Macrophyte life forms influence the effects of environmental and spatial factors on the beta-diversity of associated ostracod communities (Crustacea)

Abstract

Beta-diversity measures have been used to understand patterns of community distribution in natural ecosystems. Recent studies included different facets of beta-diversity analyses, e.g. trait- and phylogeny-based. Here, we used ostracod communities to evaluate the influence of environmental and spatial factors structuring different facets of beta-diversity and their components (Beta-total, replacement and richness-difference) of ostracod communities associated with different macrophyte life forms. We test the hypotheses (1) that the influence of environmental factors is higher for ostracod beta-diversity facets of communities associated with submerged plants compared to emergent and floating plants and (2) that the influence of spatial factors is higher in communities associated with rooted, compared to non-rooted plants. Ostracods were sampled from five life forms of macrophytes, including emergent, rooted floating, rooted submerged, free submerged and free floating in 25 floodplain lakes. Our results showed that the environmental factors turned out to be important for all beta-diversity facets of ostracod communities, mainly for those associated with submerged macrophytes, thus corroborating the first hypothesis. We also found that spatial factors’ influence on ostracod beta-diversity was not related to whether the plant is rooted or not, thus refuting our second hypothesis. We also found differences in factors structuring each of the beta-diversity facets, showing the importance to include these three approaches (species-, traits- and phylogeny-based) in ecological surveys. Finally, we highlight the importance of considering different macrophyte life forms in biodiversity surveys for the preservation and management of the diversity of these plants and their associated communities.