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Progênio M, Antiqueira PAP, Oliveira FR, Meira BR, Lansac‐Tôha FM, Rodrigues LC, Romero GQ, Nash LN, Kratina P, Velho LFM. Effects of warming on the structure of aquatic communities in tropical bromeliad microecosystems. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9824. [PMID: 36844665 PMCID: PMC9944163 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Freshwaters are among the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate warming, with projected temperature increases over the coming decades leading to significant losses of aquatic biodiversity. Experimental studies that directly warm entire natural ecosystems in the tropics are needed, for understanding the disturbances on aquatic communities. Therefore, we conducted an experiment to test the impacts of predicted future warming on density, alpha diversity, and beta diversity of freshwater aquatic communities, inhabiting natural microecosystems-Neotropical tank bromeliads. Aquatic communities within the tanks bromeliads were experimentally exposed to warming, with temperatures ranging from 23.58 to 31.72°C. Linear regression analysis was used to test the impacts of warming. Next, distance-based redundancy analysis was performed to assess how warming might alter total beta diversity and its components. This experiment was conducted across a gradient of habitat size (bromeliad water volume) and availability of detrital basal resources. A combination of the highest detritus biomass and higher experimental temperatures resulted in the greatest density of flagellates. However, the density of flagellates declined in bromeliads with higher water volume and lower detritus biomass. Moreover, the combination of the highest water volume and high temperature reduced density of copepods. Finally, warming changed microfauna species composition, mostly through species substitution (β repl component of total beta-diversity). These findings indicate that warming strongly structures freshwater communities by reducing or increasing densities of different aquatic communities groups. It also enhances beta-diversity, and many of these effects are modulated by habitat size or detrital resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Progênio
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos ContinentaisUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil
| | - Pablo A. P. Antiqueira
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia (IB)Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)CampinasSão PauloBrazil
| | - Felipe R. Oliveira
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos ContinentaisUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil
| | - Bianca R. Meira
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos ContinentaisUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil,Departamento de Biodiversidade, Evolução e AmbienteUniversidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP)Ouro PretoMinas GeraisBrazil
| | - Fernando M. Lansac‐Tôha
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos ContinentaisUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil
| | - Luzia C. Rodrigues
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos ContinentaisUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil,Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e AquiculturaUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil
| | - Gustavo Q. Romero
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia (IB)Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)CampinasSão PauloBrazil
| | - Liam N. Nash
- School of Biological and Behavioural SciencesQueen Mary University of LondonLondonUK
| | - Pavel Kratina
- School of Biological and Behavioural SciencesQueen Mary University of LondonLondonUK
| | - Luiz F. M. Velho
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos ContinentaisUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil,Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e AquiculturaUniversidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)MaringáParanáBrazil
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2
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Hammill E, Dart R. Contributions of mean temperature and temperature variation to population stability and community diversity. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8665. [PMID: 35228865 PMCID: PMC8861844 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Future climate changes are predicted to not only increase global temperatures but also alter temporal variation in temperature. As thermal tolerances form an important component of a species’ niche, changes to the temperature regime have the capacity to negatively impact species, and therefore, the diversity of the communities they inhabit. In this study, we used protist microcosms to assess how mean temperature, as well as temporal variation in temperature, affected diversity. Communities consisted of seven species in a multitrophic food web. Each ecosystem was inoculated with the same abundances of each species at the start of the experiment, and species densities, Hill's numbers (based on Shannon diversity), the number of extinctions, and the probability the microcosm contained predators were all calculated at the end of the experiment. To assess how mean temperature and temperature fluctuations affect stability, we also measured population densities through time. We found that increased temporal variation in temperature increased final densities, increased Hill's numbers (at low mean temperatures), decreased rates of extinctions, and increased the probability that predators survived till the end of the experiment. Mean temperatures did not significantly affect either the number of extinctions or the probability of predators, but did reduce the positive effect of increased temporal variation in temperature on overall diversity. Our results indicate that climatic changes have the potential to impact the composition of ecological communities by altering multiple components of temperature regimes. However, given that some climate forecasts are predicting increased mean temperatures and reduced variability, our finding that increased mean temperature and reduced temporal variation are both generally associated with negative consequences is somewhat concerning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edd Hammill
- Department of Watershed Sciences and the Ecology Center Utah State University Logan Utah84341USA
| | - Riley Dart
- Department of Watershed Sciences and the Ecology Center Utah State University Logan Utah84341USA
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3
