Life finds a way: Hatching dynamics of zooplankton dormant stages in intermittent wetlands from the Brazilian tropical semiarid

Vendramin, Daiane; Pires, Mateus Marques; Medeiros, Elvio Sergio Figueredo; Stenert, Cristina; Maltchik, Leonardo

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2023.104949

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…This combination of unpredictability and environmental harshness makes breaking dormancy after hydration events an intrinsically risky strategy for local populations. Indeed, the fauna from our study wetlands was depauperate, suggesting intense environmental filtering, with no diapausing insects detected, and only 29 other invertebrates occurring, mostly crustaceans, but also several rotifer species (a taxonomic group often ignored in studies of wetlands) (Vendramin et al, 2023). Maladaptive recruitment patterns of dormant stages over time can lead to abortive hatching or eventual depletion of the egg bank (Parra et al, 2021;Pinceel et al, 2018Pinceel et al, , 2021.…”

Section: Bet-hedging In Ephemeral Wetlands Of the Dry Tropicsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Maximum depths were 0.5 m and maximum areas were 1 ha. All wetlands had been dry for ~1 year prior to sampling (Vendramin et al, 2023). The sediment collection occurred in October 2019.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the advantage conferred to bet-hedging taxa (over non-bet-hedgers) suggests that bet-hedgers may be especially well equipped to tolerate stress if conditions become harsher. Further, the complex temporal dynamics within hatchling assemblages across hydrations suggest that the use of bet-hedging strategies across generations (Simons, 2011) may be an important control of community-level dynamics (Gremer & Venable, 2014;Vendramin et al, 2022Vendramin et al, , 2023.…”

Section: Bet-hedging In Ephemeral Wetlands Of the Dry Tropicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is increasing interest in bet-hedging in view of the growing concern about how species will adapt and respond to current and future environmental changes (Childs et al, 2010). In temporary wetlands, alterations in the timing and length of hydration cues may strongly interact with zooplankton hatching patterns and eventually affect community dynamics (Kneitel, 2014;Vendramin et al, 2022Vendramin et al, , 2023.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We hypothesized that such environmental conditions should (1) favor hatching strategies of zooplankton dormant stages corresponding to the predictions of bet-hedging theory (i.e., the spread of hatchlings over sequential hydrations) (Pinceel et al, 2017(Pinceel et al, , 2021. However, because hatching requirements and the sensitivity to hydration cues vary among zooplankton taxa (e.g., microcrustaceans and Rotifera) (García-Roger et al, 2006;Gilbert, 2017;Iglesias et al, 2016;Vendramin et al, 2022Vendramin et al, , 2023, we also predicted that (2) the environmental conditions would favor bet-hedging over non-bet-hedging taxa in the egg bank, and that bet-hedging should result in higher fitness (i.e., more progeny) for populations of bet-hedging than non-bet-hedging strategists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bet‐hedgers commit to the hedge: Zooplankton in ephemeral semiarid wetlands of tropical Brazil that widely spread risk

Pires

Vendramin

Medeiros

et al. 2023

Ecology

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Bet‐hedging is an ecological risk‐aversion strategy in which a population does not commit all its effort toward a single reproductive event or specific environmental condition, and instead spreads the risk to include multiple reproductive events or conditions. For aquatic invertebrates in dry wetlands, this often takes the form of some propagules hatching in the first available flood, while remaining propagules hatch in subsequent floods (the “hedge”); this better ensures that a subset of propagules will hatch in a flood of sufficient duration to successfully complete development. Harsh environmental conditions are believed to promote an increased reliance on bet‐hedging. Bet‐hedging studies have typically been restricted to single sites or single populations. Community‐level assessments may provide more robust support for the range of hatching strategies that exist in nature. Here, we tested whether freshwater zooplankton assemblages inhabiting ephemeral and unpredictable wetlands of a semiarid zone of tropical Brazil employ hatching strategies suggestive of bet‐hedging; few efforts have addressed bet‐hedging in the tropics where the unique conditions may influence the strategy. We collected dry sediments from six ephemeral wetlands, and flooded them across a sequence of three hydrations under similar laboratory conditions to assess whether hatching patterns conform to some of the predictions of the bet‐hedging theory. We found that taxa showing hatching patterns akin to bet‐hedging associated with delayed hatching numerically dominated the assemblages that emerged from dry sediments, although there was large heterogeneity in the hatching rate among sites and across taxa. While some populations distributed their hatching across all three floods and committed most of their hatching fraction to the first hydration, others committed as much or more effort to the second hydration (the “hedge”) or the third hydration (another substantial “hedge”). Thus, in the harsh study wetlands, hatching patterns akin to bet‐hedging associated with delayed hatching were common and occurred at multiple temporal scales. Our community assessment found that a commitment to the “hedge” was greater than the current theory would predict. Our findings have broader implications; bet‐hedger taxa seem especially well equipped to tolerate stress if conditions become harsher as environments change.

