Diversity Patterns and Community Structure of the Ground-Associated Macrofauna along the Beach-Inland Transition Zone of Small Tropical Islands

Steibl, Sebastian; Sigl, Robert; Bräumer, Paul E.; Clauß, Victoria; Goddemeier, Simon; Hamisch, Stephan; Lücker, Darleen; Reiprich, Lisa; Stegmann, Lucas; Voigt, Nora; Laforsch, Christian

doi:10.3390/d13080377

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Temporal change also relies on the stochastic processes of dispersal and drift (Chave, 2004;Chase and Myers, 2011;Nemergut et al, 2013). As transition zones experience input from two distinct ecosystems (Steibl et al, 2021) (i.e., lake sediments and prairie soils), this not only includes direct dispersal of nematodes to shorelines, but also movement of bacteria, fungi, and microbial eukaryotes, key food sources for various nematodes. In this way, the importance of time to shoreline nematode diversity in the RF models may be reflective of their transient and potentially stochastic nature.…”

Section: Nematode Community Diversity In Response To Drought-induced ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of drought-induced stress on nematode communities in aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the Nebraska Sandhills

Gattoni,

Gendron,

Powers

et al. 2024

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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IntroductionGlobal change events (e.g., worsening drought) are increasing environmental stress in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The degree to which communities in soils and sediments are driven by temporal environmental changes across multiple habitat types from the same region is not clear.MethodsWe used nematodes, a common bioindicator of soil and sediment health, to determine how community diversity and composition are altered by rising alkalinity across lakes, shorelines, and prairies in the western Nebraska Sandhills. We sampled these three habitats from five lake basins spanning an alkalinity gradient (pH 7–11) across three years (2019, 2020, 2021). During our sampling, the Sandhills experienced a range of drought intensities, with 2019 being a wet year, followed by severe drought in 2020, and abnormally dry/moderate drought in 2021. To determine if diversity and composition of nematodes responded to increased alkalinity and drought-induced stress we used different modelling approaches, including Random Forest and pairwise comparisons.Results and discussionOverall, nematode diversity in lakes was most affected by increasing alkalinity over time, whereas in shorelines and prairies diversity was most reliant on bacterial diversity and potential nematode-nematode interactions. In comparison to shorelines and prairies, community composition in lakes was the least variable and consistently driven by pH and lake water levels. In contrast, compositions in the shorelines and prairies were more variable and explained at varying degrees by pH, year, lake basin, and climate-associated variables. In addition, relative abundance and compositional nature of select copious taxa were highly unpredictable, indicating potential instability in these habitats. Future research is necessary to address the ecologic stability of the Sandhills and determine where conservation efforts are most needed.

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Section: Nematode Community Diversity In Response To Drought-induced ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of drought-induced stress on nematode communities in aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the Nebraska Sandhills

Gattoni,

Gendron,

Powers

et al. 2024

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Dworatzek | URNCST Journal (2024): Volume 8, Issue 6 Page 2 of 9 DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.26685/urncst.608 high and low tide, there are some, referred to as micro-tidal zones, which experience less drastic changes [16][17][18][19]. Despite this, micro-tidal zones contain a unique set of conditions.…”

Section: Primary Research Article Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Shifting Tide: Investigating If Tropical Micro-Tidal Zones Act as Diverse Ecotones with Small-Scale Spatial Diversity Analysis of Ophiuroidea and Echinoidea

Dworatzek

2024

URNCST Journal

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Introduction: Biodiversity is not static, and regions with high levels of temporal and spatial variation or ecotones, may be critical for maintaining high biodiversity. The micro-tidal zone or transition from marine to terrestrial environments is a region with high levels of temporal and spatial variation. Ophiuroidea and Echinoidea have physiological and behavioural adaptions which allow them to be abundant in the micro-tidal zone. There is little research on the diversity of Ophiuroidea and Echinoidea on small spatial and temporal scales within the micro-tidal zone. Methods: This study aims to determine the possibility of a micro-tidal zone acting as an ecotone through analysis of Ophiuroidea and Echinoidea spatial and temporal diversity. Ecological Data was collected along two transects in the micro-tidal zone of Half Moon Caye, Belize. Shannon diversity indices were calculated and used for conditional probabilities to assess biodiversity at various regions in the zone. Statistical analysis was done with the Kruskal-Wallis Test, linear regression, and Chi-square analysis. Results: Evidence suggests that A. punctulata differs from all other species in the distance from high tide, this corresponds to the high conditional probability close to shore compared to other species. A relationship was found between the distance from high tide and both abundance and species richness. O. appressa and E. lucunter abundance was determined to be dependent of the time of day, but this was independent for all other species. Discussion: Patterns in biodiversity suggest that the outer region of the micro-tidal zone has a higher species richness due to overlap with species adapted to deeper locations. Furthermore, there is evidence which suggests there may be differences throughout shallower portions of the micro-tidal zone, but further analysis needs to be done with consideration of the physical conditions in this region. In addition to spatial differences, there were differences seen depending on the time of day which may suggest that some species move out of the intertidal zone at night. Conclusion: This study indicates how the tropical micro-tidal zone may be a critical region acting as an ecotone, providing habitat for a wide range of species on different spatial and temporal scales.

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Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands

Steibl

Sigl

Bláha

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Diversity Patterns and Community Structure of the Ground-Associated Macrofauna along the Beach-Inland Transition Zone of Small Tropical Islands

Cited by 5 publications

References 55 publications

Effects of drought-induced stress on nematode communities in aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the Nebraska Sandhills

Effects of drought-induced stress on nematode communities in aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the Nebraska Sandhills

The Shifting Tide: Investigating If Tropical Micro-Tidal Zones Act as Diverse Ecotones with Small-Scale Spatial Diversity Analysis of Ophiuroidea and Echinoidea

Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands

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