Abstract
Flood pulse related physical variables (FLOOD) can affect zooplankton community structure through local factors directly and can also influence through regional dispersal factors of metacommunity concepts indirectly. Therefore, we infer that spatial patterns of zooplankton communities could be related to metacommunity concepts and their importance may depend on the size of the aquatic/terrestrial transition zone (ATTZ). Herein, we explored the relative importance of limnological (LIMNO) and FLOOD variables in zooplankton community by analyzing data from 272 sites across three floodplain lakes in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Our results showed that the variation in the zooplankton community can be well explained by the LIMNO and FLOOD variables in all of the lakes under the low water level season. However, during the high water level season, neither LIMNO nor FLOOD can explain the spatial variances of zooplankton. Therefore, our results indicated that testing biogeographical theories and macroecological laws using zooplankton should consider temporal aspects of flood pulse. Furthermore, we noted that the number of explained variance by local variables is negatively correlated with the size of the ATTZ. Metacommunity concepts provide complementary insights in explaining zooplankton spatial patterns within large floodplain systems, which also provide a theoretical basis for ATTZ protection in floodplain management.
Highlights
Large floodplain lakes, which are characterized by large ranges of water level variation and large areas of aquatic/terrestrial transition zone (ATTZ), serve as important habitats for many organisms [1]
Four flood pulse related hydrological variables were compared between the floodplain lakes (Figure 3)
Our study highlights the importance of large ATTZ in maintaining the stability and heterogeneity of river-floodplain ecosystems
Summary
Large floodplain lakes, which are characterized by large ranges of water level variation and large areas of aquatic/terrestrial transition zone (ATTZ), serve as important habitats for many organisms [1]. The heterogeneous habitats and the spatial pattern of aquatic communities in large floodplain lakes are mainly determined by their flood pulse. Niche theory hypothesizes that heterogeneous habitats offer more niches and promote enhanced diversity of spatial patterns [3]. The spatial variation of the zooplankton community is frequently attributed to physical environmental features within a floodplain ecosystem [4,5]. The rule of flood pulse on zooplankton spatial patterns including local and regional aspects is still unclear from the perspective of the metacommunity framework
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