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Rezende F, Antiqueira PAP, Petchey OL, Velho LFM, Rodrigues LC, Romero GQ. Trophic downgrading decreases species asynchrony and community stability regardless of climate warming. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:2660-2673. [PMID: 34537987 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Theory and some evidence suggest that biodiversity promotes stability. However, evidence of how trophic interactions and environmental changes modulate this relationship in multitrophic communities is lacking. Given the current scenario of biodiversity loss and climate changes, where top predators are disproportionately more affected, filling these knowledge gaps is crucial. We simulated climate warming and top predator loss in natural microcosms to investigate their direct and indirect effects on temporal stability of microbial communities and the role of underlying stabilising mechanisms. Community stability was insensitive to warming, but indirectly decreased due to top predator loss via increased mesopredator abundance and consequent reduction of species asynchrony and species stability. The magnitude of destabilising effects differed among trophic levels, being disproportionally higher at lower trophic levels (e.g. producers). Our study unravels major patterns and causal mechanisms by which trophic downgrading destabilises large food webs, regardless of climate warming scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felipe Rezende
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil.,Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Pablo A P Antiqueira
- Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Owen L Petchey
- Institute for Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Luiz Felipe M Velho
- Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), DBI/PEA/NUPÉLIA, Av. Colombo, Maringá-PR, Brazil
| | - Luzia C Rodrigues
- Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), DBI/PEA/NUPÉLIA, Av. Colombo, Maringá-PR, Brazil
| | - Gustavo Q Romero
- Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
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4
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Antonetti DA, Malfatti E, Utz LRP. Influence of environmental and morphological parameters on the microfauna community present in phytotelmata of a bromeliad in a fragment of Atlantic Forest, southern Brazil. NEOTROPICAL BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION 2021. [DOI: 10.3897/neotropical.16.e56186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Bromeliads are important epiphytes due to their abundance in the Neotropical region and morphological complexity. Their compact and imbricated leaf bases form water storage cisterns that promote important resources for colonization by several prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. Due to the lack of knowledge about these environments, the objective of the study was to investigate which physical-chemical and ecological parameters exert effects on the biological richness present in the cisterns of Vriesea platynema. The study was carried out in the Center for Research and Nature Conservation (CPCN – Pró-Mata), in the Serra Geral plateau, northeastern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Active searches were performed for 10 trees with bromeliads fixed at two heights (< 1.5 m and > 2.5 m). For each bromeliad individual, the height in relation to the ground, the diameter and depth of the central cistern, water temperature, number of lateral cisterns and number of adjacent bromeliads, were measured. A total of 23 taxa were identified in the phytotelmata of V. platynema, with Philodina, Lambornella, Paramecium, Tetrahymena and Diptera larvae being the most representative groups. The richness of organisms in the phytotelmata presented a positive correlation with water temperature (p = 0.01), and the number of adjacent bromeliads (p = 0.05), indicating that physicochemical and ecological factors could influence the richness of bromeliad biota.
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Almeida AM, Filho JEA, Souza RM. In bromeliad phytotelma, anthropic disturbance does not affect the nematode trophic structure. J Nematol 2020; 52:e2020-101. [PMID: 33829184 PMCID: PMC8015329 DOI: 10.21307/jofnem-2020-101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Phytotelmata (sing. phytotelma) are plant-associated reservoirs of rainwater and organic debris. These freshwater ecosystems are found in tree and bamboo holes, pitcher plants, and tank-forming bromeliads. Some studies suggest that anthropic disturbance (AD) may change the physico-chemical properties (PCPs) of the water retained in the phytotelma, and indirectly impact its biota. Hence, new AD-bioindicators could be found in the phytotelma biota. To test this hypothesis, three areas of Atlantic Forest were selected, distinct only by the level of long-term AD. In these areas, we monitored the nematode trophic structure and the water PCPs in the bromeliad Neoregelia cruenta during two years (eight seasons). Significant differences among areas were found in some seasons for total nematode abundance and/or the abundance of some trophic groups, but no pattern emerged relative to the level of AD. Anthropic disturbance did not impact nematode trophic structure possibly because the water PCPs remained fairly similar in all three areas. Our results do not corroborate previous reports that AD alters phytotelma water. On the other hand, our findings support previous studies suggesting that nematodes inhabiting bromeliad phytotelma are not good candidates for AD-bioindicators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Macedo Almeida
- Grupo de Pesquisa em Nematologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ), 28015-602, Brazil
| | | | - Ricardo Moreira Souza
- Grupo de Pesquisa em Nematologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ), 28015-602, Brazil
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6
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Agatha S, Utz LRP, Zufall RA, Warren A. Symposium on Ciliates in Memory of Denis Lynn. Eur J Protistol 2020; 78:125694. [PMID: 33500175 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2020.125694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/10/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Denis Lynn (1947-2018) was an outstanding protistologist, applying multiple techniques and data sources and thus pioneering an integrative approach in order to investigate ciliate biology. For example, he recognized the importance of the ultrastructure for inferring ciliate phylogeny, based on which he developed his widely accepted classification scheme for the phylum Ciliophora. In this paper, recent findings regarding the evolution and systematics of both peritrichs and the mainly marine planktonic oligotrichean spirotrichs are discussed and compared with the concepts and hypotheses formulated by Denis Lynn. Additionally, the state of knowledge concerning the diversity of ciliates in bromeliad phytotelmata and amitosis in ciliates is reviewed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Agatha
