Identifying key environmental factors related to plant and crustacean assemblages in Mediterranean temporary ponds

Abstract

The current interest in Mediterranean temporary wet habitats, considered to be habitats of European Community Interest, is mainly due to their characteristic flora and fauna. Several contributions characterize each of these two components separately, but considering them simultaneously could reveal possible interactions and a more complete view of the habitat that would be useful to improve conservation measures. This paper investigates crustacean and plant assemblages in six Mediterranean temporary ponds and their relationship with several environmental variables. Significant positive relationships were found between species richness and Shannon diversity index of plant and crustacean assemblages. Crustaceans had a higher similarity among ponds than plants and, consequently, each pond had a more characteristic assemblage of plants than of crustaceans. The two groups showed a different sensitivity to environmental factors and only two factors affected both: altitude and surface area of the wet system. Disturbances (e.g. grazing by cattle) and pond size were very important for plants, whereas they were irrelevant for crustaceans. On the other hand, distance to the nearest pond, hydroperiod length, and water nitrogen were only important for crustaceans. Although similar trends on richness and diversity were observed for both biotic groups, the use of only one of them for conservation programs would not be sufficient. Our results suggest that simultaneously taking into account several community components would result in a better understanding of ecosystem functionality.

Environmental drivers of aquatic macrophyte assemblages in ponds along an altitudinal gradient

“…In contrast to submerged macrophyte coverage, hydrophyte richness did not significantly differ between plateau and mountain ponds nor was it related to altitude in spite of the wide elevation range (1420 m), well above that in some previous studies (Bagella et al, 2010). Our results seem to challenge the widespread opinion that altitude is a major environmental driver of macrophyte richness (e.g.…”

The role of historic and climatic factors in the distribution of crustacean communities in Iberian Mediterranean ponds

“…Apart from this calanoid, other accompanying taxa were also rare and of biogeographical interest such as the large branchiopods: Branchipus cortesi, an Iberian endemic, or the western-Mediterranean Maghrebestheria maroccana (Sahuquillo & Miracle, 2010). Moreover, uncommon taxa and high species richness have been reported in other ponds where Hemidiaptomus occurs (Gauthier, 1928;Alonso, 1987;Marrone & Naselli Flores, 2004;Alonso & Garcia-de-Lomas, 2009;Caramujo & Boavida, 2010), not only for crustaceans but also for plants (Bagella et al, 2010). These Hemidiaptomus ponds are a refuge for several peculiar species, suggesting the existence of a former and ancient wetland area with sufficiently low historical disturbance to maintain a complexly structured crustacean community.…”

“…The group of species H. ingens, found in these ponds, is very rare with very few known localities, and in the Iberian Peninsula, it has been found only in the ponds of this study. Moreover, uncommon taxa and high species richness have been reported in other ponds where Hemidiaptomus occurs (Gauthier, 1928;Alonso, 1987;Marrone & Naselli Flores, 2004;Alonso & Garcia-de-Lomas, 2009;Caramujo & Boavida, 2010), not only for crustaceans but also for plants (Bagella et al, 2010). Their analysis included individuals collected by us and revealed that the population from Cavall (one of our ponds) clustered together with other populations of the H. ingens species group from localities in Italy and Corsica, while that from Sinarcas (another of our ponds) is an independent evolutionary lineage only found in this pond.…”

Livestock disturbances in Mediterranean temporary ponds: A mesocosm experiment with sheep manure and simulated trampling

“…Many temporary wetlands are used for watering and grazing (Bouahim et al, 2015;Croel & Kneitel, 2011a;Schmutzer, Gray, Burton, & Miller, 2008) so research increasingly focuses on the effects of grazing on wetland plant and animal communities and ecosystem function (e.g. Bagella et al, 2010;Bouahim et al, 2010;Boughton, Quintana-Ascencio, Bohlen, Fauth, & Jenkins, 2016;Marty, 2005;Pyke & Marty, 2005;Rhazi, Rhazi, Grillas, & El Khyari, 2006). For example, livestock grazing can vary along an intensity gradient (Davidson et al, 2017;Epele & Miserendino, 2015), resulting in detrimental or beneficial effects on pond biodiversity (Bouahim et al, 2010;Davidson et al, 2017;Epele & Miserendino, 2015;Marty, 2005;Schmutzer et al, 2008).…”