COLONIZATION PROCESS IN NEW CREATION MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL LAGOONS

The colonization process in new creation Mediterranean salt marsh lagoons is influenced by hydrological fluctuations characterised by flooding-confinement periods. This pattern has direct effects on water characteristics (such as nutrient concentration), but it also effects the connectivity structure between lagoons impacting main metacommunity dynamics. Unfortunately, these ecosystems have suffered transformations due to urbanization process that has contributed to its degradation. This is the case of La Pletera salt marshes, located in the NE of Catalonia, in where a recovery and restoration European LIFE project (LIFE13 NAT/ES/001001) that included the restoration of existing lagoons and the creation of new ones has been done. In this study, we analysed the structure of aquatic macrofauna community of these new created lagoons just after its creation and five years after its creation with the aim of assessing the colonization assembly process. Our results showed a fast colonization of the species with active dispersion since they dominated the communities right after lagoon creation (Diptera). In contrast, species with passive dispersion (Gastropoda and Amphipoda) that have a lower dispersive capacity were dominant at the last sampling survey, 5 years after creation. This could be explained by flooding periods that connect all wetland waterbodies favouring the arrival of both, active and passive dispersers. Moreover, we observed an increase in the abundance and biomass of taxa with lower dispersion capacity but without affecting the overall community richness values

ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION PROMOTES ZOOPLANKTON NETWORK COMPLEXITY IN MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL LAGOONS

Ecological recovery following restoration is typically evaluated using metrics based on species diversity and composition. However, increasing evidence suggests the success of long-term ecological recovery is better evaluated when more complex attributes such as biotic interaction networks are targeted. For example, at the beginning the influence of nearby habitats can promote colonization leading to similar communities in restored or newly created lagoons, but communities often diverge from surrounding water bodies at later successional stages. These changes have been attributed to the effect of biotic interactions, but few studies have tested this assumption. Here, we analyse the zooplankton community of a Mediterranean coastal wetland subjected to a restoration process that involved the creation of new lagoons. We analysed community dissimilarity patterns and used mixed graphical models to infer interaction networks from abundance data. Increasing differences in the community structure between new and old lagoons were detected from the second year after their creation. The overall interaction network was more complex in new than in old lagoons. Interestingly, the network structure in old lagoons increased its complexity three years after restoration. We show how the inclusion of interaction networks for the monitoring of ecosystem recovery reflects unique facets of community complexity, otherwise overlooked when targeting diversity metrics alone

Heterogeneity in the isolation of patches may be essential for the action of metacommunity mechanisms

The spatial isolation gradient of communities and the gradient in the species dispersal ability are recognized as determinants of biodiversity in metacommunities. In spite of this, mean field models, spatially explicit models, and experiments were mainly focused on idealized spatial arrangements of communities leaving aside the combining role of dispersal and isolation gradients in metacommunity processes. Consequently, we have an incipient understanding of the role of the real spatial arrangement of communities on biodiversity patterns. We focus on six metacommunities for which confident information about the spatial arrangement of water bodies is available. Using coalescent metacommunity models and null models that randomize the location of water bodies, we estimated the potential eect of the landscape on biodiversity and its dependence on species dispersal ability. At extremely lowor high dispersal abilities, the location of ponds does not influence diversity because dierent communities are equally aected by the low or high incoming dispersal. At intermediate dispersal abilities, peripheral communities present a much lower richness and higher beta diversity than central communities.Moreover,metacommunities from real landscapes host more biodiversity than randomized landscapes, a result that is determined by the heterogeneity in the geographic isolation of communities. In a dispersal gradient, mass eects systematically increase the local richness and decrease beta diversity. However, the spatial arrangement of patches only has a large importance in metacommunity processes at intermediate dispersal abilities, which ensures access to central locations but limits dispersal in isolated communities. The ongoing reduction in spatial extent and simplification of the landscape may consequently undermine the metacommunity processes that support biodiversity, something that should be explicitly considered in preserving and restoring strategies

Environmental variability in aquatic ecosystems: avenues for future multifactorial experiments

The relevance of considering environmental variability for understanding and predicting biological responses to environmental changes has resulted in a recent surge in variability-focused ecological research. However, integration of findings that emerge across studies and identification of remaining knowledge gaps in aquatic ecosystems remain critical. Here, we address these aspects by: (1) summarizing relevant terms of variability research including the components (characteristics) of variability and key interactions when considering multiple environmental factors; (2) identifying conceptual frameworks for understanding the consequences of environmental variability in single and multi-factorial scenarios; (3) highlighting challenges for bridging theoretical and experimental studies involving transitioning from simple to more complex scenarios; (4) proposing improved approaches to overcome current mismatches between theoretical predictions and experimental observations; and (5) providing a guide for designing integrated experiments across multiple scales, degrees of control, and complexity in light of their specific strengths and limitations

Environmental variability in aquatic ecosystems: Avenues for future multifactorial experiments

