Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams
Often simple metrics are used to summarise complex patterns in stream benthic ecology, thus it is important to understand how well these metrics can explain the finer-scale underlying environmental variation often hidden by coarser-scale influences. I sampled 47 relatively pristine streams in the ce...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2014-06-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/465.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797420268818268160 |
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| author | Jonathan D. Tonkin |
| author_facet | Jonathan D. Tonkin |
| author_sort | Jonathan D. Tonkin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Often simple metrics are used to summarise complex patterns in stream benthic ecology, thus it is important to understand how well these metrics can explain the finer-scale underlying environmental variation often hidden by coarser-scale influences. I sampled 47 relatively pristine streams in the central North Island of New Zealand in 2007 and (1) evaluated the local-scale drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure as well as both diversity and biomonitoring metrics in this unmodified landscape, and (2) assessed whether these drivers were similar for commonly used univariate metrics and multivariate structure. The drivers of community metrics and multivariate structure were largely similar, with % canopy cover and resource supply metrics the most commonly identified environmental drivers in these pristine streams. For an area with little to no anthropogenic influence, substantial variation was explained in the macroinvertebrate community (up to 70% on the first two components of a partial least squares regression), with both uni- and multivariate approaches. This research highlights two important points: (1) the importance of considering natural underlying environmental variation when assessing the response to coarse environmental gradients, and (2) the importance of considering canopy cover presence when assessing the impact of stressors on stream macroinvertebrate communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:59:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-78404a522bcb445aacfb4d76ca076b13 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:59:09Z |
| publishDate | 2014-06-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-78404a522bcb445aacfb4d76ca076b132023-12-03T09:56:35ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592014-06-012e46510.7717/peerj.465465Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streamsJonathan D. Tonkin0Department of Environmental Science, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Dushu Lake Higher Education Town, SIP, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, ChinaOften simple metrics are used to summarise complex patterns in stream benthic ecology, thus it is important to understand how well these metrics can explain the finer-scale underlying environmental variation often hidden by coarser-scale influences. I sampled 47 relatively pristine streams in the central North Island of New Zealand in 2007 and (1) evaluated the local-scale drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure as well as both diversity and biomonitoring metrics in this unmodified landscape, and (2) assessed whether these drivers were similar for commonly used univariate metrics and multivariate structure. The drivers of community metrics and multivariate structure were largely similar, with % canopy cover and resource supply metrics the most commonly identified environmental drivers in these pristine streams. For an area with little to no anthropogenic influence, substantial variation was explained in the macroinvertebrate community (up to 70% on the first two components of a partial least squares regression), with both uni- and multivariate approaches. This research highlights two important points: (1) the importance of considering natural underlying environmental variation when assessing the response to coarse environmental gradients, and (2) the importance of considering canopy cover presence when assessing the impact of stressors on stream macroinvertebrate communities.https://peerj.com/articles/465.pdfMacroinvertebratesStreamsCommunity structureEnvironmental variationPristineFreshwater |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan D. Tonkin Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams PeerJ Macroinvertebrates Streams Community structure Environmental variation Pristine Freshwater |
| title | Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams |
| title_full | Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams |
| title_fullStr | Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams |
| title_full_unstemmed | Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams |
| title_short | Drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams |
| title_sort | drivers of macroinvertebrate community structure in unmodified streams |
| topic | Macroinvertebrates Streams Community structure Environmental variation Pristine Freshwater |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/465.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jonathandtonkin driversofmacroinvertebratecommunitystructureinunmodifiedstreams |