Effects of dispersal mode on the environmental and spatial correlates of nestedness and species turnover in pond communities

Hill, Matthew J.; Heino, Jani; Thornhill, Ian; Ryves, David B.; Wood, Paul J.

doi:10.1111/oik.04266

Cited by 120 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…, Hill et al. ). Although this process may be important to explain β‐diversity patterns at biogeographical scale, where nestedness may reflect the extinction/colonization dynamics resulting from past glaciations (Dobrovolski et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The scale‐dependent effect of environmental filters on species turnover and nestedness in an estuarine benthic community

Menegotto

Dambros

Netto

2019

Ecology

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Environmental filtering is a major mechanism structuring ecological communities. However, it is still not clear how different abiotic drivers composing the environmental filter interact with each other to determine local species assemblage and create spatial patterns in species distribution. Here, we evaluated the effects of two strong and uncorrelated environmental variables (salinity and sediment properties) on the β‐diversity of an estuarine macrobenthic community while accounting for spatial effects. Our results show that the benthic community composition has a strong spatial structure along the estuary, which can be greatly explained by salinity and sediment variation. Salinity is most associated with species replacement (turnover), whereas sediment is more important for species loss (nestedness). However, the effects of sediment variation on nestedness are mainly detected at a smaller spatial scale (estuarine sectors), whereas the effects of salinity on species turnover are stronger as spatial scale increases (entire estuary). Our findings suggest that environmental filters can drive both turnover and nestedness components of β‐diversity, but that their relative importance depends on the spatial scale of investigation. Although abiotic drivers associated with detrimental effects (sediment) usually result in nestedness, larger spatial scales encompass abiotic drivers associated with different suitable conditions (salinity), increasing the relative importance of the replacement component of species β‐diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The scale‐dependent effect of environmental filters on species turnover and nestedness in an estuarine benthic community

Menegotto

Dambros

Netto

2019

Ecology

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“…The small catchment areas of ponds (Williams et al 2003) and the different management practices promotes a wide range of successional stages and environmental conditions across urban areas for macroinvertebrate taxa to utilise (Hill et al 2015;Thornhill et al 2017a). Previous studies have demonstrated that variation in local environmental conditions are often the principle regulator of species turnover in pond systems as macroinvertebrate taxa are essentially filtered by environmental gradients (Cottenie 2005;Hill et al 2017b). Compositional differences driven by species turnover may also reflect the isolation of some ponds within urban settlements, which may increase the level of ecological uniqueness of urban ponds Fahrig 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, high beta-diversity among urban ponds in this study was dominated by species turnover (species replacement from one pond to another) rather than nestedness indicating that pond conservation practices (individual sites of high diversity) are not providing the most effective conservation of pond biodiversity. The dominance of species turnover suggests that conservation actions to enhance pond biodiversity would be most beneficial if undertaken at a landscape/network scale, conserving an array of complementary sites (incorporating the 'principle of complementarity'; Justus and Sarkar Landscape Ecol (2018) 33:389-405 401 2002) with different species compositions (Hill et al 2017b). Current pond conservation strategies need to be adapted in recognition of the fact that the greatest conservation value of ponds lies at the network scale reflecting the high contribution of species turnover to beta-diversity, in the heterogeneity of conditions among sites (promoting high community turnover and heterogeneity); and that conservation efforts should be focussed to ensure that pondscapes and heterogeneous environmental conditions at a landscape scale are maintained and where possible enhanced.…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community heterogeneity of aquatic macroinvertebrates in urban ponds at a multi-city scale

