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Atkinson ST, Cale D, Pinder A, Chambers JM, Halse SA, Robson BJ. Substantial long-term loss of alpha and gamma diversity of lake invertebrates in a landscape exposed to a drying climate. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:6263-6279. [PMID: 34534383 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Revised: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 09/04/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Many regions across the globe are shifting to more arid climates. For shallow lakes, decreasing rainfall volume and timing, changing regional wind patterns and increased evaporation rates alter water regimes so that dry periods occur more frequently and for longer. Drier conditions may affect fauna directly and indirectly through altered physicochemical conditions in lakes. Although many studies have predicted negative effects of such changes on aquatic biodiversity, empirical studies demonstrating these effects are rare. Global warming has caused severe climatic drying in southwestern Australia since the 1970s, so we aimed to determine whether lakes in this region showed impacts on lake hydroperiod, water quality, and α, β and γ diversity of lake invertebrates from 1998 to 2011. Seventeen lakes across a range of salinities were sampled biennially in spring in the Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions of Western Australia. Multivariate analyses were used to identify changes in α, β and γ diversity and examine patterns in physicochemical data. Salinity and average rainfall partially explained patterns in invertebrate richness and assemblage composition. Climatic drying was associated with significant declines in lake depth, increased frequency of dry periods, and reduced α and γ diversity (γ declined from ~300 to ~100 taxa from 1998 to 2011 in the 17 wetlands). In contrast, β diversity remained consistently high, because each lake retained a distinct fauna. Mean α diversity per-lake declined both in lakes that dried and lakes that did not dry out, but lakes which retained a greater proportion of their maximum depth retained more α diversity. Accumulated losses in α diversity caused the decline in γ diversity likely through shrinking habitat area, fewer stepping stones for dispersal and loss of specific habitat types. Biodiversity loss is thus likely from lakes in drying regions globally. Management actions will need to sustain water depth in lakes to prevent biodiversity loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- S T Atkinson
- Harry Butler Institute & Environmental & Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - D Cale
- Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - A Pinder
- Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - J M Chambers
- Harry Butler Institute & Environmental & Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - S A Halse
- Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
- Bennelongia Environmental Consultants, Jolimont, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Belinda J Robson
- Harry Butler Institute & Environmental & Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
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2
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De Paula LFA, Forzza RC, Azevedo LO, Bueno ML, Solar RRC, Vanschoenwinkel B, Porembski S. Climatic control of mat vegetation communities on inselberg archipelagos in south-eastern Brazil. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blaa196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Granite and/or gneiss inselbergs are excellent examples of geomorphologically stable island habitats, considered as old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes (OCBILs). However, unlike oceanic islands, their underlying drivers of diversity patterns remain to be investigated. Here, we studied 24 inselbergs in south-eastern Brazil, aiming to understand the role of landscape variables and environmental conditions in the assembly of the characteristic extremophilic mat vegetation communities. We found that beta diversity was largely explained by climatic variables, whereas species richness did not vary among inselbergs. Classic determinants of the diversity of island communities do not generally seem to apply to these plant assemblages. Overall, these communities change along a coast-to-inland gradient that captures increased seasonality with a replacement of more hydrophilic taxa by more drought-tolerant taxa. Changes in species composition in space involved strong species replacement, with several widespread genera locally represented on distinct inselbergs by different narrowly distributed species. Despite the deterministic sorting of taxa based on climatic conditions, a substantial fraction of the beta diversity remained unexplained. This underlines the importance of historical processes, which are easier to notice in stable OCBIL regions, such as range expansion, local extinction, dispersal constraints and allopatric speciation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luiza F A De Paula
- Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida. Antônio Carlos, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | | | - Luísa O Azevedo
- Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida. Antônio Carlos, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Marcelo L Bueno
- Laboratory of Macroecology & Evolution, Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul, Unidade Mundo Novo, Mato Grosso do Sul, MS, Brazil
| | - Ricardo R C Solar
- Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida. Antônio Carlos, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Bram Vanschoenwinkel
- Community Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Stefan Porembski
- Institut für Biowissenschaften, Allgemeine und Spezielle Botanik, Universität Rostock, Wismarsche Straße, Rostock, Germany
