Aquatic communities in arid landscapes: local conditions, dispersal traits and landscape configuration determine local biodiversity

Morán‐Ordóñez, Alejandra; Pavlova, Alexandra; Pinder, Adrian; Sim, Lien; Sunnucks, Paul; Davis, Jenny

doi:10.1111/ddi.12342

Cited by 39 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…; Morán‐Ordóñez et al. ). In contrast, Isolation by Environment offers a framework for examining the effects of ecological and environmental heterogeneity on connectivity, while controlling for the effect of geographic distance (Wang and Summers ; Wang and Bradburd ; Morán‐Ordóñez et al.…”

Section: Connectivity Models For Desert Freshwatersmentioning

confidence: 98%

Swimming through sand: connectivity of aquatic fauna in deserts

Murphy

Pavlova

Davis

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Freshwater ecosystems in arid regions range from highly fragmented to highly connected, and connectivity has been assumed to be a major factor in the persistence of aquatic biota in arid environments. This review sought to synthesize existing research on genetic estimation of population connectivity in desert freshwaters, identify knowledge gaps, and set priorities for future studies of connectivity in these environments. From an extensive literature search, we synthesized the approaches applied, systems studied, and conclusions about connectivity reached in population genetic research concerning desert freshwater connectivity globally. We restrict our scope to obligate aquatic fauna that disperse largely via freshwaters and exclude those with active aerial dispersal abilities. We examined 92 papers, comprising 133 studies, published from 1987 to 2014. Most described studies of fishes and invertebrates in the deserts of Australia and North America. Connectivity declined with increasing scale, but did not differ significantly among arid regions or taxonomic classes. There were significant differences in connectivity patterns between species with different dispersal abilities, and between spring and riverine habitats at local scales. Population connectivity in desert freshwaters is typically most influenced by the ecology of the species concerned and hydrological connectivity. Most studies did not assess predefined models of connectivity, but described gene flow and/or genetic structure. Climate change and anthropogenic impacts worldwide are likely to increase the incidence and impact of habitat fragmentation in already threatened desert freshwaters. To reduce this risk, biodiversity conservation and environmental management must address connectivity, but often the required information does not exist. Researchers can provide this by explicitly considering the effects of hydrology and species’ ecology on connectivity, and incorporating these into connectivity models, which are vital for understanding connectivity in desert freshwaters.

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Section: Connectivity Models For Desert Freshwatersmentioning

confidence: 98%

Swimming through sand: connectivity of aquatic fauna in deserts

Murphy

Pavlova

Davis

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Landscape moisture has been shown to strongly affect movement and connectivity for aquatic invertebrates (Morán‐Ordóñez et al. ), amphibians (Murphy et al. , Watts et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface‐water dynamics and land use influence landscape connectivity across a major dryland region

Bishop‐Taylor

Tulbure

Broich

2017

Ecological Applications

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Landscape connectivity is important for the long-term persistence of species inhabiting dryland freshwater ecosystems, with spatiotemporal surface-water dynamics (e.g., flooding) maintaining connectivity by both creating temporary habitats and providing transient opportunities for dispersal. Improving our understanding of how landscape connectivity varies with respect to surface-water dynamics and land use is an important step to maintaining biodiversity in dynamic dryland environments. Using a newly available validated Landsat TM and ETM+ surface-water time series, we modelled landscape connectivity between dynamic surface-water habitats within Australia's 1 million km semiarid Murray Darling Basin across a 25-yr period (1987-2011). We identified key habitats that serve as well-connected "hubs," or "stepping-stones" that allow long-distance movements through surface-water habitat networks. We compared distributions of these habitats for short- and long-distance dispersal species during dry, average, and wet seasons, and across land-use types. The distribution of stepping-stones and hubs varied both spatially and temporally, with temporal changes driven by drought and flooding dynamics. Conservation areas and natural environments contained higher than expected proportions of both stepping-stones and hubs throughout the time series; however, highly modified agricultural landscapes increased in importance during wet seasons. Irrigated landscapes contained particularly high proportions of well-connected hubs for long-distance dispersers, but remained relatively disconnected for less vagile organisms. The habitats identified by our study may serve as ideal high-priority targets for land-use specific management aimed at maintaining or improving dispersal between surface-water habitats, potentially providing benefits to biodiversity beyond the immediate site scale. Our results also highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of spatial and temporal surface-water dynamics when studying landscape connectivity within highly variable dryland environments.

