Wartime scars or reservoirs of biodiversity? The value of bomb crater ponds in aquatic conservation

Abstract

Considering the ongoing loss of aquatic habitats, anthropogenic ponds are gaining importance as substitute habitats. It is therefore important to assess their functioning in comparison to their natural precursors. Here we assess the biodiversity value of sodic bomb crater ponds by comparing their gamma diversity to that of natural reference habitats, astatic soda pans, and assess their importance on the landscape level by studying alpha and beta diversity. We studied aquatic organisms ranging from algae to vertebrates in a dense cluster of 54 sodic bomb crater ponds in Central Europe. Despite the overall small area of the pond cluster, gamma diversity was comparable to that found in surveys of natural habitats that encompassed much wider spatial and temporal scales. We also found a considerable number of species shared with reference habitats, indicating that these anthropogenic habitats function as important refuge sites for several species that are associated with the endangered soda pans. Moreover, we found a number of regionally or worldwide rare species. Among the components of beta diversity, species replacement dominated community assembly. Individual ponds contributed similarly to beta diversity in terms of * Corresponding author, csaba.vad@wcl.ac.at (C.F. Vad). Europe PMC Funders Group Europe PMC Funders Author ManuscriptsEurope PMC Funders Author Manuscripts replacement, being equally important for maintaining high gamma diversity and emphasising the role of the pond network rather than individual ponds. This pattern was seen in all studied groups. Bomb crater ponds therefore acted as important contributors to aquatic biodiversity. Considering the tremendous losses of ponds throughout Europe, anthropogenic ponds should be taken into consideration in nature conservation, especially when occurring in pond networks.

Artificial Aquatic Ecosystems

“…Conservation-oriented water regulation typically exempts such constructs outright; they usually do not count as water [7,23,24]. Accidental examples include logging ruts, erosional gullies in building sites and agricultural fields, poorly drained impervious surfaces, and even bomb craters [25]. Some of these accidental features represent failures of water conservation regulation or other damaging abstraction from natural water sources.…”

“…Some of these accidental features represent failures of water conservation regulation or other damaging abstraction from natural water sources. Nonetheless, left unmaintained, in time, such accidental waterbody construction in relative uplands can "naturalize" to a seemingly "wild" ecosystem [25][26][27]. Waterbodies that humans have constructed accidentally, but that appear relatively free from human intent, are more likely to be regulated than waterbodies that humans have constructed on purpose [23,24].…”

Nitzschia austriaca Hustedt: a characteristic diatom of Hungarian inland saline waters including a morphological comparison with the type material

“…High TSS and TP coupled with high pH are typical features of the inland saline waters, soda pans (Boros et al 2017). In soda pan habitats, these variables are correlating with each other , such as in the sodic bomb crater ponds of the present study (Vad et al 2017) and therefore, it is hard to separate their unique effects on the species. In line with Hustedt (1959), who regarded N. austriaca as a characteristic species of soda lakes, we suggest, that N. austriaca can be used as a reliable indicator species of soda waters, including the protected astatic soda pans.…”

“…2 in Vad et al 2017), allowing us the opportunity to perform a detailed electron microscopical investigation.…”

Community heterogeneity of aquatic macroinvertebrates in urban ponds at a multi-city scale

“…Ponds are dynamic habitats that support significant biological diversity and provide important ecosystem services globally (Hill et al in review;Biggs et al 2017;Stewart et al 2017;Vad et al 2017). There has been a significant increase in research attention directed towards pond habitats and their biota in recent years (Cereghino et al 2014), yet the majority of studies have focussed on ecological communities among ponds in rural and agricultural landscapes (e.g., Usio et al 2013;De Marco Jr et al 2014;Simaika et al 2016).…”