Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Floods homogenize aquatic communities across time but not across space in a Neotropical floodplain

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Aquatic Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A pattern of increasing similarity among ecological communities in space or time is usually a consequence of anthropogenic pressures. However, natural causes such as flood pulse may also increase spatial similarity among lakes or temporal similarity within a lake. We assessed whether floods homogenize zooplankton and macrophyte assemblages in space and time using a 16 years data set obtained in six lakes in the Upper Paraná River floodplain. The spatial changes in beta diversity were tested by comparing assemblages in pairs of lakes located close to each other, while the temporal changes in beta diversity were tested by comparing assemblages of the same lake over time. We did not find lower spatial beta diversity for macrophytes or zooplankton during floods. In contrast, we found lower temporal beta diversity for aquatic macrophytes and littoral zooplankton among flood events. We did find the re-colonization of a similar set of species at each flood event as opposed to drought events for littoral species. On the other hand, for pelagic zooplankton, a diverse regional species pool and the arrival of zooplankton from littoral zones probably resulted in stochastic colonization in the different lakes, and thus less similar community composition during floods. We highlight the importance of explore simultaneously spatial and temporal beta diversities in complex and dynamic ecosystems such as floodplains, because the same event (i.e., flood or drought) may drive different community patterns across space or time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agostinho AA, Thomaz SS, Gomes LC (2004) Threats for biodiversity in the floodplain of the Upper Paraná River: effects of hydrological regulation by dams. Ecohydrol Hydrobiol 4:267–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Agostinho AA, Pelicice FM, Gomes LC (2008) Dams and the fish fauna of the Neotropical region impacts and management related to diversity and fisheries. Braz J Biol 68:1119–1132

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Akasaka M, Takamura N (2012) Hydrologic connection between ponds positively affects macrophyte α and γ diversity but negatively affects β diversity. Ecology 93:967–973

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Algarte VM, Rodrigues L, Landeiro VL, Siqueira T, Bini LM (2014) Variance partitioning of deconstructed periphyton communities: does the use of biological traits matter? Hydrobiologia 722:279–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baselga A (2010) Partitioning the turnover and nestedness components of beta diversity. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 19:134–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baselga A, Orme D, Villeger S, Bortoli J, Leprieur F (2013) betapart: partitioning beta diversity into turnover and nestedness components. R package version 1.3. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=betapart

  • Bates D, Mächler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 67:1–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchet FG, Legendre P, Borcard D (2008) Forward selection of explanatory variables. Ecology 89:2623–2632

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bottrell HH, Duncan A, Gliwicz ZM, Grygierek E, Herzig A, Hillbricht-Ilkowska A, Kurasawa H, Larsson P, Weglenska T (1976) A review of some problems in zooplankton production studies. Norw J Zool 24:419–456

    Google Scholar 

  • Bozelli RL, Thomaz SM, Padial AA, Lopes PM, Bini LM (2015) Floods decrease zooplankton beta diversity and environmental heterogeneity in an Amazonian floodplain system. Hydrobiologia 753:233–241

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carrara F, Altermatt F, Rodriguez-Iturbe I, Rinaldo A (2012) Dendritic connectivity controls biodiversity patterns in experimental metacommunities. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109:5761–5766

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Catano PC, Dickson TL, Myers JA (2018) Dispersal and neutral sampling mediate contingent effects of disturbance on plant beta-diversity: a meta-analysis. Ecol Lett 20:347–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catian G, da Silva DM, Súarez YR, Scremin-Dias E (2018) Effects of flood pulse dynamics on functional diversity of macrophyte communities in the Pantanal wetland. Wetlands 38:975–991

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chase JM (2010) Stochastic community assembly causes higher biodiversity in more productive environments. Science 328:1388–1391

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cook CDK (1990) Origin, autecology, and spread of some of the world´s most troublesome aquatic weeds. In: Pieterse AH, Murphy KJ (eds) Aquatic weeds: the ecology and management of nuisance aquatic vegetation. Oxford Science Publications, Oxford, pp 31–38

    Google Scholar 

  • de Bie T et al (2012) Body size and dispersal mode as key traits determining metacommunity structure of aquatic organisms. Ecol Lett 15:740–747

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dias DJ, Simões NR, Meerhoff M, Lansac-Tôha FA, Velho LFM, Bonecker CC (2016) Hydrological dynamics drives zooplankton metacommunity structure in a Neotropical floodplain. Hydrobiologia 781:109–125

