Quantifying temporal variability in the metacommunity structure of stream fishes: the influence of non-native species and environmental drivers

Erős, Tibor; Sály, Péter; Takács, Péter; Higgins, Christopher L.; Bíró, Péter; Schmera, Dénes

doi:10.1007/s10750-013-1673-8

Cited by 50 publications

(57 citation statements)

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“…Tolerant non-native species in altered streams were recorded in several studies in streams of other basins in the Paraná State (Cunico et al 2009, Araújo et al 2011, Pagotto et al 2012. The presence of non-native species is considered a major factor in the reduction of the native community (Jackson 2002, Di Prinzio et al 2009, Eros et al 2014, Zeni & Casatti 2014. In this study, the occurrences of Gymnotus and Synbranchus species can be attributed to the use of species of such genera as live bait (Graça & Pavanelli 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Ichthyofauna of streams from the lower Iguaçu River basin, Paraná State, Brazil

et al. 2016

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Abstract:The drainages of the Iguaçu River basin, as well as the main channel of the river, have peculiar characteristics resulting from geomorphological processes in this area, including the formation of the Iguaçu River Falls. This slope in the lower portion of the basin is a biogeographical barrier to many organisms. In this study was inventoried the fish fauna of streams of the lower Iguaçu River basin, evaluating possible differences in the species composition upstream and downstream of this biogeographical barrier. Sampling were conducted between 2004 and 2013, in five streams, three upstream and two downstream of the Iguaçu River Falls, using electrofishing. The nMDS analysis was run to investigate possible groupings of similar fauna between the streams sampled. The scores of this test were tested as to the significance of groupings with the Hotelling T 2 test. The indicator value method (IndVal) was used to detect the distribution of species among the groups of the streams upstream and downstream of the Iguaçu River Falls. We collected 18,908 individuals of six orders, 11 families, and 40 species. Siluriformes and Characiformes had the highest species richness; Cyprinodontiformes presented the highest abundance. Considering the species recorded, 21 are considered natives to the Iguaçu River basin, including 15 endemic, wich were found only in streams upstream of the falls. Additional 18 species were verified only in the streams downstream of such barrier. Four species were common to both stretches. The axis 1 of the nMDS separated two groups: streams upstream (S1, S2 and S3) and streams downstream of the Iguaçu River Falls (S4 and S5). The indicator species analysis also indicated a distinction between the groups of streams, that were significantly different (Hotelling's T 2 = 234.36, p ˂ 0.0001). The number of endemic species in the streams upstream of the Falls (15 spp.) evidences a significant effect of isolation promoted by the Iguaçu River Falls, and confirms the role of this barrier in the vicariant processes and endemism typical of this basin. These results emphasize the importance of conserving these ecosystems, once the extinction of species in this region means the irreversible loss of them. Resumo: As drenagens da bacia do rio Iguaçu, bem como o canal principal do rio, possuem características peculiares resultantes de processos geomorfológicos dessa área, incluindo a formação das Cataratas do rio Iguaçu. Esse desnível na porção inferior da bacia constitui uma barreira biogeográfica para muitos organismos. Neste trabalho inventariamos a fauna de peixes de riachos na porção do baixo rio Iguaçu, avaliando possíveis diferenças na composição de espécies acima e abaixo dessa barreira biogeográfica. Entre 2004 e 2013, foram amostrados cinco riachos, sendo três localizados acima das Cataratas do Iguaçu e dois abaixo, por meio de pesca elétrica. Para investigar possíveis padrões de agrupamentos de fauna similares entre os riachos amostrados foi

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Ichthyofauna of streams from the lower Iguaçu River basin, Paraná State, Brazil

et al. 2016

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“…This temporal variability was evident in the emergent metacommunity properties in our study across most groups, which is not an uncommon finding in stream systems (Göthe et al 2013;Erős et al 2013). Despite the Kinzig River being a relatively stable system, the high level of interannual variability in habitat conditions typical of river-flooplain systems can alter 415 environmental gradients and thus may explain the high level of interannual variability observed in our data (somewhat answering Q3 despite the short timespan).…”

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confidence: 62%

“…We might have expected 355 compartments to emerge for trait groups through facilitation, but this was not the case. While Gleasonian gradients are often found, Clementsian (or sometimes quasi-Clementsian) gradients are more commonly found in studies applying the EMS approach, such as alpine grassland plants (Meynard et al 2013), bats , stream fishes (Erős et al 2013), woodlands (Keith et al 2011), beetles at the regional scale in Scandinavia (Heino 360 and Alahuhta 2014), desert rodent parasites (Dallas and Presley 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Metacommunities remain difficult to predict, often with spatial and temporal variation in observed patterns, and processes acting differently on different subsets of organisms (Driscoll 425 and Lindenmayer 2009; Heino et al 2012;Erős et al 2013;. Finding general patterns in stream metacommunities, in particular, has proven to be a major challenge for researchers (Heino, Melo, et al 2015a).…”