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“…Aquatic ecosystems often appear discrete in the landscape but they are strongly interlinked with each other via dispersal processes and connected with adjacent terrestrial ecosystems via landscape processes (Allan, ; Bracken & Croke, ; Likens & Bormann, ). Our conceptual model included features of riverine and terrestrial landscapes (climate, topography, geology and vegetative cover) that broadly shape patterns of hydrology, connectivity and habitat structure which in turn influence the composition of aquatic communities (Morán‐Ordóñez et al., ). Climate most strongly influences hydrology and connectivity.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whole‐landscape modelling of compositional turnover in aquatic invertebrates informs conservation gap analysis: An example from south‐western Australia

Pennifold¹,

Williams

Pinder³

et al. 2017

Freshwater Biology

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Freshwater aquatic ecosystems are in decline due to intensifying land use, salinisation, water abstraction and climate change. Understanding compositional patterns in aquatic biota is a useful step towards better management of aquatic ecosystems. We used generalised dissimilarity modelling (GDM) to predict compositional turnover in riverine invertebrate fauna (primarily insects) as a function of environment. Conceptual understanding of major drivers of aquatic invertebrate species distribution helped decide which predictor variables to source and include. Five groups of environmental variables—waterscape, local habitat, climate, landscape and disturbance—were derived from either spatial layers or in situ (site) measurements. Predictive models and variance partitioning tests of variable groups demonstrated the importance of representing all conceptual drivers of ecological pattern and process. As expected, waterscape variables were independently the most important group, followed by local habitat and landscape variables; with complex interactions between groups. Climate variables independently contributed the least. To determine the information content for mapping patterns, we investigated the independent and combined contribution of site‐measured and spatial predictors. Even though predictive models developed using only site‐measured variables or only spatial variables explained around the same amount of deviance (DE), combined they increased explained model DE by 11.2%. Compositional dissimilarities between the 51 surveyed site pairs predicted by the model using only spatial variables were highly correlated (r2 = .85) with dissimilarities predicted using site and spatial variables. These results support the use of the spatial model for conservation decisions. The spatial model was used to evaluate representativeness of both the conservation reserve network and biological monitoring locations. The location of aquatic monitoring sites was uneven, with comprehensive coverage south and coastward, and less representative of inland environments. Proportional protection of ecological environments (scaled by riverine invertebrate taxa) was found to vary between 20% and 30%, being higher in southern parts where more land has been allocated to reserves and less in northern and inland parts. This demonstrated local progress towards achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Target 11 for inland waters. These results provide a focus for improving the robustness of information used in decisions affecting the conservation of aquatic biodiversity, including places to target to fill gaps in the reserve network and additional aquatic monitoring locations (supporting Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Target 19). The GDM‐based approach to characterising ecological environments, provided a first quantitative foundation for comprehensively evaluating the conservation status of freshwater ecosystems in south‐western Australia. Potential future applications include assessing the ecological implication...

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Aquatic communities in arid landscapes: local conditions, dispersal traits and landscape configuration determine local biodiversity

Cited by 39 publications

References 44 publications

Swimming through sand: connectivity of aquatic fauna in deserts

Swimming through sand: connectivity of aquatic fauna in deserts

Surface‐water dynamics and land use influence landscape connectivity across a major dryland region

Whole‐landscape modelling of compositional turnover in aquatic invertebrates informs conservation gap analysis: An example from south‐western Australia

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