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Trovillion DC, Sauer EL, Shay G, Crone ER, Preston DL. Habitat complexity, connectivity, and introduced fish drive pond community structure along an urban to rural gradient. Ecol Appl 2023; 33:e2828. [PMID: 36859728 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Urbanization can influence local richness (alpha diversity) and community composition (beta diversity) in numerous ways. For instance, reduced connectivity and land cover change may lead to the loss of native specialist taxa, decreasing alpha diversity. Alternatively, if urbanization facilitates nonnative species introductions and generalist taxa, alpha diversity may remain unchanged or increase, while beta diversity could decline due to the homogenization of community structure. Wetlands and ponds provide critical ecosystem services and support diverse communities, making them important systems in which to understand the consequences of urbanization. To determine how urban development shapes pond community structure, we surveyed 68 ponds around Madison, Wisconsin, USA, which were classified as urban, greenspace, or rural based on surrounding land use. We evaluated how landscape and local pond factors were correlated with the alpha diversity of aquatic plants, macroinvertebrates, and aquatic vertebrates. We also analyzed whether surrounding land use was associated with changes in community composition and the presence of specific taxa. We found a 23% decrease in mean richness (alpha diversity) from rural to urban pond sites and a 15% decrease from rural to greenspace pond sites. Among landscape factors, adjacent developed land, mowed lawn cover, and greater distances to other waterbodies were negatively correlated with observed pond richness. Among pond level factors, habitat complexity was associated with increased richness, while nonnative fishes were associated with decreased richness. Beta diversity was relatively high for all ponds due to turnover in composition between sites. Urban ponds supported more nonnative species, lacked a subset of native species found in rural ponds, and had slightly higher beta diversity than greenspace and rural ponds. Our results suggest that integrating ponds into connected greenspaces, maintaining riparian vegetation, preventing nonnative fish introductions, and promoting habitat complexity may mitigate the negative effects of urbanization on aquatic richness. While ponds are small in size and rarely incorporated into urban conservation planning, the high beta diversity of distinct pond communities emphasizes their importance for supporting urban biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel C Trovillion
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Erin L Sauer
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - Gabrielle Shay
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Erin R Crone
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
| | - Daniel L Preston
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
- Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
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Crone ER, Sauer EL, Preston DL. Nonnative fish facilitate nonnative snails and alter food web structure in experimental pond communities. Funct Ecol 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.14274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Erin R. Crone
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins 80521 Colorado
| | - Erin L. Sauer
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Arkansas 72701 Fayetteville Arkansas
| | - Daniel L. Preston
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins 80521 Colorado
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