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Golterman HL, Clymo RS, Ohstad MAM (1978) Methods for physical and chemical analysis of freshwater. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hairston NG Jr, Van Brunt RA, Kearns CM, Engstrom DR (1995) Age and survivorship of diapausing eggs in a sediment egg bank. Ecology 76:1706–1711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higuti J, Velho LFM, Lansac-Tôha FA, Martens K (2007) Pleuston communities are buffered from regional flood pulses: the example of ostracods in the Paraná River floodplain, Brazil. Fresh Biol 52:1930–1943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins DG et al (2007) Does size matter for dispersal distance? Glob Ecol Biogeogr 16:415–425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Junk WJ, Bayley PB, Sparks RE (1989) The flood pulse concept in river floodplain systems. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 106:110–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznetsova A, Brockhoff PB, Christensen RHB (2017) lmerTest package: tests in linear mixed effects models. J Stat Softw 82:1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lansac-Tôha FA, Bonecker CC, Velho LFM, Simões NR, Dias JD, Alves GM, Takahashi EM (2009) Biodiversity of zooplankton communities in the Upper Paraná River floodplain: interannual variation from long-term studies. Braz J Biol 69:539–549

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lansac-Tôha FM, Meira BR, Segovia BT, Lansac-Tôha FA, Velho LFM (2016) Hydrological connectivity determining metacommunity structure of planktonic heterotrophic flagellates. Hydrobiologia 781:81–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legendre P, Anderson MJ (1999) Distance-based redundancy analysis: testing multispecies responses in multifactorial ecological experiments. Ecol Monogr 69:1–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopes PM, Bini LM, Declerck SAJ, Farjalla VF, Vieira LCG, Bonecker CC, Lansac-Toha FA, Esteves FA, Bozelli RF (2014) Correlates of zooplankton beta diversity in tropical lake systems. PLoS ONE 9:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzi H (2000) Plantas daninhas do Brasil: terrestres, aquáticas, parasitas e tóxicas, 3rd edn. Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, Nova Odessa, p 608

    Google Scholar 

  • Machado-Velho LF, Bini LM, Lansac-Tôha FA (2004) Testate amoeba (Rhizopoda) diversity in plankton of the Upper Paraná River floodplain, Brazil. Hydrobiologia 523:103–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackereth FYH, Heron JG, Talling J (1978) Water analysis: some revised methods for limnologist. Freshw Biol Assoc 36:1–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayora G, Devercelli M, Giri F (2013) Spatial variability of chlorophyll-a and abiotic variables in a river–floodplain system during different hydrological phases. Hydrobiologia 717:51–63

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moi DA, Ernandes-Silva J, Baumgartner MT, Mormul RP (2020) The effects of river-level oscillations on the macroinvertebrate community in a river–floodplain system. Limnology 21:219–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers JA, Chase JM, Crandall RM, Jiménez I (2015) Disturbance alters beta-diversity but not the relative importance of community assembly mechanisms. J Ecol 103:1291–1299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nabout JC, Siqueira T, Bini LM, Nogueira IS (2009) No evidence for environmental and spatial processes in structuring phytoplankton communities. Acta Oecol 35:720–726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa S, Schielzeth H (2013) A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods Ecol Evol 4:133–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oksanen J, Blanchet FG, Kindt R, Legendre P, Minchin PR, O’Hara RB, Simpson GL, Solymos P, Stevens MHH, Szoecs E, Wagner H (2015) vegan: community ecology package. R package version 2.2-1. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vegan

  • Padial AA, Ceschin F, Declerck SA, De Meester L, Bonecker CC, Lansac-Tôha FA, Bini LM (2014) Dispersal ability determines the role of environmental, spatial and temporal drivers of metacommunity structure. PLoS ONE 9:e111227

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Penha J, Landeiro VL, Ortega JCG, Mateus L (2017) Interchange between flooding and drying, and spatial connectivity control the fish metacommunity structure in lakes of the Pantanal wetland. Hydrobiologia 797:115–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petsch DK (2016) Causes and consequences of biotic homogenization in freshwater ecosystems. Int Rev Hydrobiol 101:113–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petsch DK, Pinha GD, Dias JD, Takeda AM (2015) Temporal nestedness in Chironomidae and the importance of environmental and spatial factors in species rarity. Hydrobiologia 745:181–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petsch DK, Pinha GD, Takeda AM (2017) Dispersal mode and flooding regime as drivers of benthic metacommunity structure in a Neotropical floodplain. Hydrobiologia 788:131–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinha GD, Petsch DK, Ragonha FH, Guglielmetti R, Bilia CG, Tramonte RP, Takeda AM (2016) Benthic invertebrates nestedness in flood and drought periods in a Neotropical floodplain: looking for the richest environments. Acta Limnol Bras 28:e8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pott VJ, Pott A (2000) Plantas aquáticas do Pantanal. Embrapa, Brasília, p 404

