Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates
The drivers of aquatic macroinvertebrate distribution in Prairie Pothole Region wetlands are not as well understood as in other aquatic ecosystems (e.g. rivers or lakes). We collected aquatic macroinvertebrates from 35 fishless prairie pothole wetlands in Alberta, including two habitat zones: the em...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Freshwater Ecology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2017.1422560 |
| _version_ | 1818308871070941184 |
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| author | Jennifer E. Gleason Jaimie Y. Bortolotti Rebecca C. Rooney |
| author_facet | Jennifer E. Gleason Jaimie Y. Bortolotti Rebecca C. Rooney |
| author_sort | Jennifer E. Gleason |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The drivers of aquatic macroinvertebrate distribution in Prairie Pothole Region wetlands are not as well understood as in other aquatic ecosystems (e.g. rivers or lakes). We collected aquatic macroinvertebrates from 35 fishless prairie pothole wetlands in Alberta, including two habitat zones: the emergent zone and the open-water zone. Within each zone, we collected a vegetation sample and a water column sample, thus capturing four distinct microhabitats. We tested for community differences among these microhabitats with nested ANOVAs, looking at macroinvertebrate abundance, taxa richness, and evenness. We also visualized trends in community composition among the microhabitats with nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination. Interestingly, we observed no difference in macroinvertebrate communities between the open-water and the emergent habitat zones. However, we found significant differences in richness and evenness between water column and vegetation sample types nested within habitat zones. Additionally, we observed high taxonomic turnover between sample types. Our results emphasize the importance of within-zone microhabitats in structuring aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in prairie pothole wetlands, and the relative insignificance of emergent and open-water habitat zone distinctions. Future analyses of macroinvertebrates in wetlands should sample both the vegetation and the water column, regardless of habitat zone, to prevent biased surveys of macroinvertebrate communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T07:21:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-54387f189820400d83919075da82600e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0270-5060 2156-6941 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T07:21:09Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Freshwater Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-54387f189820400d83919075da82600e2022-12-21T23:55:25ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Freshwater Ecology0270-50602156-69412018-01-01331738210.1080/02705060.2017.14225601422560Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebratesJennifer E. Gleason0Jaimie Y. Bortolotti1Rebecca C. Rooney2University of WaterlooUniversity of WaterlooUniversity of WaterlooThe drivers of aquatic macroinvertebrate distribution in Prairie Pothole Region wetlands are not as well understood as in other aquatic ecosystems (e.g. rivers or lakes). We collected aquatic macroinvertebrates from 35 fishless prairie pothole wetlands in Alberta, including two habitat zones: the emergent zone and the open-water zone. Within each zone, we collected a vegetation sample and a water column sample, thus capturing four distinct microhabitats. We tested for community differences among these microhabitats with nested ANOVAs, looking at macroinvertebrate abundance, taxa richness, and evenness. We also visualized trends in community composition among the microhabitats with nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination. Interestingly, we observed no difference in macroinvertebrate communities between the open-water and the emergent habitat zones. However, we found significant differences in richness and evenness between water column and vegetation sample types nested within habitat zones. Additionally, we observed high taxonomic turnover between sample types. Our results emphasize the importance of within-zone microhabitats in structuring aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in prairie pothole wetlands, and the relative insignificance of emergent and open-water habitat zone distinctions. Future analyses of macroinvertebrates in wetlands should sample both the vegetation and the water column, regardless of habitat zone, to prevent biased surveys of macroinvertebrate communities.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2017.1422560Aquatic invertebratesaquatic vegetationcommunity ecologyNorthern Prairie Pothole Regionwetlands |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer E. Gleason Jaimie Y. Bortolotti Rebecca C. Rooney Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates Journal of Freshwater Ecology Aquatic invertebrates aquatic vegetation community ecology Northern Prairie Pothole Region wetlands |
| title | Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates |
| title_full | Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates |
| title_fullStr | Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates |
| title_short | Wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates |
| title_sort | wetland microhabitats support distinct communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates |
| topic | Aquatic invertebrates aquatic vegetation community ecology Northern Prairie Pothole Region wetlands |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2017.1422560 |
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