Macrophyte community structure and species occurrence in relation to environmental determinants in the ephemeral aquatic habitats of Gavdos, Greece

Abstract

The aims of this study were to explore the environmental factors that determine the distribution of plant communities in temporary rock pools and provide a quantitative analysis of vegetation-environment relationships for five study sites on the island of Gavdos, southwest of Crete, Greece. Data from 99 rock pools were collected and analysed using TwoWay Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN), Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) to identify the principal communities and environmental gradients that are linked to community distribution. A total of 46 species belonging to 21 families were recorded within the study area. The dominant families were Labiatae, Gramineae and Compositae while therophytes and chamaephytes were the most frequent life forms. The samples were classified into six community types using TWINSPAN, which were also corroborated by CCA analysis. The principal gradients for vegetation distribution, identified by CCA, were associated with water storage and water retention ability, as expressed by pool perimeter and water depth. Generalised Additive Models (GAMs) were employed to identify responses of four dominant rock pool species to water depth. The resulting species response curves showed niche differentiation in the cases of Callitriche pulchra and Tillaea vaillantii and revealed competition between Zannichellia pedunculata and Chara vulgaris. The use of classification in combination with ordination techniques resulted in a good discrimination between plant communities. Generalised Additive Models are a powerful tool in investigating species response curves to environmental gradients. The methodology adopted can be employed for improving baseline information on plant community ecology and distribution in Mediterranean ephemeral pools.

Distribution and richness of aquatic plants across Europe and Mediterranean countries: patterns, environmental driving factors and comparison with total plant richness

“…(), Fraga (), Vogiatzakis et al. () and Zahran (). Water bodies from West and North Europe have been studied for a long time and studies cited within these locations encompass species lists from large areas (i.e.…”

“…We found species lists from Central and Northern Europe in Toivonen & Huttunen (1995), Vestergaard & Sand-Jensen (2000), Murphy (2002), Penning et al (2008) and Lukacs et al (2009). Species lists from the Mediterranean area were obtained from Cirujano et al (1992), Sarika-Hatzinikolaou et al (2003), Rhazi et al (2006), Della Bella et al (2008), Fraga (2008), Vogiatzakis et al (2009) andZahran (2009). Water bodies from West and North Europe have been studied for a long time and studies cited within these locations encompass species lists from large areas (i.e.…”

Effects of water level fluctuations on lakeshore vegetation of three subtropical floodplain lakes, China

“…Gradient analysis was used with CANOCO software 4.5 for windows (ter Braak & Smilauer, 1998). The detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was first carried out to evaluate the type of response model (Vogiatzakis et al, 2009). Based on the results of DCA, the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) with a unimodal response model was chosen to determine the relationships between species and environmental parameters.…”

A preliminary appraisal of phylogenetic patterns as a tool for long-term monitoring of plant communities in temporary freshwater rockpools

“…The temporary freshwater rockpools of the Maltese Islands are comparable in size to small cupular pools such as those in the hills of the Var region of France (Grillas et al, 2004) and those on Gavdos in Greece (Bergmeier, 2001;Vogiatzakis et al, 2009), as well as to the gnammas or 'weather-pits' of Australia (Bayly, 1997), and the flora of the local pools should be considered in this context.…”