Effect of wetland management: are lentic wetlands refuges of plant-species diversity in the Andean–Orinoco Piedmont of Colombia?

Accelerated degradation of the wetlands and fragmentation of surrounding vegetation in the Andean–Orinoco Piedmont are the main threats to diversity and ecological integrity of these ecosystems; however, information on this topic is of limited availability. In this region, we evaluated the value of 37 lentic wetlands as reservoirs of woody and aquatic plants and analyzed diversity and changes in species composition within and among groups defined according to management given by: (1) type (swamps, heronries, rice fields, semi-natural lakes, constructed lakes and fish farms) and (2) origins (natural, mixed and artificial). A total of 506 plant species were recorded: 80% woody and 20% aquatic. Of these, 411 species (81%) were considered species typical of the area (Meta Piedmont distribution). Diversity patterns seem to be driven by high landscape heterogeneity and wetland management. The fish farms presented the highest diversity of woody plants, while swamps ranked highest for aquatic plant diversity. Regarding wetland origin, the artificial systems were the most diverse, but natural wetlands presented the highest diversity of typical species and can therefore be considered representative ecosystems at the regional scale. Our results suggest that lentic wetlands act as refuges for native vegetation of Meta Piedmont forest, hosting 55% of the woody of Piedmont species and 29% of the aquatic species of Orinoco basin. The wetlands showed a high species turnover and the results indicated that small wetlands (mean ± SD: size = 11 ± 18.7 ha), with a small area of surrounding forest (10 ± 8.6 ha) supported high local and regional plant diversity. To ensure long-term conservation of lentic wetlands, it is necessary to develop management and conservation strategies that take both natural and created wetlands into account

Supplemental Information Table S3 Total mean alpha diversity

<p><b>Table S3. Total (α) and mean (ᾱ </b><b>± SD</b><b>) alpha diversity, and range values</b><b> of richness</b><b> (<i>⁰D</i>) and dominant species (<i>²D</i>) of woody and aquatics plants in wetland types and origins.</b></p

Supplemental Information Table S2 Local alpha diversity

<p><b>Table S2.</b><b> Local alpha diversity of wetland<a>s (<i>α_w</i>) corresponding to the sum of richness of species of woody (W) and aquatic (Aq) plants in each wetland (Species: Ty, typical of Piedmont; IE, </a></b><b>introduced exotic</b><b>; NE,</b><b> native exotic</b><b>).</b></p

Supplemental Information Table S1 Sample coverage .docx

<p><b>Table S1. Sample coverage (<i>Ĉm</i>), species richness (<i>⁰D</i>) and dominant species diversity (<i>²D</i>), and relative logarithmic inequality of woody (W) and aquatic (A) plants. </b>(<i>Ĉm</i> is expressed as a percentage of completeness, values from 0 represent no completeness and values of 100 maximum completeness based on <a>Chao & Jost (2012)</a>. *only one single individual was found in this wetland, and it was excluded from the RLI analysis; -: in this wetland no plants in this formation were found during sample).</p

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity