Diversity and distribution of macroinvertebrates in lentic habitats in massively altered landscapes in south-eastern Australia

• Published in: Diversity & distributions Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 713 - 724
• Main Authors: Sam Lake, P, Thomson, James R, Lada, Hania, Nally, Ralph Mac, Reid, David, Stanaway, Jarom, Taylor, Andrea C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2010; Blackwell Publishing; Blackwell; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Agriculture; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Applied sciences; Aquatic ecosystems; Aquatic habitats; BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH; Biological and medical sciences; Bodies of water; Buildings. Public works; Carnivores; Dams and subsidiary installations; Dry woodlands; Exact sciences and technology; farm dams; Fauna; Forest habitats; functional feeding groups; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Habitats; Human influences; Hydraulic constructions; Invertebrates; land use impacts; Landscape ecology; Landscapes; Macroinvertebrates; Taxa; Vegetation; α-diversity; β-diversity; Australia; Oceania; South Australia; Victoria Australia; Landscape; farm dams; Beta diversity; Lentic environment; Biodiversity; Land use; Feeding; Woodland; β-diversity; Dam; α-diversity; land use impacts; Habitat; Invertebrata; Dry woodlands; functional feeding groups; Functional group
• ISSN: 1366-9516; 1472-4642
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00685.x

We investigated whether faunas of lentic macroinvertebrates differed among two landscape types: (1) those that are largely covered in forests (presumed to be in a more pre-human-impact condition) and (2) those that are completely cleared for agricultural exploitation (massively altered). Five pairs of landscapes (each pair referred to as a region) - one of each landscape type - across a 30,000 km² region of north-central Victoria, Australia. Each individual waterbody was surveyed three times (austral spring 2006, autumn 2007, and spring 2007) for invertebrates. Waterbodies were characterized by measurements of static (e.g. abutting vegetation cover) and labile (e.g. pH) variables. Data were analysed using hierarchical Bayesian models of species richness, α- and β-diversities and functional feeding groups. Assemblage composition was related to landscape and in-waterbody characteristics. Neither measured, nor asymptotic estimates of, species richness differed among landscape types, notwithstanding consistent differences in in-waterbody habitat characteristics among waterbodies in the two landscape types. There were no discernible differences in patterns of α- and β-diversities at landscape scales relating to landscape type. Habitat diversity of waterbodies at the landscape scale did not affect β-diversity, although distinct waterbodies within landscapes tended to have more distinct faunas. The lentic macroinvertebrate faunas are relatively homogeneous over the entire region, with little differentiation between wooded and cleared landscapes. The regional fauna may be a homogenized subset of native species, possibly arising from the huge numerical predominance of lentic habitats in agricultural landscapes producing 'spill-over' effects into forested landscapes. Of taxa more frequently found in one or other landscape type, trophic group diversity was greater in forested landscapes.