Species area relationship (SAR) for benthic diatoms: a study on aquatic islands

Bolgovics, Ágnes; Ács, Éva; Várbíró, Gábor; Görgényi, Judit; Borics, Gábor

doi:10.1007/s10750-015-2278-1

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…In a seminal paper by Patrick (), factors behind SARs in stream diatoms were studied, and findings suggested that species richness is influenced by the invasion rate, area, and the number of species in the species pool. In one of the few more recent studies about diatom SARs, Teittinen and Soininen () did not find a significant SAR in spring diatoms, whereas Bolgovics, Ács, Várbíró, Görgényi, and Borics () demonstrated that among lakes, ponds and pools, diatom richness increased with area. Thus, we think that much remains to be studied about SARs in benthic diatoms since even the generality of the pattern in different ecosystems is poorly resolved let alone the actual mechanism behind the SAR in diatoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Fifteen important questions in the spatial ecology of diatoms

Soininen

Teittinen

2019

Freshwater Biology

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Recently, studies about the spatial distribution of microbial species and communities have increased substantially. Freshwater diatoms are used as one of the most popular model taxa in such macroecological studies, but the most exciting patterns in the spatial ecology of diatoms have not been reviewed. Here, we identify 15 important questions about freshwater diatom ecology, review the major findings, and suggest novel research avenues. We found that diatoms do not support classical latitudinal diversity gradient, species–area relationship or Rapoport's rule. We found some, albeit inconsistent support for an elevational diversity gradient, Bergmann's rule and niche conservation. Diatoms do support a positive interspecific abundance–occupancy relationship like nearly all other taxa. With regards to metacommunity dynamics, diatom communities are typically structured by species sorting, but neutral dynamics or mass effects are also evident at large or small spatial scale, respectively. Taken together, this review suggests that diatoms follow some classical biogeographical patterns similarly to larger taxa, but patterns are typically weaker than for macro‐organisms. This may result because diatoms are typically relatively strongly controlled by local factors and often exhibit efficient stochastic dispersal processes both at small and large scales. More research is needed to build a more comprehensive view of diatom species–area relationships and latitudinal gradients in diversity, for example. In the future, well‐replicated macroecological field experiments, diatom studies with intercontinental or global coverage, trait‐based approaches, and DNA‐based species identification would be fruitful avenues to shed more light into the spatial ecology of diatoms.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The interspecific abundance-occupancy relationship (Brown, 1984) is one of the most classical topics in macroecology and widely documented for many larger taxa such as plants, birds, invertebrates, and fish from various types of ecosystems (Blackburn, Cassey, & Gaston, 2006).…”

Section: Interspecific Abundance-occupancy Relationships In Diatomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fifteen important questions in the spatial ecology of diatoms

Soininen

Teittinen

2019

Freshwater Biology

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“…Furthermore, landscape-related factors, such as topography or ecoregion type, may also affect aquatic micro-organisms because they integrate ecological factors that influence species composition and diversity directly or indirectly (Pan, Stevenson, Hill, & Herlihy, 2000;Reche, Pulido-Villena, Morales-Baquero, & Casamayor, 2005;Rocha, Heino, Machado-Velho, Lansac-Tôha, & Lansac-Tôha, 2017). Habitat connectivity has been shown to be an important factor for maintaining ecological communities, in which community composition is likely to be richer in areas that facilitate dispersal and colonization (Bolgovics, Ács, Várbíró, Görgényi, & Borics, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geo‐climatic factors drive diatom community distribution in tropical South American freshwaters

et al. 2018

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Patterns that maintain and generate biodiversity of macro‐organisms in the Neotropics are widely discussed in the scientific literature, yet the spatial ecology of micro‐organisms is largely unknown. The unique character of the tropical Andes and adjacent Amazon lowlands generates a wide gradient of environmental conditions to advance our understanding of what drives community assembly and diversity processes. We analysed the distribution patterns of benthic diatoms (unicellular siliceous algae) as a model group of microbial passive dispersers, including predictors that describe limnological and geo‐climatic gradients for a total of 113 waterbodies (0–28°S and 58–80°W), including lakes and streams. Complementary multivariate statistical analyses were performed to correlate (1) community composition and (2) diatom species richness with environmental and spatial factors to infer niche‐based and dispersal‐based assembly processes, respectively. Results showed that two gradients structured both diatom assemblages and waterbodies, namely climate and landscape configuration. Variance partitioning revealed that broadscale spatial variables (distance‐based Moran's Eigenvectors) outperformed the two environmental components (limnological and geo‐climatic), suggesting dispersal‐assembled communities. However, diatom assemblages were structured by geo‐climatic (regional) factors in certain lakes in the northern and central Andes, although their effects were partially manifested via local variables after the geographical distances were factored out. In a similar way, climatic and topographic structuring homogenized lake and stream communities within ecoregions, as indicated by the strong overlap between the two community types and the weak correlation between biota and limnological variables. Notably, a significant increase in diatom species richness was related to increased water connectivity, interpreted to indicate that a decrease in the remoteness of the system increase species number. Synthesis. We emphasize the strength of macroecological gradients (landscape configuration and climatic factors) in affecting both diatom diversity and community composition in the South American tropics. In this context, our results and the commonalities of ecoregion patterning with groups of macro‐organisms (vegetation) suggest the need to integrate microbial ecology into a macroecology framework to unravel mechanisms behind diversity gradients.

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“…Despite the huge amount of information accumulated in this field, most of our knowledge on SARs is based on analyses of macroscopic, terrestrial systems. Aquatic and especially microbial examples are rare in the literature (Bolgovics, Ács, Várbíró, Görgényi, & Borics, 2016;Fenchel & Finlay, 2005;Fierer & Jackson, 2006;Smith et al, 2005). The model framework of SAR for terrestrial systems is commonly based on the principles of island biogeography.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the investigation of well-isolated aquatic islands is a promising opportunity to test biogeographic theories. Although aquatic systems provide habitats for various groups of microscopic organisms (bacterio-, phyto-, and zooplankton, benthic algae), these groups have received limited attention in SAR analyses so far (Bolgovics et al, 2016;Dolan, 2005) partly because of methodological difficulties (sampling, definition, and identification of species) (Rodríguez-Ramos, Dornelas, Marañón, & Cermeño, 2014). Soininen found in a subarctic rock pool system that phytoplankton richness is related to nutrient availability, rather than to pool size (Soininen & Meier, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

Functional redundancy modifies species–area relationship for freshwater phytoplankton

Várbíró

Görgényi

Tóthmérész³

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Although species–area relationship (SAR) is among the most extensively studied patterns in ecology, studies on aquatic and/or microbial systems are seriously underrepresented in the literature. We tested the algal SAR in lakes, pools and ponds of various sizes (10−2–108 m2) and similar hydromorphological and trophic characteristics using species‐specific data and functional groups. Besides the expectation that species richness increases monotonously with area, we found a right‐skewed hump‐shaped relationship between the area and phytoplankton species richness. Functional richness however did not show such distortion. Differences between the area dependence of species and functional richness indicate that functional redundancy is responsible for the unusual hump‐backed SAR. We demonstrated that the Small Island Effect, which is a characteristic for macroscopic SARs can also be observed for the phytoplankton. Our results imply a so‐called large lake effect, which means that in case of large lakes, wind‐induced mixing acts strongly against the habitat diversity and development of phytoplankton patchiness and finally results in lower phytoplankton species richness in the pelagial. High functional redundancy of the groups that prefer small‐scale heterogeneity of the habitats is responsible for the unusual humpback relationship. The results lead us to conclude that although the mechanisms that regulate the richness of both microbial communities and communities of macroscopic organisms are similar, their importance can be different in micro‐ and macroscales.

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Species area relationship (SAR) for benthic diatoms: a study on aquatic islands

Cited by 25 publications

References 62 publications

Fifteen important questions in the spatial ecology of diatoms

Fifteen important questions in the spatial ecology of diatoms

Geo‐climatic factors drive diatom community distribution in tropical South American freshwaters

Functional redundancy modifies species–area relationship for freshwater phytoplankton

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