et al. 2018

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Purpose Urbanisation is a leading cause of biotic homogenisation in urban ecosystems. However, there has been little research examining the effect of urbanisation and biotic homogenisation on aquatic communities, and few studies have compared findings across different urban landscapes. We assessed the processes that structure aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity within five UK cities and characterise the heterogeneity of pond macroinvertebrate communities within and among urban areas. Methods A total of 132 ponds were sampled for invertebrates to characterise biological communities of ponds across five UK cities. Variation among sites within cities, and variation among urban settlements, was partitioned into components of beta diversity relating to turnover and nestedness.Results We recorded 337 macroinvertebrate taxa, and species turnover almost entirely accounted for the high beta-diversity recorded within each urban area and when all ponds were considered. A total of 40% of all macroinvertebrates recorded were unique to a particular urban settlement. In contrast to the homogenisation of terrestrial and lotic communities in urban landscapes reported in the literature, ponds support highly heterogeneous communities within and among urban settlements. Conclusions The high species turnover (species replacement) recorded in this study demonstrates that urban pond biodiversity conservation would be most 123Landscape Ecol (2018) 33:389-405 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0608-1 efficient at a landscape-scale, rather than at the individual ponds scale. Pond conservation practices need to consider the spatial organization of ecological communities (landscape-scale) to ensure that the maximum possible biodiversity can be protected.

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“…The highest levels of diversity in river floodplain systems are often observed at intermediate levels of LHC (Gallardo et al, 2014;Turić et al, 2015;Ward & Tockner, 2001). Active dispersing invertebrates might show in stronger responses to local environmental variables, indicating the importance of species sorting and habitat filtering, and a weaker response to LHC, whereas passive dispersing invertebrates might respond stronger to LHC (Dube et al, 2017;Hill, Heino, Thornhill, Ryves, & Wood, 2017;Li et al, 2019). Active dispersing invertebrates might show in stronger responses to local environmental variables, indicating the importance of species sorting and habitat filtering, and a weaker response to LHC, whereas passive dispersing invertebrates might respond stronger to LHC (Dube et al, 2017;Hill, Heino, Thornhill, Ryves, & Wood, 2017;Li et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lateral hydrological connectivity differentially affects the community characteristics of multiple groups of aquatic invertebrates in tropical wetland pans in South Africa

et al. 2019

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River–floodplain connectivity (i.e. lateral hydrological connectivity, LHC) can directly affect the community characteristics by promoting dispersal of organisms but can also have profound indirect effects by altering local habitat characteristics. A major challenge is to disentangle the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of LHC on organisms. Combining taxonomic data with trait information allows a more mechanistic understanding of how LHC affect biotic communities in floodplains. Here, we attempted to determine the relative importance of the direct and indirect effects of LHC on local environmental variables and community characteristics (taxonomic and trait composition) of three different taxonomic organism groups in a set of 33 temporary floodplain pans along a gradient of LHC. In addition, we specifically aimed to unravel the underlying mechanisms shaping patterns of taxonomic diversity by partitioning compositional dissimilarity between ponds into components of nestedness and spatial turnover. Variation partitioning revealed that most differences in macroinvertebrate and zooplankton community composition between pans resulted from variation in local environmental variables, particularly macrophyte cover and the presence of fish. For large branchiopod crustaceans, however, partitioning indicated that LHC did significantly affect both taxonomic and trait community composition, and reduced local taxon diversity. Partitioning taxonomic and trait β‐diversity showed that community dissimilarity between pans was largely determined by turnover, rather than by nestedness. Overall, our study revealed that the effects of LHC on aquatic invertebrate communities act mainly indirectly by altering local environmental conditions. Although the effects of LHC were significant, they were small compared to those of environmental variables. Our results from the partitioning of taxonomic and trait β‐diversity have important implications for biodiversity conservation efforts in the Ndumo region. We demonstrate the need to conserve multiple pans along the LHC gradient to sustain high regional diversity. A common practice in the study area mainly focuses on the conservation of river‐connected or larger pans.

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Effects of dispersal mode on the environmental and spatial correlates of nestedness and species turnover in pond communities

Cited by 120 publications

References 53 publications

The scale‐dependent effect of environmental filters on species turnover and nestedness in an estuarine benthic community

The scale‐dependent effect of environmental filters on species turnover and nestedness in an estuarine benthic community

Community heterogeneity of aquatic macroinvertebrates in urban ponds at a multi-city scale

Lateral hydrological connectivity differentially affects the community characteristics of multiple groups of aquatic invertebrates in tropical wetland pans in South Africa

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