High assemblage persistence in heterogeneous habitats: an experimental test with stream benthic algae
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Data
2013-02
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Resumo
The persistence of biological assemblages is positively affected by spatial heterogeneity. This
influence may be indirect, through increased species richness. Another possibility is the increased
availability of refuges from disturbances, which would prevent local loss.
2. We conducted a field experiment to test the hypothesis that greater roughness (a form of spatial
heterogeneity) on the surface of substrata allows higher persistence of assemblages of stream
benthic algae and that this relationship does not depend on species richness. Samples were taken on
six occasions from smooth and rough artificial substrata used for algal colonisation. We calculated
the persistence of assemblages using two analytical approaches: the mean distance to group
centroid and the sum of the Euclidean distances between consecutive sampling occasions, both in a
multivariate space. We also subsampled the data to take into account differences in species richness
between treatments and thus to evaluate the effect of species richness on persistence.
3. Assemblages on rough substrata were more persistent than assemblages on smooth substrata.
The effects detected were not due to the greater species richness on rough substrata, since a higher
persistence of the assemblages on rough substrata remained after the subsampling procedures.
4. Our results indicate a strong positive relationship between substratum roughness and the
persistence of stream benthic algal assemblages. We suggest that this is due to the presence of
physical refuges in heterogeneous habitats.
Descrição
v. 58, p. 365-371, 2013.
Palavras-chave
Periphyton, Refuges, Spatial heterogeneity, Substratum roughness, Temporal variability
Citação
SCHNECK, Fabiana; MELO, Adriano S. High assemblage persistence in heterogeneous habitats: an experimental test with stream benthic algae. Freshwater Biology, v. 58, p. 365-371, 2013. Disponível em: < http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/fwb.12063/epdf>.