The relevance of considering environmental variability for understanding and predicting biological responses to environmental changes has resulted in a recent surge in variability-focused ecological research. However, integration of findings that emerge across studies and identification of remaining knowledge gaps in aquatic ecosystems remain critical. Here, we address these aspects by: (1) summarizing relevant terms of variability research including the components (characteristics) of variability and key interactions when considering multiple environmental factors; (2) identifying conceptual frameworks for understanding the consequences of environmental variability in single and multifactorial scenarios; (3) highlighting challenges for bridging theoretical and experimental studies involving transitioning from simple to more complex scenarios; (4) proposing improved approaches to overcome current mismatches between theoretical predictions and experimental observations; and (5) providing a guide for designing integrated experiments across multiple scales, degrees of control, and complexity in light of their specific strengths and limitations

Defining the importance of landscape metrics for large branchiopod biodiversity and conservation: the case of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands

The deficiency in the distributional data of invertebrate taxa is one of the major impediments acting on the bias towards the low awareness of its conservation status. The present study sets a basic framework to understand the large branchiopods distribution in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. Since the extensive surveys performed in the late 1980s, no more studies existed updating the information for the whole studied area. The present study fills the gap, gathering together all available information on large branchiopods distribution since 1995, and analysing the effect of human population density and several landscape characteristics on their distribution, taking into consideration different spatial scales (100 m, 1 km and 10 km). In overall, 28 large branchiopod taxa (17 anostracans, 7 notostracans and 4 spinicaudatans) are known to occur in the area. Approximately 30% of the sites hosted multiple species, with a maximum of 6 species. Significant positive co-occurring species pairs were found clustered together, forming 4 different associations of large branchiopod species. In general, species clustered in the same group showed similar responses to analysed landscape characteristics, usually showing a better fit at higher spatial scales.Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico-CNPq [401045/2014-5]Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport [FPU014/06783]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ecological restoration promotes zooplankton network complexity in Mediterranean coastal lagoons

Ecological recovery following restoration is typically evaluated using metrics based on species diversity and composition. However, increasing evidence suggests the success of long-term ecological recovery increases when more complex attributes such as biotic interaction networks are targeted. In created lagoons, the influence of nearby habitats can generate early similarities in the community structure, but communities often diverge from surrounding water bodies at later successional stages. These changes have been attributed to the effect of biotic interactions, but few studies have tested this assumption. Here, we analyze the zooplankton community recovery after the creation of new lagoons in a Mediterranean coastal wetland using beta diversity approaches and mixed graphical models to infer interaction networks from abundance data. Increasing differences in the community structure between new and old lagoons were detected the second year after their creation. The overall interaction network was more complex in new than in old lagoons. Interestingly, the network structure in old lagoons increased its complexity during the third and fourth years after restoration. The creation of new lagoons with overall milder environmental conditions contributed to a greater differentiation of the zooplankton community structure between new and old lagoons. Moreover, our results suggest that the creation of a heterogeneous and more connected landscape can increase the interaction network in newly created and pre-existing habitats, even if environmental conditions remain unchanged. We show how the inclusion of interaction networks for the monitoring of ecosystem recovery reflects unique facets of community complexity, otherwise overlooked when targeting diversity metrics alone

Environmental variability in aquatic ecosystems: Avenues for future multifactorial experiments

Abstract The relevance of considering environmental variability for understanding and predicting biological responses to environmental changes has resulted in a recent surge in variability‐focused ecological research. However, integration of findings that emerge across studies and identification of remaining knowledge gaps in aquatic ecosystems remain critical. Here, we address these aspects by: (1) summarizing relevant terms of variability research including the components (characteristics) of variability and key interactions when considering multiple environmental factors; (2) identifying conceptual frameworks for understanding the consequences of environmental variability in single and multifactorial scenarios; (3) highlighting challenges for bridging theoretical and experimental studies involving transitioning from simple to more complex scenarios; (4) proposing improved approaches to overcome current mismatches between theoretical predictions and experimental observations; and (5) providing a guide for designing integrated experiments across multiple scales, degrees of control, and complexity in light of their specific strengths and limitations

Environmental variability in aquatic ecosystems : Avenues for future multifactorial experiments

The relevance of considering environmental variability for understanding and predicting biological responses to environmental changes has resulted in a recent surge in variability-focused ecological research. However, integration of findings that emerge across studies and identification of remaining knowledge gaps in aquatic ecosystems remain critical. Here, we address these aspects by: (1) summarizing relevant terms of variability research including the components (characteristics) of variability and key interactions when considering multiple environmental factors; (2) identifying conceptual frameworks for understanding the consequences of environmental variability in single and multifactorial scenarios; (3) highlighting challenges for bridging theoretical and experimental studies involving transitioning from simple to more complex scenarios; (4) proposing improved approaches to overcome current mismatches between theoretical predictions and experimental observations; and (5) providing a guide for designing integrated experiments across multiple scales, degrees of control, and complexity in light of their specific strengths and limitations