Stream position shapes functional composition of aquatic insect metacommunities
Silvia Vendruscolo Milesi
A B * and Luiz Ubiratan Hepp A B
A
B
Abstract
The river dendritic connectivity can be a key factor in understanding metacommunity functional patterns within a heterogeneous and complex landscape.
Determine how spatial configuration can influence the functional patterns of aquatic insect metacommunities.
We conducted this study in the headwater and mainstem zones of the river basins, were we measured environmental variables. We calculated functional richness and diversity and quantified the functional attribute proportions. To verify the segregation of headwater and mainstem zones, we performed paired t-tests for each functional attribute.
Results showed that for environmental variables, the ordination segregated headwater and mainstem zones. We observed greater functional richness and diversity in the mainstem zones than in headwater zones. The traits that were more representative in mainstem areas were insects with weak dispersal, small organisms and those with gatherer and scraper feeding habits.
Aquatic insect functional composition is related to the stream dendritic configuration, being an important biological characteristic in determining the colonisation potential of aquatic insect metacommunities.
The mainstem areas of river basins deserve to be focused on in environmental conservation in aquatic ecosystems, considering their high functional richness and diversity.
Keywords: dendritic configuration, dispersal traits, functional traits, headwater streams, insect metacommunities, mainstem zones, scraper, small organisms.
References
Altermatt F (2013) Diversity in riverine metacommunities: a network perspective. Aquatic Ecology 47, 365-377.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Altermatt F, Fronhofer EA (2018) Dispersal in dendritic networks: ecological consequences on the spatial distribution of population densities. Freshwater Biology 63, 22-32.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Anderson MJ (2001) A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecology 26, 32-46.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Baptista DF, Dorvillé LFM, Buss DF, Nessiamian JL (2001) Spatial and temporal organization of aquatic insects assemblages in the longitudinal gradient of a tropical river. Organização espacial e temporal de agrupamentos de insetos aquáticos no gradiente longitudinal de um rio tropical. Revista Brasileira de Biologia 61, 295-304 [In English with title, abstract and keywords in English and Portuguese].
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Blanchet FG, Legendre P, Borcard D (2008) Forward selection of explanatory variables. Ecology 89, 2623-2632.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Botta-Dukát Z (2005) Rao’s quadratic entropy as a measure of functional diversity based on multiple traits. Journal of Vegetation Science 16, 533-540.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Bramuth A, Paprocki H (2022) A habitat suitability modeling of Campylocia burmeisteri (Ephemeroptera: Euthyplociidae) (Hagen, 1888) and its application on freshwater resources conservation. Acta Limnologica Brasiliensia 34, e7.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Brown BL, Swan CM (2010) Dendritic network structure constrains metacommunity properties in riverine ecosystems. Journal of Animal Ecology 79, 571-580.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Brown BL, Swan CM, Auerbach DA, Campbell Grant EH, Hitt NP, Maloney KO, Patrick C (2011) Metacommunity theory as a multispecies, multiscale framework for studying the influence of river network structure on riverine communities and ecosystems. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 30, 310-327.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Brown BL, Sokol ER, Skelton J, Tornwall B (2017) Making sense of metacommunities: dispelling the mythology of a metacommunity typology. Oecologia 183, 643-652.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Campbell Grant EH, Lowe WH, Fagan WF (2007) Living in the branches: population dynamics and ecological processes in dendritic networks. Ecology Letters 10, 165-175.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Cineas C, Dolédec S (2022) Species richness and composition of Caribbean aquatic entomofauna: role of climate, island area, and distance to mainland. Frontiers of Biogeography 14, e54479.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Clarke A, Mac Nally R, Bond N, Lake PS (2008) Macroinvertebrate diversity in headwater streams: a review. Freshwater Biology 53, 1707-1721.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Dray S, Dufour A-B (2007) The ade4 package: implementing the duality diagram for ecologists. Journal of Statistical Software 22, 1-20.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Elizabeth Graham S, Storey R, Smith B (2017) Dispersal distances of aquatic insects: upstream crawling by benthic EPT larvae and flight of adult Trichoptera along valley floors. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 51, 146-164.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Fagan WF (2002) Connectivity, fragmentation, and extinction risk in dendritic metapopulations. Ecology 83, 3243-3249.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Ferreira V, Albariño R, Larrañaga A, LeRoy CJ, Masese FO, Moretti MS (2023) Ecosystem services provided by small streams: an overview. Hydrobiologia 850, 2501-2535.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Finn DS, Bonada N, Múrria C, Hughes JM (2011) Small but mighty: headwaters are vital to stream network biodiversity at two levels of organization. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 30, 963-980.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Ge Y, García-Girón J, Heino J, Liu Z, Zhang C, Yan Y, Xie Z, Li Z (2023) Dispersal syndromes mediate phylogenetic distance decay relationships in a dendritic stream network. Journal of Biogeography 50, 897-908.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Grönroos M, Heino J, Siqueira T, Landeiro VL, Kotanen J, Bini LM (2013) Metacommunity structuring in stream networks: roles of dispersal mode, distance type, and regional environmental context. Ecology and Evolution 3, 4473-4487.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Heino J, Grönroos M, Soininen J, Virtanen R, Muotka T (2012) Context dependency and metacommunity structuring in boreal headwater streams. Oikos 121, 537-544.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Heino J, Melo AS, Siqueira T, Soininen J, Valanko S, Bini LM (2015) Metacommunity organisation, spatial extent and dispersal in aquatic systems: patterns, processes and prospects. Freshwater Biology 60, 845-869.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Hepp LU, Melo AS (2013) Dissimilarity of stream insect assemblages: effects of multiple scales and spatial distances. Hydrobiologia 703, 239-246.