Small-scale diversity patterns of aquatic macroinvertebrates in spring fens: the importance of species replacement and richness differences in various taxonomic groups
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| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The presence of numerous spring fens of different ecological types is characteristic for the Western Carpathian Mts. These habitats are usually highly isolated from each other and exhibit relatively stable environmental conditions. On the among-site scale, mineral richness of water plays the leading role in structuring assemblages of various taxonomic groups (well documented for vascular plants and bryophytes, Testacea, Mollusca, Clitellata or Chironomidae from the study area), but little is known about small-scale, within-site patterns of diversity and distribution of these organisms. Studied spring fens are small in size and, within site, relatively homogeneous in hydrochemistry and vegetation composition. However, a considerable variation may be found in flow conditions, represented by two extreme mesohabitats: mesohabitat A – the flowing water and mesohabitat B –the standing water. Within this study we used data from 34 sites and compared within-site alpha-diversity and two components of beta-diversity (the rate of species replacement and richness differences) among three taxocenoses with different ecological demands and dispersal abilities: Clitellata, Plecoptera and Chironomidae. We found that both mesohabitats provided favourable conditions for Clitellata and Chironomidae (there were no significant differences in alpha-diversity between mesohabitats), alpha-diversity of Plecoptera was significantly higher at the flowing water. However, mechanisms of which studied taxocenoses responded to abiotic differences between mesohabitats were different. Compositional differences in species richness were caused mainly by species replacement in Chironomidae, while differences in species richness played the major role in Plecoptera. Both mechanisms contributed in Clitellata. This might results from evolutionary adaptation for both flowing- and standing-water environments by various chironomid species, while Plecoptera are almost exclusive inhabitants of the flowing environment. The study is financially supported by P505/11/0779 and MUNI/A/0757/2012. |
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