Landscape Position, Local Environmental Factors, and the Structure of Molluscan Assemblages of Lakes

Abstract

Biotic communities are structured by both regional processes (e.g., dispersal) and local environmental conditions (e.g., stress). We examined the relative importance of landscape position (position within the hydrologic flow system and distance from other lakes) and local environmental factors in determining the assemblage structure of lake-dwelling snails and fingernail clams in a boreal landscape. Both landscape position and local environmental factors were highly influential in structuring the molluscan assemblages. In canonical correspondence analysis, 53.6% of snail and 48.2% of fingernail clam assemblage composition were accounted for by both sets of variables. The pure effects of landscape position were higher than those of environmental variables, and a considerable amount of variability was shared by the two sets of variables. In regression analysis, 95.5% of snail and 62.2% of fingernail clam species richness was accounted for by the explanatory variable groups, with most of the variability being related to shared effects, followed by landscape position. The effects of landscape position on species composition suggest that passive dispersal increases the similarity of molluscan assemblages in adjacent lakes. This process does not lead to an overall homogenisation of assemblage composition across the landscape, however, because local conditions set a strong environmental filter, excluding species that arrive at an unsuitable lake. These environmental filters may reflect either extinction probability (area, productivity) or species niche differences (calcium levels, abiotic stress). Landscape position may also be important in maintaining the species richness of lake-dwelling molluscan assemblages. By providing potential colonists, nearby source lakes are likely to be important in countering local extinctions. Our test of the relative importance of landscape position and local drivers of assemblage structure was partly confounded by their co-variation. Nevertheless, studying the relationship between landscape position and local variables is useful because it can tell us about the importance of local and regional processes in shaping lake communities.