What governs macrophyte species richness in kettle hole types? A case study from Northeast Germany

Abstract

a b s t r a c tKettle holes are small, pond-like, depressional wetlands in young moraine landscapes. They mostly undergo a wet-dry cycle and have a high potential for biological species diversity. However, their biodiversity and habitat function is often greatly impacted by surrounding intensive agricultural land use practices.In this study, we used statistical analysis of a large data set from the federal state of Brandenburg (Northeast Germany) to characterise the macrophyte species richness of kettle holes in an interregional context and to determine the factors that influence macrophyte occurrence. We proposed that (1) specific environmental factors, (2) hydrogeomorphic kettle hole types and (3) the regional topography have a major impact on macrophyte species richness. The evaluation of the data was performed using the General Linear Model (GLM) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Each of the analysed factors addresses different parts of the macrophyte species richness, including the target variables overall species richness, plant life and growth forms as well as Red List species.None of the analysis showed effects of the tested environmental factors on overall macrophytes species richness, but on the richness of plant life and growth forms as well as on Red List species. We identified hydroperiod, depth, shore width, kettle hole area, pH, electric conductivity, carbonate hardness and oxygen as key factors for the prediction of species richness of plant life and growth forms. Furthermore, we demonstrate that hydrogeomorphic kettle hole types account for relevant parts of variation in species richness and are useful interregional and integrative indicators to identify kettle holes with protection priority for macrophytes.

Effect of agricultural landscape characteristics on the hydrobiota structure in small water bodies

“…However, the quantity of matter received into lakes from their catchments is not proportional to their volume (Piotrowicz et al, 2006;Schindler, 2009). In intensively managed agricultural landscape these small bodies of water play the role of matter-traps (Gerke et al, 2010), biogeochemical barriers (Szpakowska & _ Zyczyńska-Bałoniak, 1994;Lischeid & Kalettka, 2012), as well as hotspots for high biodiversity (Oertli et al, 2002;Williams et al, 2004;Pätzig et al, 2012). Research on small water bodies located in the natural and anthropogenically transformed landscape confirms significant variation in the quality of water (Joniak et al, 2007;Gałczyńska & Kot, 2010) and bottom sediments .…”

Sediment cores from kettle holes in NE Germany reveal recent impacts of agriculture

“…Because site conditions differ among the kettle holes, the region Uckermark is a hotspot for biodiversity of endangered amphibian species (Berger et al 2011), large branchiopods (Gołdyn et al 2012) and aquatic macrophytes (Pätzig et al 2012;Altenfelder et al 2014). Drainage, fertilization and herbicide use in surrounding arable fields during the past few decades, however, has led to a severe decline in diversity of both plant species (Altenfelder et al 2014) and amphibians (Berger et al 2011).…”

Zooplankton diversity and macrophyte biometry in shallow water bodies of various trophic state

“…With the aid of the Shannon diversity index obtained for zooplankton inhabiting large water ecosystems in Russia (Habelman & Haldna, 2014) or ponds in Belgium (De Bie et al, 2012), we demonstrated that our small water bodies were characterised by slightly higher diversity. This indicates habitat quality and regional distinctiveness (Pätzig et al, 2012). The wide range of the zooplankton diversity index in the investigated ponds reflected a high level of habitat heterogeneity.…”