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Supplemental Information 1: Table S1

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The Elements of Metacommunity Structure (EMS) framework gives rise to important ecological insights through the distinction of metacommunities into several different idealised structures. We examined the EMS in assemblages occupying a low-mountain river system in central Germany, sampled over three consecutive years. We compared the idealised distributions of assemblages in both the riparian floodplain zone (carabid beetles and spiders) and the benthic instream environment (benthic invertebrates). We further grouped instream organisms into taxonomic and trait groups to examine whether greater competition signal emerges in more similar species groups. We found little evidence of strong competition, even for trait-modality groups, and nestedness was almost non-existent. In addition to random distributions, Gleasonian distributions (indicating clear, but individualistic turnover between sites) were the most commonly identified structure. Clear differences were apparent between different trait groups, particularly between within-trait modalities. These were most evident for different dispersal modes and life cycle durations, with strong dispersers showing possible signs of mass effects. While random distributions may have partly reflected small sample sizes, clearly coherent patterns were evident for many groups, indicating a sufficient gradient in environmental conditions. The prevalence of random distributions suggests many species are responding to a variety of environmental filters in these river-floodplain metacommunities in an anthropogenically-dominated landscape, whereas Gleasonian distributions indicate species are responding idiosyncratically to a primary environmental gradient. Our findings further emphasise the prevalence of context dependency (spatio-temporal variability) in metacommunity studies and emphasise the need to further disentangle the causes of such variation.

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“…Note that this approach of typifying metacommunities is different from the method of Leibold and Mikkelson (2002) and Presley et al (2010) for defining "elements of metacommunity structure". In the "elements of metacommunity structure" analyses the dominant species distributional pattern is characterized in rather arbitrarily selected sampling units which do not necessarily represent different local communities (for applications, see Meynard et al 2013, Erős et al 2014,2016a, Heino et al 2015a. On the contrary, in the above approach (i.e., where metapopulation models are scaled up to the metacommunity level), the metacommunity types are delineated based on the distribution of different local communities in the landscape and the overall importance of dispersal of the dominant species to local community dynamics.…”

Section: Metacommunity Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling fish metacommunities in stream networks: synthesis and future research avenues

Erős

2017

Community Ecology

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Abstract:The metacommunity perspective has substantially advanced our understanding of how local (within community) and dispersal (between community) processes influence the assembly of communities. The increased recognition of dispersal processes makes it necessary to re-evaluate former views on community organization in different ecological systems and for specific organisms. Stream systems have long been considered from a linear perspective, in which local community organization was examined along the longitudinal profile, from source to mouth. However, the hierarchically branching (i.e. dendritic) structure of stream networks also significantly affects both local and regional scale community organization, which has just only recently been fully recognized by ecologists. In this review, I examine how the shift from a strictly linear to a dendritic network perspective influenced the thinking about the organization of fish metacommunities in stream networks. I argue that while longitudinal patterns in the structure of fish communities are relatively well known, knowledge is still limited about how the structure of the stream network ultimately affects the spatial and temporal dynamics of metacommunities. I suggest that scaling metapopulation models up to the metacommunity level can be useful to further our understanding of the spatial structure of metacommunities. However, this requires the delineation of local communities and the quantification of the contribution of dispersal to local community dynamics. Exploring patterns in diversity, spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of metacommunities is not easily feasible in continuous stream habitats, where some parts of the habitat network are exceptionally hard to sample representatively. Combination of detailed field studies with modelling of dispersal is necessary for a better understanding of metacommunity dynamics in stream networks. Since most metacommunity level processes are likely to happen at the stream network level, further research on the effects of stream network structure is needed. Overall, separation of the effect of dispersal processes from local scale community dynamics may yield a more mechanistic understanding of the assembly of fish communities in stream networks, which may also enhance the effectiveness of restoration efforts.

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Quantifying temporal variability in the metacommunity structure of stream fishes: the influence of non-native species and environmental drivers

Cited by 50 publications

References 46 publications

Ichthyofauna of streams from the lower Iguaçu River basin, Paraná State, Brazil

Ichthyofauna of streams from the lower Iguaçu River basin, Paraná State, Brazil

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Scaling fish metacommunities in stream networks: synthesis and future research avenues

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