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Section: Bet-hedging In Ephemeral Wetlands Of the Dry Tropicsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Maximum depths were 0.5 m and maximum areas were 1 ha. All wetlands had been dry for ~1 year prior to sampling (Vendramin et al, 2023). The sediment collection occurred in October 2019.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bet-hedging In Ephemeral Wetlands Of the Dry Tropicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bet‐hedgers commit to the hedge: Zooplankton in ephemeral semiarid wetlands of tropical Brazil that widely spread risk

Pires

Vendramin

Medeiros

et al. 2023

Ecology

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Invertebrate richness, diversity and hatching patterns from a semi-arid pool in peninsular India using field sampling and sediment re-hydration

Ghodke,

Padhye,

Vanjare

et al. 2023

Journal of Arid Environments

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Metacommunity structures of dormant and active zooplankton in two distant mediterranean regions

López‐Allendes,

Gálvez,

Armengol

et al. 2024

Freshwater Biology

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Temporary ponds are small‐sized limnic systems that dry periodically. The length of the wet phase defines the hydroregime and determines community assembly in temporary ponds. Zooplankton species have adapted to desiccation by adopting some dormant strategies, such as the formation of resting stages. Hatching from resting stages is a source of recolonization after drought events and the composition of hatching taxa is also influenced by hydroregime. We compared metacommunity structure and composition of the dormant sub‐community (resting stages); the pioneer active sub‐community (fauna present immediately after inundation of ponds); and the cumulative active sub‐community (fauna present at the initial, middle and final phases of hydroperiod) in a set of temporary ponds with semipermanent and seasonal hydroregimes in two areas with mediterranean climate: central Chile and eastern Spain. We aimed to determine the influence of hydroregime and identify whether metacommunity patterns are consistent between regions sharing a mediterranean climate. We selected five semipermanent and five seasonal ponds in each region to sample sediments and active zooplankton sub‐communities. By combining hatching experiments from the sediments with direct counts of active zooplankton from the field samples, we gathered data on both dormant and active sub‐communities to build unweighted bipartite networks of species occurrences in each pond. The obtained networks were analysed to determine seasonal trends in structural features of the metacommunities (diversity, nestedness and modularity) and their relation to hydroregime (semipermanent and seasonal) and geographical location (Chile and Spain). We observed consistent differences in community structure when comparing sub‐communities at different successional stages (dormant, pioneer active and cumulative active) and with different hydroregimes (semipermanent vs. seasonal). Both α‐ and γ‐diversity showed a consistent trend, being highest in cumulative active sub‐communities and lowest in dormant ones, and were consistently higher in seasonal ponds, regardless of the region. In addition, β‐diversity was higher in the pioneer active sub‐community in both regions, with no significant differences between hydroregimes. The species composition of cumulative active sub‐communities were less heterogeneous than that of the pioneer and dormant ones. No consistent patterns were found in modularity and nestedness values across sub‐communities and hydroregimes. In agreement with our hypotheses, we observed a gradual accumulation of taxa as well as community homogenization over time in both regions. Contrary to our expectations, hydroregime did not affect these patterns and, surprisingly, shorter hydroperiods exhibited higher regional diversity. Our results suggest that hydroregime as a single variable does not have a strong explanatory power for metacommunity assembly of temporary ponds. Therefore, a more comprehensive theory is needed to anticipate the effects of the upcoming hydroperiod shortening.

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Life finds a way: Hatching dynamics of zooplankton dormant stages in intermittent wetlands from the Brazilian tropical semiarid

Cited by 5 publications

References 40 publications

Bet‐hedgers commit to the hedge: Zooplankton in ephemeral semiarid wetlands of tropical Brazil that widely spread risk

Bet‐hedgers commit to the hedge: Zooplankton in ephemeral semiarid wetlands of tropical Brazil that widely spread risk

Invertebrate richness, diversity and hatching patterns from a semi-arid pool in peninsular India using field sampling and sediment re-hydration

Metacommunity structures of dormant and active zooplankton in two distant mediterranean regions

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