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Simons AL, Mazor R, Stein ED, Nuzhdin S. Using alpha, beta, and zeta diversity in describing the health of stream-based benthic macroinvertebrate communities. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 29:e01896. [PMID: 31051052 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2019] [Revised: 02/08/2019] [Accepted: 02/25/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Ecological monitoring of streams has frequently focused on measures describing the taxonomic, and sometimes functional, α diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs) within a single sampled community. However, as many ecological processes effectively link BMI stream communities there is a need to describe groups of communities using measures of regional diversity. Here we demonstrate a role for incorporating both a traditional pairwise measure of community turnover, β diversity, in assessing community health as well as ζ diversity, a more generalized framework for describing similarity between multiple communities. Using 4,395 samples of BMI stream communities in California, we constructed a model using measures of α, β, and ζ diversity, which accounted for 71.7% of among-watershed variation in the mean health of communities, as described by the California Streams Condition Index (CSCI). We also investigated the use of ζ diversity in assessing models of stochastic vs. niche assembly across communities of BMIs within watersheds, with the niche assembly model found to be the likelier of the two.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariel Levi Simons
- Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90089-2910, USA
| | - Raphael Mazor
- Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, 3535 Harbor Blvd., Suite 110, Costa Mesa, California, 92626, USA
| | - Eric D Stein
- Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, 3535 Harbor Blvd., Suite 110, Costa Mesa, California, 92626, USA
| | - Sergey Nuzhdin
- Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90089-2910, USA
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5
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Guzman LM, Vanschoenwinkel B, Farjalla VF, Poon A, Srivastava DS. A precipitation gradient drives change in macroinvertebrate composition and interactions within bromeliads. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0200179. [PMID: 30485263 PMCID: PMC6261388 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2018] [Accepted: 10/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological communities change across spatial and environmental gradients due to (i) changes in species composition, (ii) changes in the frequency or strength of interactions or (iii) changes in the presence of the interactions. Here we use the communities of aquatic invertebrates inhabiting clusters of bromeliad phytotelms along the Brazilian coast as a model system for examining variation in multi-trophic communities. We first document the variation in the species pools of sites across a geographical climate gradient. Using the same sites, we also explored the geographic variation in species interaction strength using a Markov network approach. We found that community composition differed along a gradient of water volume within bromeliads due to the spatial turnover of some species. From the Markov network analysis, we found that the interactions of certain predators differed due to differences in bromeliad water volume. Overall, this study illustrates how a multi-trophic community can change across an environmental gradient through changes in both species and their interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Melissa Guzman
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | - Vinicius F. Farjalla
- Department of Ecology, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Anita Poon
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Diane S. Srivastava
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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6
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Tonkin JD, Death RG, Muotka T, Astorga A, Lytle DA. Do latitudinal gradients exist in New Zealand stream invertebrate metacommunities? PeerJ 2018; 6:e4898. [PMID: 29844999 PMCID: PMC5971837 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
That biodiversity declines with latitude is well known, but whether a metacommunity process is behind this gradient has received limited attention. We tested the hypothesis that dispersal limitation is progressively replaced by mass effects with increasing latitude, along with a series of related hypotheses. We explored these hypotheses by examining metacommunity structure in stream invertebrate metacommunities spanning the length of New Zealand’s two largest islands (∼1,300 km), further disentangling the role of dispersal by deconstructing assemblages into strong and weak dispersers. Given the highly dynamic nature of New Zealand streams, our alternative hypothesis was that these systems are so unpredictable (at different stages of post-flood succession) that metacommunity structure is highly context dependent from region to region. We rejected our primary hypotheses, pinning this lack of fit on the strong unpredictability of New Zealand’s dynamic stream ecosystems and fauna that has evolved to cope with these conditions. While local community structure turned over along this latitudinal gradient, metacommunity structure was highly context dependent and dispersal traits did not elucidate patterns. Moreover, the emergent metacommunity types exhibited no trends, nor did the important environmental variables. These results provide a cautionary tale for examining singular metacommunities. The considerable level of unexplained contingency suggests that any inferences drawn from one-off snapshot sampling may be misleading and further points to the need for more studies on temporal dynamics of metacommunity processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan D Tonkin
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Russell G Death
- Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
| | - Timo Muotka
- Department of Ecology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.,Natural Environment Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, Oulu, Finland
| | - Anna Astorga
- Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, P. Universidad Catolica de Chile & Centro de Investigación de Ecosistemas de la Patagonia, Coyhaique, Chile
| | - David A Lytle
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
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7
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Kneitel JM. Occupancy and environmental responses of habitat specialists and generalists depend on dispersal traits. Ecosphere 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jamie M. Kneitel
- Department of Biological Sciences California State University‐ Sacramento Sacramento California 95819‐6077 USA
- Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Haifa 3498838 Haifa Israel
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8
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Busse A, Antiqueira PAP, Neutzling AS, Wolf AM, Romero GQ, Petermann JS. Different in the dark: The effect of habitat characteristics on community composition and beta diversity in bromeliad microfauna. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0191426. [PMID: 29401522 PMCID: PMC5798767 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2017] [Accepted: 01/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The mechanisms which structure communities have been the focus of a large body of research. Here, we address the question if habitat characteristics describing habitat quality may drive changes in community composition and beta diversity of bromeliad-inhabiting microfauna. In our system, changes in canopy cover along an environmental gradient may affect resource availability, disturbance in form of daily water temperature fluctuations and predation, and thus may lead to changes in community structure of bromeliad microfauna through differences in habitat quality along this gradient. Indeed, we observed distinct changes in microfauna community composition along the environmental gradient explained by changes in the extent of daily water temperature fluctuations. We found beta diversity to be higher under low habitat quality (low canopy cover) than under high habitat quality (high canopy cover), which could potentially be explained by a higher relative importance of stochastic processes under low habitat quality. We also partitioned beta diversity into turnover and nestedness components and we found a nested pattern of beta diversity along the environmental gradient, with communities from the lower-quality habitat being nested subsets of communities from the higher-quality habitat. However, this pattern resulted from an increase in microfauna alpha diversity with an increase in habitat quality. By providing insights into microfauna-environment relationships our results contribute to the mechanistic understanding of community dynamics in small freshwater bodies. Here, we highlight the importance of habitat characteristics representing habitat quality in structuring communities, and suggest that this information may help to improve conservation practices of small freshwater ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Busse
- Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany
| | - Pablo A. P. Antiqueira
- Graduate Program in Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
- Multitrophic Interactions and Biodiversity Lab, Department of Animal Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Alexandre S. Neutzling
- Graduate Program in Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Anna M. Wolf
- Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Gustavo Q. Romero
- Multitrophic Interactions and Biodiversity Lab, Department of Animal Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Jana S. Petermann
- Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany
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9
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Rolls RJ, Heino J, Ryder DS, Chessman BC, Growns IO, Thompson RM, Gido KB. Scaling biodiversity responses to hydrological regimes. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2017; 93:971-995. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2016] [Revised: 09/24/2017] [Accepted: 10/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Robert J. Rolls
- Institute for Applied Ecology; University of Canberra; Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
- School of Environmental and Rural Science; University of New England; Armidale New South Wales 2351 Australia
| | - Jani Heino
- Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Environment Centre, Biodiversity; Oulu Finland
| | - Darren S. Ryder
- School of Environmental and Rural Science; University of New England; Armidale New South Wales 2351 Australia
| | | | - Ivor O. Growns
- School of Environmental and Rural Science; University of New England; Armidale New South Wales 2351 Australia
| | - Ross M. Thompson
- Institute for Applied Ecology; University of Canberra; Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
| | - Keith B. Gido
- Division of Biology; Kansas State University; Manhattan KS U.S.A
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10
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Rosset V, Ruhi A, Bogan MT, Datry T. Do lentic and lotic communities respond similarly to drying? Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Véronique Rosset
- Irstea Lyon; UR MALY. 5 rue de la Doua 69100 Villeurbanne France
| | - Albert Ruhi
- National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC); University of Maryland; Annapolis Maryland 21401 USA
| | - Michael T. Bogan
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment; University of Arizona; 1064 E. Lowell Street Tucson Arizona 85716 USA
| | - Thibault Datry
- Irstea Lyon; UR MALY. 5 rue de la Doua 69100 Villeurbanne France
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11
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Hill MJ, Heino J, Thornhill I, Ryves DB, Wood PJ. Effects of dispersal mode on the environmental and spatial correlates of nestedness and species turnover in pond communities. OIKOS 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.04266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J. Hill
