Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in Serbia
There is a gap in the knowledge about how environmental factors affect functional diversity and trait structures of macrophyte communities in altered waterbodies. We used macrophyte and environmental data collected from 46 waterbodies; we extracted data on 14 traits with 43 attributes for 59 species...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Diversity |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/2/231 |
| _version_ | 1797621461733605376 |
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| author | Dragana Vukov Miloš Ilić Mirjana Ćuk Ružica Igić |
| author_facet | Dragana Vukov Miloš Ilić Mirjana Ćuk Ružica Igić |
| author_sort | Dragana Vukov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is a gap in the knowledge about how environmental factors affect functional diversity and trait structures of macrophyte communities in altered waterbodies. We used macrophyte and environmental data collected from 46 waterbodies; we extracted data on 14 traits with 43 attributes for 59 species and calculated seven functional diversity indices. We used redundancy analysis (RDA) to investigate the response of functional diversity indices to the environmental variables. To relate traits to environment we performed the analysis on three data matrices: site by environmental variables (R), site by species (L), and species by traits (Q)—the RLQ analysis, and the 4th corner analyses. The RDA showed that the environmental variables explained 47.43% of the variability in the functional diversity indices. Elevation, hemeroby (integrative measure of the impact of all human intervention) of the land cover classes on the banks, and water conductivity were correlated with all diversity indices. We found that the traits characteristic of floating and emergent plants represents a strategy to increase efficiency in light interception under high nutrient concentrations in lowland waterbodies, while submerged plants dominate nutrient-poorer waterbodies at higher altitudes. Future investigations should be focused on the role of functional diversity and the structure of macrophyte communities in the indication of tradeoffs and/or facilitation between ecosystem services that altered waterbodies provide, in order to guide their adequate management. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:56:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-be65ce958d274712bf7e1ecd5d08a8f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:56:15Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diversity |
| spelling | doaj.art-be65ce958d274712bf7e1ecd5d08a8f92023-11-16T20:04:55ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182023-02-0115223110.3390/d15020231Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in SerbiaDragana Vukov0Miloš Ilić1Mirjana Ćuk2Ružica Igić3Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, SerbiaDepartment of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, SerbiaDepartment of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, SerbiaDepartment of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, SerbiaThere is a gap in the knowledge about how environmental factors affect functional diversity and trait structures of macrophyte communities in altered waterbodies. We used macrophyte and environmental data collected from 46 waterbodies; we extracted data on 14 traits with 43 attributes for 59 species and calculated seven functional diversity indices. We used redundancy analysis (RDA) to investigate the response of functional diversity indices to the environmental variables. To relate traits to environment we performed the analysis on three data matrices: site by environmental variables (R), site by species (L), and species by traits (Q)—the RLQ analysis, and the 4th corner analyses. The RDA showed that the environmental variables explained 47.43% of the variability in the functional diversity indices. Elevation, hemeroby (integrative measure of the impact of all human intervention) of the land cover classes on the banks, and water conductivity were correlated with all diversity indices. We found that the traits characteristic of floating and emergent plants represents a strategy to increase efficiency in light interception under high nutrient concentrations in lowland waterbodies, while submerged plants dominate nutrient-poorer waterbodies at higher altitudes. Future investigations should be focused on the role of functional diversity and the structure of macrophyte communities in the indication of tradeoffs and/or facilitation between ecosystem services that altered waterbodies provide, in order to guide their adequate management.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/2/231heavily modified waterbodiesartificial waterbodiesmacrophytesecological processes |
| spellingShingle | Dragana Vukov Miloš Ilić Mirjana Ćuk Ružica Igić Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in Serbia Diversity heavily modified waterbodies artificial waterbodies macrophytes ecological processes |
| title | Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in Serbia |
| title_full | Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in Serbia |
| title_fullStr | Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in Serbia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in Serbia |
| title_short | Environmental Drivers of Functional Structure and Diversity of Vascular Macrophyte Assemblages in Altered Waterbodies in Serbia |
| title_sort | environmental drivers of functional structure and diversity of vascular macrophyte assemblages in altered waterbodies in serbia |
| topic | heavily modified waterbodies artificial waterbodies macrophytes ecological processes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/2/231 |
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