1. Pondscape or waterscape? The effect on the diversity of dispersal along different freshwater ecosystems.
- Author
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Borthagaray, Ana Inés, Cunillera-Montcusí, David, Bou, Jordi, Biggs, Jeremy, and Arim, Matías
- Subjects
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FRESH water , *FRESHWATER habitats , *AQUATIC habitats , *POOR communities , *ECOSYSTEMS , *COMMUNITIES - Abstract
Dispersal is a main determinant of community assembly. Landscape configurations of rivers, lakes, or ponds are often independently considered in this framework. However, these systems share species conforming to a waterscape with different environments coupled by dispersal. While empirical results support a main role of this coupling on biodiversity organization, it is difficult to assess its importance at large geographic scales. Using a theoretical approach, we quantified the potential role of dispersal through different freshwater ecosystems of the United Kingdom and Ireland on biogeographic diversity patterns. We implemented a coalescent model considering 11,131 communities connected by distance-dependent dispersal and with species that have different performances for recruitment in three different aquatic habitats. Biogeographic diversity patterns were estimated for each habitat alone or for the whole waterscape combining ephemeral, temporal, and permanent waters. The results indicated that the coupling between different types of environments fostered local diversity, in a magnitude that increased from the ephemeral to permanent waters and from poorer to richer communities. Furthermore, a strong spatial structure in the potential effect of dispersal among different freshwater environments was observed, indicating that freshwater biogeography was likely determined by the connection among freshwater ecosystems to a larger extent than previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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