- Inst. of Science and the Environment, Univ. of Worcester, Henwick Grove, Worcester; WR2 6AJ UK
| | - Jani Heino
- Finnish Environment Inst., Natural Environment Centre, Biodiversity; Oulu, Finland
| | | | - David B. Ryves
- Centre for Hydrological and Ecosystem Science, Dept of Geography, Loughborough Univ., Loughborough; Leicestershire UK
| | - Paul J. Wood
- Centre for Hydrological and Ecosystem Science, Dept of Geography, Loughborough Univ., Loughborough; Leicestershire UK
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12
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Gibson N, Prober S, Meissner R, van Leeuwen S. Implications of high species turnover on the south-western Australian sandplains. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0172977. [PMID: 28245232 PMCID: PMC5330496 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2016] [Accepted: 02/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Species turnover and its components related to replacement and nestedness form a significant element of diversity that is historically poorly accounted for in conservation planning. To inform biodiversity conservation and contribute to a broader understanding of patterns in species turnover, we undertook a floristic survey of 160 plots along an 870 km transect across oligotrophic sandplains, extending from the mesic south coast to the arid interior of south-western Australia. A nested survey design was employed to sample distances along the transect as evenly as possible. Species turnover was correlated with geographic distance at both regional and local scales, consistent with dispersal limitation being a significant driver of species turnover. When controlled for species richness, species replacement was found to be the dominant component of species turnover and was uniformly high across the transect, uncorrelated with either climatic or edaphic factors. This high replacement rate, well documented in the mega-diverse south-west, appears to also be a consistent feature of arid zone vegetation systems despite a decrease in overall species richness. Species turnover increased rapidly with increasing extent along the transect reaching an asymptote at ca. 50 km. These findings are consistent with earlier work in sandplain and mallee vegetation in the south-west and suggests reserve based conservation strategies are unlikely to be practicable in the south-western Australia sandplains when communities are defined by species incidence rather than dominance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neil Gibson
- Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife, Science and Conservation Division, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia
- The University of Western Australia, Faculty of Science, School of Plant Biology, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Suzanne Prober
- CSIRO, Land and Water Flagship, Wembley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Rachel Meissner
- Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife, Science and Conservation Division, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Australian Transect Network, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Stephen van Leeuwen
- Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife, Science and Conservation Division, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Australian Transect Network, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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13
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Gianuca AT, Declerck SAJ, Lemmens P, De Meester L. Effects of dispersal and environmental heterogeneity on the replacement and nestedness components of β-diversity. Ecology 2017; 98:525-533. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 110] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2016] [Revised: 11/06/2016] [Accepted: 11/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andros T. Gianuca
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; KU Leuven; Charles Deberiostraat 32 B 3000 Leuven Belgium
| | - Steven A. J. Declerck
- Department of Aquatic Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); P.O. Box 50 6700AB Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Pieter Lemmens
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; KU Leuven; Charles Deberiostraat 32 B 3000 Leuven Belgium
| | - Luc De Meester
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; KU Leuven; Charles Deberiostraat 32 B 3000 Leuven Belgium
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14
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Marino NAC, Srivastava DS, MacDonald AAM, Leal JS, Campos ABA, Farjalla VF. Rainfall and hydrological stability alter the impact of top predators on food web structure and function. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2017; 23:673-685. [PMID: 27344007 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2015] [Accepted: 06/14/2016] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Climate change will alter the distribution of rainfall, with potential consequences for the hydrological dynamics of aquatic habitats. Hydrological stability can be an important determinant of diversity in temporary aquatic habitats, affecting species persistence and the importance of predation on community dynamics. As such, prey are not only affected by drought-induced mortality but also the risk of predation [a non-consumptive effect (NCE)] and actual consumption by predators [a consumptive effect (CE)]. Climate-induced changes in rainfall may directly, or via altered hydrological stability, affect predator-prey interactions and their cascading effects on the food web, but this has rarely been explored, especially in natural food webs. To address this question, we performed a field experiment using tank bromeliads and their aquatic food web, composed of predatory damselfly larvae, macroinvertebrate prey and bacteria. We manipulated the presence and consumption ability of damselfly larvae under three rainfall scenarios (ambient, few large rainfall events and several small rainfall events), recorded the hydrological dynamics within bromeliads and examined the