- Department of Biosciences, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
| | - Laura R P Utz
- School of Health and Life Sciences, PUCRS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Rebecca A Zufall
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Alan Warren
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
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Busse A, Schoreisz JJ, Petermann JS. Predators and priority effects suggested as potential drivers of microfauna communities in a community transplantation experiment along an elevational gradient. OIKOS 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.05894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Annika Busse
- Dept of Biosciences, Univ. of Salzburg Hellbrunner Straße 34, AT‐5020 Salzburg Austria
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany. – J. J. Schoreisz, Inst. of Biology, Freie Univ. Berlin Berlin Germany
| | - Jeremias J. Schoreisz
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany. – J. J. Schoreisz, Inst. of Biology, Freie Univ. Berlin Berlin Germany
| | - Jana S. Petermann
- Dept of Biosciences, Univ. of Salzburg Hellbrunner Straße 34, AT‐5020 Salzburg Austria
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany. – J. J. Schoreisz, Inst. of Biology, Freie Univ. Berlin Berlin Germany
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8
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Ladino G, Ospina‐Bautista F, Estévez Varón J, Jerabkova L, Kratina P. Ecosystem services provided by bromeliad plants: A systematic review. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:7360-7372. [PMID: 31380056 PMCID: PMC6662323 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2018] [Revised: 04/30/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The unprecedented loss of biological diversity has negative impacts on ecosystems and the associated benefits which they provide to humans. Bromeliads have high diversity throughout the Neotropics, but they have been negatively affected by habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, invasive species, and commercialization for ornamental purpose. These plants provide direct benefits to the human society, and they also form microecosystems in which accumulated water and nutrients support the communities of aquatic and terrestrial species, thus maintaining local diversity. We performed a systematic review of the contribution of bromeliads to ecosystem services across their native geographical distribution. We showed that bromeliads provide a range of ecosystem services such as maintenance of biodiversity, community structure, nutrient cycling, and the provisioning of food and water. Moreover, bromeliads can regulate the spread of diseases, and water and carbon cycling, and they have the potential to become important sources of chemical and pharmaceutical products. The majority of this research was performed in Brazil, but future research from other Neotropical countries with a high diversity of bromeliads would fill the current knowledge gaps and increase the generality of these findings. This systematic review identified that future research should focus on provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that have been currently overlooked. This would enhance our understanding of how bromeliad diversity contributes to human welfare, and the negative consequences that loss of bromeliad plants can have on communities of other species and the healthy functioning of the entire ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geraldine Ladino
- Departamento de Ciencias BiológicasUniversidad de CaldasManizalesColombia
| | | | | | | | - Pavel Kratina
- School of Biological and Chemical SciencesQueen Mary University of LondonLondonUK
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9
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Antiqueira PAP, Petchey OL, Dos Santos VP, de Oliveira VM, Romero GQ. Environmental change and predator diversity drive alpha and beta diversity in freshwater macro and microorganisms. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2018; 24:3715-3728. [PMID: 29772087 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2017] [Revised: 03/23/2018] [Accepted: 04/28/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Global biodiversity is eroding due to anthropogenic causes, such as climate change, habitat loss, and trophic simplification of biological communities. Most studies address only isolated causes within a single group of organisms; however, biological groups of different trophic levels may respond in particular ways to different environmental impacts. Our study used natural microcosms to investigate the predicted individual and interactive effects of warming, changes in top predator diversity, and habitat size on the alpha and beta diversity of macrofauna, microfauna, and bacteria. Alpha diversity (i.e., richness within each bromeliad) generally explained a larger proportion of the gamma diversity (partitioned in alpha and beta diversity). Overall, dissimilarity between communities occurred due to species turnover and not species loss (nestedness). Nevertheless, the three biological groups responded differently to each environmental stressor. Microfauna were the most sensitive group, with alpha and beta diversity being affected by environmental changes (warming and habitat size) and trophic structure (diversity of top predators). Macrofauna alpha and beta diversity was sensitive to changes in predator diversity and habitat size, but not warming. In contrast, the bacterial community was not influenced by the treatments. The community of each biological group was not mutually concordant with the environmental and trophic changes. Our results demonstrate that distinct anthropogenic impacts differentially affect the components of macro and microorganism diversity through direct and indirect effects (i.e., bottom-up and top-down effects). Therefore, a multitrophic and multispecies approach is necessary to assess the effects of different anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Augusto P Antiqueira
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia (IB), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil
