Environmental correlates of plant and invertebrate species richness in ponds |
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Authors: | Christopher Hassall Jim Hollinshead Andrew Hull |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada;(2) School of Humanities and Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University, 68 Hope St, Liverpool, L1 9HW, UK |
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Abstract: | Ponds (lentic water bodies <2 ha) constitute a considerable biodiversity resource. Understanding the environmental factors
that underlie this diversity is important in protecting and managing the habitat. We surveyed 425 ponds for biological and
physical characteristics with 78 of those also surveyed for chemical characteristics. A total of 277 invertebrate species
and 265 plant species were found. Species richness varied between 2 and 99 (mean 27.2 ± 0.6 SE) for invertebrates and 1 and
58 (mean 20.8 ± 0.4 SE) for plants. Generalised additive models were used to investigate variables that correlate with the
species richness of plants and invertebrates, with additional models to investigate insect, Coleoptera, Odonata, Hemiptera,
Trichoptera and Mollusca species richness. Models performed reasonably well for invertebrates in general (R
2 = 30.3%) but varied between lower-order invertebrate taxa (12.7–34.7%). Ponds with lower levels of shading and no history
of drying contained higher numbers of species of plants and all invertebrate groups. Aquatic plant coverage positively correlated
with species richness in all invertebrate groups apart from Trichoptera and the presence of fish was associated with high
invertebrate species richness in all groups apart from Coleoptera. The addition of chemistry variables suggested non-linear
relationships between oxygen demand and phosphate concentration and higher-order richness. We demonstrate that the composition
of biological communities varies along with their species richness and that less diverse ponds are more variable compared
to more diverse ponds. Variables positively correlated with richness of one taxon may be negatively correlated with that of
another, making comprehensive management recommendations difficult. Promoting a high landscape-level pond biodiversity will
involve the management of a high diversity of pond types within that landscape. |
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