Angeler, David
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
In this study we compare phytoplankton community similarity between sites in a semiarid floodplain wetland over a 6-year period with variable hydroperiod and connectivity regimes. Phytoplankton communities showed a relatively high site idiosyncrasy during most parts of the study; however, during situations of low connectivity when individual sites were highly fragmented, phytoplankton communities occasionally became more similar between sites. This suggests that mass effects related to dispersal-mediated processes could be important. Viewed from a metacommunity perspective, phytoplankton community assembly at the wetland scale involves complex hierarchical processes that can act independently at different spatial extents. The main conclusion of this study is that the well-known effects of environmental variability associated with hydrological disturbance alone may not be sufficient for explaining, and by extension predicting, community assembly in this wetland. Other processes, perhaps involving overland dispersal, may eventually add a new dimension to, and complicate our understanding of, community processes in fluctuating wetlands.
Keywords
Community structure; Dispersal; Wetlands; Environmental fluctuation; Metacommunity ecology
Published in
Ecological Research
2010, volume: 25, number: 3, pages: 513-520
Publisher: SPRINGER TOKYO
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Environmental Sciences
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-009-0681-7
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/59878