ecosystems; however, their utility in freshwater ecosystems is still unclear. We used two taxonomic distinctness indices and species richness to assess relationships between nutrient gradients and three freshwater taxonomic groups, including diatoms, macrophytes and invertebrates. We found that the indices based on the three organismal groups showed generally rather clear relationships with the nutrient levels, indicating that these indices may bring useful additional information for the purposes of bioassessment. However, the two indices describing taxonomic distinctness showed opposite patterns in relation to nutrient levels. The indices for the three groups of organisms were generally poorly correlated with each other, showing that different organismal groups react differently to anthropogenic stress. Accordingly, taxonomic distinctness indices likely tell us about various aspects of nutrient enrichment of freshwater ecosystems. Our findings also emphasized that the value of these indices may be largely dependent on the organismal group used.