2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
6/07/2017 | 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM | SPATIAL TURNOVER OF BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IS GREATER ACROSS A FRESHWATER TIDAL HEIGHT GRADIENT THAN BETWEEN TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT PONDS | 302C
SPATIAL TURNOVER OF BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IS GREATER ACROSS A FRESHWATER TIDAL HEIGHT GRADIENT THAN BETWEEN TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT PONDS
Tidal freshwater invertebrate communities experience a suite of environmental conditions atypical for a freshwater habitat: twice-daily alternating drying and fish predation. Invertebrate communities in tidal freshwaters are thought to be species depauperate, supporting fewer taxa than nearby non-tidal freshwaters, but little is known about how these communities are structured. We compared benthic communities by tidal height, and then contrasted these with nearby non-tidal freshwater wetlands that varied in hydrology (temporary and permanent ponds). Communities were more strongly differentiated along a contiguous transect of tidal height than between isolated hydrologically-variable non-tidal wetlands, likely reflecting stronger gradients of desiccation risk and fish predation. While tidal freshwater wetlands generally had lower richness and abundance per square meter than non-tidal habitats, 25% of the regional species pool was unique to tidal habitats, suggesting their importance for regional diversity. Tidal freshwaters and their wetlands have been overlooked by freshwater and marine community ecologists alike; neither discipline considers tidal freshwaters to fall under their purview. As tidal freshwaters exhibit strong environmental gradients in a condensed geographic area and are amenable to manipulation, they are ideal systems for isolating mechanistic drivers in community ecology.
- C18 Biodiversity
- C03 Invertebrates
- C11 Community Ecology
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Presenters/Authors
Jack McLachlan
(), University of Maine, jack.mclachlan@maine.edu;
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Braden Adams
(), University of Maine, braden.adams@maine.edu;
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Erin Nolan
(), University of Maine, erin.a.nolan@maine.edu;
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Jessica Haghkerdar
(), University of Maine, jessica.haghkerdar@maine.edu;
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Hamish Greig
(), University of Maine, hamish.greig@maine.edu;
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