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Hershkovitz Y, Gasith A (2013) Resistance, resilience, and community dynamics in Mediterranean-climate streams. Hydrobiologia 719, 59-75.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Jiang X, Xu X, Tao M, Li Z, Zhang S, Li H (2021) The effects of dispersal ability on metacommunity structure of macroinvertebrates in subtropical Chinese high-mountain streams: seasonal shifts in relative contribution of local environment and spatial processes. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 28, 38573-38583.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Leibold MA, Holyoak M, Mouquet N, Amarasekare P, Chase JM, Hoopes MF, Holt RD, Shurin JB, Law R, Tilman D, Loreau M, Gonzalez A (2004) The metacommunity concept: a framework for multi-scale community ecology. Ecology Letters 7, 601-613.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Li F, Tonkin JD, Haase P (2018) Dispersal capacity and broad-scale landscape structure shape benthic invertebrate communities along stream networks. Limnologica 71, 68-74.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Ligeiro R, Ferreira W, Castro D, Firmiano KR, Silva D, Callisto M (2014) Macroinvertebrados bentônicos em igarapés de cabeceira: múltiplas abordagens de estudos ecológicos em bacias hidrográficas. In ‘Condições ecológicas em bacias hidrográficas de empreendimentos hidrelétricos. Vol. 1’. Serie Peixe Vivo. (Eds M Callisto, CBM Alves, JM Lopes, MA Castro) pp. 127–160. (Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais: Belo Horizonte, Brazil) [In Portuguese]
Meyer JL, Strayer DL, Wallace JB, Eggert SL, Helfman GS, Leonard NE (2007) The contribution of headwater streams to biodiversity in river networks. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 43, 86-103.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Milesi SV, Melo AS (2014) Conditional effects of aquatic insects of small tributaries on mainstream assemblages: position within drainage network matters. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71, 1-9.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Milesi SV, Dolédec S, Melo AS (2016) Substrate heterogeneity influences the trait composition of stream insect communities: an experimental in situ study. Freshwater Science 35, 1321-1329.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Patrick CJ, Anderson KE, Brown BL, Hawkins CP, Metcalfe A, Saffarinia P, Siqueira T, Swan CM, Tonkin JD, Yuan LL (2021) The application of metacommunity theory to the management of riverine ecosystems. Water 8, e1557.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Pereira PS, Souza NF, Baptista DF, Ribeiro-Alves M, Santos HLC, Buss DF (2021) Functional Feeding Group composition and attributes: evaluation of freshwater ecosystems in Atlantic Forest, Brazil. Composição e atributos de Grupos Funcionais Alimentares: avaliação de ecossistemas de água doce na Mata Atlântica, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 21, e20201016 [In English with title, abstract and keywords in English and Portuguese].
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Petersen I, Masters Z, Hildrew AG, Ormerod SJ (2004) Dispersal of adult aquatic insects in catchments of differing land use. Journal of Applied Ecology 41, 934-950.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Raimundi EA, Salles FF, Souza-Franco GM (2013) Fauna of Leptophlebiidae Banks (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) on fragments of the Atlantic Forest from west region of Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Fauna de Leptophlebiidae Banks (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) em fragmentos de Mata Atlântica no oeste de Santa Catarina, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 13, 57-70 [In English with title, abstract and keywords in English and Portuguese].
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Ramírez A, Gutiérrez-Fonseca PE (2014) Functional feeding groups of aquatic insect families in Latin America: a critical analysis and review of existing literature. Revista de Biología Tropical 62, 155-167.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Rice SP, Greenwood MT, Joyce CB (2001) Tributaries, sediment sources, and the longitudinal organisation of macroinvertebrate fauna along river systems. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 58, 824-840.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Saito VS, Siqueira T, Fonseca-Gessner AA (2015) Should phylogenetic and functional diversity metrics compose macroinvertebrate multimetric indices for stream biomonitoring? Hydrobiologia 745, 167-179.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Schmera D, Árva D, Boda P, Bódis E, Bolgovics Á, Borics G, et al. (2018) Does isolation influence the relative role of environmental and dispersal-related processes in stream networks? An empirical test of the network position hypothesis using multiple taxa. Freshwater Biology 63, 74-85.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Smith RF, Alexander LC, Lamp WO (2009) Dispersal by terrestrial stages of stream insects in urban watersheds: a synthesis of current knowledge. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 28, 1022-1037.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Statzner B, Dolédec S, Hugueny B (2004) Biological trait composition of European stream invertebrate communities: assessing the effects of various trait filter types. Ecography 27, 470-488.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Stegmann LF, Leitão RP, Zuanon J, Magnusson WE (2019) Distance to large rivers affects fish diversity patterns in highly dynamic streams of Central Amazonia. PLoS ONE 14, e0223880.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Swan CM, Brown BL (2014) Using rarity to infer how dendritic network structure shapes biodiversity in riverine communities. Ecography 37, 993-1001.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Thornbrugh DJ, Gido KG (2010) Influence of spatial positioning within stream networks on fish assemblage structure in the Kansas River basin, USA. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 67, 143-156.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Vannote RL, Minshall GW, Cummins KW, Sedell JR, Cushing CE (1980) The river continuum concept. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 37, 130-137.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Villéger S, Mason NWH, Mouillot D (2008) New multidimensional functional diversity indices for a multifaceted framework in functional ecology. Ecology 89, 2290-2301.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Vimos-Lojano D, Hampel H, Vázquez RF, Martínez-Capel F (2020) Community structure and functional feeding groups of macroinvertebrates in pristine Andean streams under different vegetation cover. Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 20, 357-368.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
