The temporal dynamics of temporary pond macroinvertebrate communities over a 10-year period |
| |
Authors: | Michael James Jeffries |
| |
Institution: | (1) Division of Environmental Management, School of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Ellison Building, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK |
| |
Abstract: | Ponds support a rich biodiversity. This arises in part because of the number and heterogeneity of ponds spatially throughout
the landscape. Studies of ponds suggest that distinct communities develop within individual ponds but most examples are based
on short-term 1- or 2-year surveys which cannot identify the effects of historic events upon contemporary communities. This
study reports the development and turnover of the early summer macroinvertebrate communities in thirty small temporary ponds
from their creation in 1994 over 10 years to 2004. Distinct pioneer communities established in the first year of the ponds’
creation, the first 3 years dominated by a fauna associated with long summer dry phases. Then a sustained period of inundation
lasting 27 months from summer 1997–1999 resulted in establishment of many taxa associated with permanent ponds and loss of
some temporary pond species. The re-establishment of summer dry phases in 1999 was associated with the loss of some but not
all of the permanent water taxa and re-colonisation by some temporary water species creating new communities combining these
different elements. The communities were not a linear successional sequence; the communities that re-assembled following resumption
of dry phases reflected the contingent history of each pond and the effects of historic events. The longer term nature of
the study showed that the characteristic heterogeneity of pond invertebrate communities occurs through time as well as spatially
and that the richness and variety of contemporary communities, which is often hard to explain from snap-shot studies, is partly
the result of historic events. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|