Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of China
In deserts, pond cladocerans suffer harsh conditions like low and erratic rainfall, high evaporation, and highly variable salinity, and they have limited species richness. The limited species can take advantage of ephippia or resting eggs for being dispersed with winds in such habitats. Thus, enviro...
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| author | Yang-Liang Gu Qi Huang Lei Xu Eric Zeus Rizo Miguel Alonso Henri J. Dumont Bo-Ping Han |
| author_facet | Yang-Liang Gu Qi Huang Lei Xu Eric Zeus Rizo Miguel Alonso Henri J. Dumont Bo-Ping Han |
| author_sort | Yang-Liang Gu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In deserts, pond cladocerans suffer harsh conditions like low and erratic rainfall, high evaporation, and highly variable salinity, and they have limited species richness. The limited species can take advantage of ephippia or resting eggs for being dispersed with winds in such habitats. Thus, environmental selection is assumed to play a major role in community assembly, especially at a fine spatial scale. Located in Inner Mongolia, the Ulan Buh desert has plenty of temporary water bodies and a few permanent lakes filled by groundwater. To determine species diversity and the role of environmental selection in community assembly in such a harsh environment, we sampled 37 sand ponds in June 2012. Fourteen species of Cladocera were found in total, including six pelagic species, eight littoral species, and two benthic species. These cladocerans were mainly temperate and cosmopolitan fauna. Our classification and regression tree model showed that conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and pH were the main factors correlated with species richness in the sand ponds. Spatial analysis using a PCNM model demonstrated a broad-scale spatial structure in the cladoceran communities. Conductivity was the most significant environmental variable explaining cladoceran community variation. Two species, <i>Moina</i> cf. <i>brachiata</i> and <i>Ceriodaphnia reticulata</i> occurred commonly, with an overlap at intermediate conductivity. Our results, therefore, support that environmental selection plays a major role in structuring cladoceran communities in deserts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:37:08Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:37:08Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj.art-f6a055ac0d1544678c32bca6f7590c6e2023-11-22T17:59:51ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182021-10-01131050210.3390/d13100502Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of ChinaYang-Liang Gu0Qi Huang1Lei Xu2Eric Zeus Rizo3Miguel Alonso4Henri J. Dumont5Bo-Ping Han6Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaDepartment of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaDepartment of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaDivision of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Visayas, Iloilo 063050, PhilippinesDepartment of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaDepartment of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaIn deserts, pond cladocerans suffer harsh conditions like low and erratic rainfall, high evaporation, and highly variable salinity, and they have limited species richness. The limited species can take advantage of ephippia or resting eggs for being dispersed with winds in such habitats. Thus, environmental selection is assumed to play a major role in community assembly, especially at a fine spatial scale. Located in Inner Mongolia, the Ulan Buh desert has plenty of temporary water bodies and a few permanent lakes filled by groundwater. To determine species diversity and the role of environmental selection in community assembly in such a harsh environment, we sampled 37 sand ponds in June 2012. Fourteen species of Cladocera were found in total, including six pelagic species, eight littoral species, and two benthic species. These cladocerans were mainly temperate and cosmopolitan fauna. Our classification and regression tree model showed that conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and pH were the main factors correlated with species richness in the sand ponds. Spatial analysis using a PCNM model demonstrated a broad-scale spatial structure in the cladoceran communities. Conductivity was the most significant environmental variable explaining cladoceran community variation. Two species, <i>Moina</i> cf. <i>brachiata</i> and <i>Ceriodaphnia reticulata</i> occurred commonly, with an overlap at intermediate conductivity. Our results, therefore, support that environmental selection plays a major role in structuring cladoceran communities in deserts.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/13/10/502sand pondcladoceraenvironmental selectionspatial processindicator species |
| spellingShingle | Yang-Liang Gu Qi Huang Lei Xu Eric Zeus Rizo Miguel Alonso Henri J. Dumont Bo-Ping Han Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of China Diversity sand pond cladocera environmental selection spatial process indicator species |
| title | Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of China |
| title_full | Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of China |
| title_fullStr | Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of China |
| title_short | Species Diversity and Community Assembly of Cladocera in the Sand Ponds of the Ulan Buh Desert, Inner Mongolia of China |
| title_sort | species diversity and community assembly of cladocera in the sand ponds of the ulan buh desert inner mongolia of china |
| topic | sand pond cladocera environmental selection spatial process indicator species |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/13/10/502 |
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