Phytoplankton colonization patterns. Is species richness depending on distance among freshwaters and on their connectivity?

Abstract

Phytoplankton assemblages in two Sicilian water bodies were compared to test the hypothesis that colonization events and the successful establishment of a new species in an aquatic ecosystem may depend on the number of water bodies in a given area and on their relative distance. The two ecosystems are both natural, shallow lakes and they are protected sites hosting a rich avifauna. Lake Biviere di Gela is located in an area with a high density of ponds, whereas Lake Pergusa is an isolated waterbody without other aquatic ecosystems in its surroundings. Both lakes had almost disappeared about 10 years ago because of the overexploitation of their main inflows. They were therefore re-filled using water from other catchments and their phytoplankton has been sampled since their re-filling. The results show that Lake Pergusa has maintained a species-poor phytoplankton assemblage since its refilling, whereas Lake Biviere di Gela has been showing progressively richer phytoplankton assemblages during time. The composition of samples collected in nearby located temporary ponds suggests that phytoplankton in this area belongs to a species-rich metacommunity which favored its re-establishment in the lake. Aquatic ecosystems conservation plans cannot thus neglect the role of small waters located in the catchments.

A quantitative assessment of the contribution of small standing water bodies to the European waterscapes – case of Estonia and France

“…Several recent studies have stressed the importance of hydrological connectivity of ponds on general biodiversity. It has been shown that connectivity between ponds increases the species richness of macrophytes (Akasaka and Takamura, 2012), fish (Uchida and Inoue, 2010), phytoplankton (Naselli-Flores et al., 2016) and amphibians (Ribeiro et al., 2011). Although individual SSWBs have lower average alpha diversity than large water bodies, at a regional scale they typically have high gamma diversity (Williams et al., 2004).…”

Characteristics, Main Impacts, and Stewardship of Natural and Artificial Freshwater Environments: Consequences for Biodiversity Conservation

“…Temporary ponds are generally small (from 10 −2 to 10 7 m 2 ) and often grouped in spatial clusters [495]. Their biotic communities should, therefore, be considered as metacommunities, and spatial factors should be included when analyzing their dynamics (e.g., [496]).…”

Potential sources of microbial colonizers in an initial soil ecosystem after retreat of an alpine glacier

“…The successful colonization and establishment in a new environment by external microbial communities depend on the order of arrival of the colonizers, also referred to as the 'priority effect'. The priority effect has already been used to explain successful colonization of new habitats by microorganisms in aquatic ecosystems (Symons and Arnott, 2014;Incagnone et al, 2014;Naselli-Flores et al, 2016). Further, in microcosm experiments, Werner and Kiers (2015) showed that the arrival order of arbuscular mycorrhizas influenced the successful colonization and future development of root-associated fungal communities in soil.…”