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2019) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Roberto MC, Santana NF, Thomaz SM (2009) Limnology in the Upper Paraná River floodplain: large-scale spatial and temporal patterns, and the influence of reservoirs. Braz J Biol 69:717–725

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sarremejane R, Cañedo-Arguëles M, Prat N, Mykrä H, Muotka T, Bonada N (2017) Do metacommunities vary through time? Intermittent rivers as model systems. J Biogeogr 44:2752–2763

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneck F, Schwarzbold A, Rodrigues SC, Melo AS (2011) Environmental variability drives phytoplankton assemblage persistence in a subtropical reservoir. Austral Ecol 36:839–848

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seymour M, Fronhofer EA, Altermatt FA (2015) Dendritic network structure and dispersal affect temporal dynamics of diversity and species persistence. Oikos 124:908–916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Souza Filho EE (2009) Evaluation of the Upper Paraná River discharge controlled by reservoirs. Braz J Biol 69:707–716

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stenert C, Wüsth R, Pires MM, Freiry RF, Nielsen D, Maltchik L (2017) Composition of cladoceran dormant stages in intermittent ponds with different hydroperiod lengths. Ecol Res 32:921–930

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevaux JC, Martins DP, Meurer M (2009) Changes in a large regulated tropical river: the Paraná River downstream from the Porto Primavera Dam, Brazil. Geomorphology 113:230–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomaz SM, Pagioro TA, Bini LM, Roberto MC, Rocha RRA (2004) Limnological characterization of the aquatic environments and the influence of hydrometric levels. In: Thomaz SM, Agostinho AA, Hahn NS (eds) The upper Paraná River and its floodplain, physical aspects, ecology and conservation. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomaz SM, Bini LM, Bozelli RL (2007) Floods increase similarity among aquatic habitats in river floodplain systems. Hydrobiologia 579:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomaz SM, Carvalho P, Padial AA, Kobayashi JT (2009) Temporal and spatial patterns of aquatic macrophyte diversity in the Upper Paraná River floodplain. Braz J Biol 69:617–625

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Allen BJ, Rasmussen NL, Dibble CJ, Clay PA, Rudolf VHW (2017) Top predators determine how biodiversity is partitioned across time and space. Ecol Lett 20:1004–1013

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Velasquez J (1994) Plantas acuaticas vasculares de Venezuela. Universidade Central de Venezuela, Consejo de Desarrollo Cientifico y Humanistico, Caracas, p 992

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

DKP thanks the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brazil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 and the Global Affairs Canada–Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) for providing Brazilian and Canadian student fellowships, respectively. Our study was supported by the “Long-Term Ecological Research” (PELD) from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) in Brazil. We are grateful to all researcher from Macrophytes, Zooplankton and Limnology Laboratories (Nupelia/ Universidade Estadual de Maringá) for providing data across all studied years and Jaime Pereira for the map. DKP thanks Jean Ortega for the help with linear mixed effect models. JDD thanks CNPq to provide post-doctoral scholarship. ASM and AAP received research fellowships from CNPq (proc. no. 307587/2017-7 and 301867/2018-6, respectively).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil

    Danielle Katharine Petsch

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

    Danielle Katharine Petsch, André Andrian Padial, Cláudia Costa Bonecker & Sidinei Magela Thomaz

  3. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Karl Cottenie

  4. Laboratório de Análise e Síntese em Biodiversidade, Programa de Pós-graduação em Botânica, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    André Andrian Padial

  5. Departamento de Oceanografia e Limnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil

    Juliana Deo Dias

  6. Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (Nupélia), Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

    Cláudia Costa Bonecker & Sidinei Magela Thomaz

  7. Departamento de Ecologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Goás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil

    Adriano Sanches Melo

  8. Departamento de Ecologia, IB, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Adriano Sanches Melo

Authors
  1. Danielle Katharine Petsch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Karl Cottenie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. André Andrian Padial
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Juliana Deo Dias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Cláudia Costa Bonecker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sidinei Magela Thomaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Adriano Sanches Melo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Danielle Katharine Petsch.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 1657 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Petsch, D.K., Cottenie, K., Padial, A.A. et al. Floods homogenize aquatic communities across time but not across space in a Neotropical floodplain. Aquat Sci 83, 19 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-020-00774-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-020-00774-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation