Temporal beta diversity increases with environmental variability in zooplankton floodplain communities

Zooplankton Temporal, Longitudinal, and Vertical Diversity Patterns in the Floodplains of the Western Amazon

“…Water temperature and dissolved oxygen were the variables that determined the structure of zooplankton communities in the study area [49]. Chlorophyll, total dissolved solids, or conductivity did not have significant effects on zooplankton distribution, but this might have resulted from narrow gradients of these variables in our study area [37].…”

“…Consequently, our results suggest that the changes in alpha diversity might not be the cause of the variations in gamma diversity between years, and instead, the reduction in beta diversity during rising waters could have played a substantial role in the decrease in gamma diversity observed that year. Variations in zooplankton abundances as a response to the dilution of nutrients during high water levels, together with the higher exchange of organisms between the pelagic and the littoral zones as well as between floodplain lakes and channels have been linked to decreasing beta diversity [5,49].…”