- Laboratory of Multitrophic Interactions and Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - Owen L Petchey
- Department for Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Viviane Piccin Dos Santos
- Research Center for Chemistry, Biology and Agriculture (CPQBA), University of Campinas, Paulínia, SP, Brazil
| | - Valéria Maia de Oliveira
- Research Center for Chemistry, Biology and Agriculture (CPQBA), University of Campinas, Paulínia, SP, Brazil
| | - Gustavo Quevedo Romero
- Laboratory of Multitrophic Interactions and Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia (IB), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil
- Brazilian Research Network on Climate Change (Rede Clima), São Paulo, Brazil
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10
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Busse A, Antiqueira PAP, Neutzling AS, Wolf AM, Romero GQ, Petermann JS. Different in the dark: The effect of habitat characteristics on community composition and beta diversity in bromeliad microfauna. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0191426. [PMID: 29401522 PMCID: PMC5798767 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2017] [Accepted: 01/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The mechanisms which structure communities have been the focus of a large body of research. Here, we address the question if habitat characteristics describing habitat quality may drive changes in community composition and beta diversity of bromeliad-inhabiting microfauna. In our system, changes in canopy cover along an environmental gradient may affect resource availability, disturbance in form of daily water temperature fluctuations and predation, and thus may lead to changes in community structure of bromeliad microfauna through differences in habitat quality along this gradient. Indeed, we observed distinct changes in microfauna community composition along the environmental gradient explained by changes in the extent of daily water temperature fluctuations. We found beta diversity to be higher under low habitat quality (low canopy cover) than under high habitat quality (high canopy cover), which could potentially be explained by a higher relative importance of stochastic processes under low habitat quality. We also partitioned beta diversity into turnover and nestedness components and we found a nested pattern of beta diversity along the environmental gradient, with communities from the lower-quality habitat being nested subsets of communities from the higher-quality habitat. However, this pattern resulted from an increase in microfauna alpha diversity with an increase in habitat quality. By providing insights into microfauna-environment relationships our results contribute to the mechanistic understanding of community dynamics in small freshwater bodies. Here, we highlight the importance of habitat characteristics representing habitat quality in structuring communities, and suggest that this information may help to improve conservation practices of small freshwater ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Busse
- Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany
| | - Pablo A. P. Antiqueira
- Graduate Program in Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
- Multitrophic Interactions and Biodiversity Lab, Department of Animal Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Alexandre S. Neutzling
- Graduate Program in Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Anna M. Wolf
- Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Gustavo Q. Romero
- Multitrophic Interactions and Biodiversity Lab, Department of Animal Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Jana S. Petermann
- Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany
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11
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Kratina P, Petermann JS, Marino NAC, MacDonald AAM, Srivastava DS. Environmental control of the microfaunal community structure in tropical bromeliads. Ecol Evol 2017; 7:1627-1634. [PMID: 28261471 PMCID: PMC5330903 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2016] [Revised: 12/27/2016] [Accepted: 01/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological communities hosted within phytotelmata (plant compartments filled with water) provide an excellent opportunity to test ecological theory and to advance our understanding of how local and global environmental changes affect ecosystems. However, insights from bromeliad phytotelmata communities are currently limited by scarce accounts of microfauna assemblages, even though these assemblages are critical in transferring, recycling, and releasing nutrients in these model ecosystems. Here, we analyzed natural microfaunal communities in leaf compartments of 43 bromeliads to identify the key environmental filters underlying their community structures. We found that microfaunal community richness and abundance were negatively related to canopy openness and vertical height above the ground. These associations were primarily driven by the composition of amoebae and flagellate assemblages and indicate the importance of bottom‐up control of microfauna in bromeliads. Taxonomic richness of all functional groups followed a unimodal relationship with water temperature, peaking at 23–25°C and declining below and above this relatively narrow thermal range. This suggests that relatively small changes in water temperature under expected future climate warming may alter taxonomic richness and ecological structure of these communities. Our findings improve the understanding of this unstudied but crucial component of bromeliad ecosystems and reveal important environmental filters that likely contribute to overall bromeliad community structure and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavel Kratina
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary University of London London UK; Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology University of British Columbia Vancouver BC Canada
| | - Jana S Petermann
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology University of British Columbia Vancouver BC Canada; Department of Ecology and Evolution University of Salzburg Salzburg Austria
| | - Nicholas A C Marino
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Departmento de Ecologia Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil
| | - Andrew A M MacDonald
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology University of British Columbia Vancouver BC Canada
| | - Diane S Srivastava
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology University of British Columbia Vancouver BC Canada
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