effects on macroinvertebrate colonization, nutrient cycling and bacterial biomass and turnover. Despite our large perturbations of rainfall, rainfall scenario had no effect on the hydrological dynamics of bromeliads. As a result, macroinvertebrate colonization and nutrient cycling depended on the hydrological stability of bromeliads, with no direct effect of rainfall or predation. In contrast, rainfall scenario determined the direction of the indirect effects of predators on bacteria, driven by both predator CEs and NCEs. These results suggest that rainfall and the hydrological stability of bromeliads had indirect effects on the food web through changes in the CEs and NCEs of predators. We suggest that future studies should consider the importance of the variability in hydrological dynamics among habitats as well as the biological mechanisms underlying the ecological responses to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas A C Marino
- Laboratório de Limnologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 68020, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Diane S Srivastava
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - A Andrew M MacDonald
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Juliana S Leal
- Laboratório de Limnologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 68020, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Alice B A Campos
- Laboratório de Limnologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 68020, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Vinicius F Farjalla
- Laboratório de Limnologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 68020, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
- Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global (LINCGlobal)
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15
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Kneitel JM. Climate‐driven habitat size determines the latitudinal diversity gradient in temporary ponds. Ecology 2016. [DOI: 10.1890/15-1584.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jamie M. Kneitel
- Department of Biological Sciences California State University Sacramento California 95819‐6077 USA
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16
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Wasserman RJ, Alexander ME, Weyl OLF, Barrios-O'Neill D, Froneman PW, Dalu T. Emergent effects of structural complexity and temperature on predator-prey interactions. Ecosphere 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan J. Wasserman
- South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB); Private Bag 1015 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa
- Centre for Invasion Biology; South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB); Private Bag 1015 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa
| | - Mhairi E. Alexander
- Department of Botany and Zoology; Centre for Invasion Biology; Stellenbosch University; Matieland 7602 South Africa
| | - Olaf L. F. Weyl
- South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB); Private Bag 1015 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa
- Centre for Invasion Biology; South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB); Private Bag 1015 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa
| | - Daniel Barrios-O'Neill
- Institute for Global Food Security; School of Biological Sciences; Queens University Belfast; 97 Lisburn Road Belfast BT9 7BL UK
| | - P. William Froneman
- Department of Zoology and Entomology; Rhodes University; P.O. Box 94 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa
| | - Tatenda Dalu
- Department of Zoology and Entomology; Rhodes University; P.O. Box 94 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa
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17
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Zokan M, Drake JM. The effect of hydroperiod and predation on the diversity of temporary pond zooplankton communities. Ecol Evol 2015; 5:3066-74. [PMID: 26357537 PMCID: PMC4559050 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2015] [Revised: 06/03/2015] [Accepted: 06/10/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
In temporary pond ecosystems, it is hypothesized that the two dominant structuring forces on zooplankton communities are predation and demographic constraints due to wetland drying. Both of these forces are deterministic processes that act most strongly at opposing ends of a hydroperiod gradient. Our objective was to test how these two processes affect α- and β-diversity of zooplankton communities derived from a diverse temporary pond system. We hypothesized that decreased hydroperiod length and the presence of salamander larvae as predators would decrease β-diversity and that intermediate hydroperiod communities would have the greatest species richness. Our 1-year mesocosm experiment (n = 36) consisted of two predation treatments (present/absent) and three hydroperiod treatments (short/medium/long) fully crossed, seeded from the resting egg bank of multiple temporary ponds. In total, we collected 37 species of microcrustacean zooplankton from our mesocosms. A reduction in hydroperiod length resulted in lower α-diversity, with short-hydroperiod treatments affected most strongly. Endpoint community dissimilarity (β-diversity) was greatest in the medium-hydroperiod treatment with regard to species presence/absence, but was greatest in the long-hydroperiod treatment when abundances were included. Predation by salamander larvae led to reduced β-diversity with respect to species presence/absence, but not among abundant species, and had no effect on α-diversity. Our results suggest that environmental changes that reduce hydroperiod length would result in reduced α-diversity; however, intermediate hydroperiod length appear to enhance β-diversity within a group of wetlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus Zokan
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia Athens, Georgia, 30602
| | - John M Drake
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia Athens, Georgia, 30602
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