Abstract
Geodiversity is recognized as one of the most important drivers of ecosystems characteristics and biodiversity globally. However, in the northern Neotropics, the contribution of highly diverse landscapes and geological history in structuring large-scale patterns of limnology and aquatic species associations remain poorly understood. We evaluate the interaction between geodiversity, limnology and freshwater ostracode assemblages to explore drivers of aquatic ecosystem structure from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. Cluster analysis based on geological, limnological, sedimentological and mineralogical characteristics of 76 aquatic ecosystems (karst, volcanic, tectonic) reveal two main limnological regions: (1) Karst terraces from the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Guatemala, and (2) volcanic terrains of the Guatemalan highlands, El Salvador and Honduras mid-elevations, and Nicaraguan lowlands. In addition, seven limnological subregions were recognized, attesting high limnological heterogeneity. Principal Component Analysis identifies water ionic and sediment composition as most influential for aquatic ecosystem classification and given their source of formation, we recognized geology as the fundamental determinant for large-scale limnological patterns. Multiparametric analyses based on biological data revealed that species association represent disjunct faunas. For instance, five species associations are closely related to limnological regions. Structural equation modelling reveals a strong influence of limnology and elevation on the biological composition, but geodiversity resulted in the most important driver. The confinement of species associations is attributed to regional lake geochemistry. We deduce a linear, continuous and primary influence of geodiversity for limnological structure, geochemical properties and aquatic biological composition in Lakes of the northern Neotropical region.
Highlights
Geodiversity is defined as the natural variety of geological, geomorphological and hydrological features of a given landscape (Gray, 2019)
In order to provide a graphic representation of cluster grouping, a color bar was assigned to each group and lakes within these groups were plotted on (b) YG map and (c) GSHN map using the same color
Given the origin of discriminating variables in Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for both YG and GSHN, we found three main sources controlling limnology of the northern Neotropics: (i) bedrock type, which determines specific mineral and ionic composition of lake sediments and host waters; (ii) volcanic and marine influence, which determines the presence of dominant and conservative ions such as Mg+2 and Cl, and (iii) precipitation-evaporation balance across altitudinal and latitudinal gradients, which determines the concentration of solutes and conductivity
Summary
Geodiversity is defined as the natural variety of geological, geomorphological and hydrological features of a given landscape (Gray, 2019). At interaction with biosphere and atmosphere, geodiversity can contribute, via sedimentary delivery to the input of nutrients into ecosystems, and modify the chemical composition of environments (Vartanyan, 2006b; Bravo-Cuevas et al, 2021) All these features have been fundamental for ecosystem development and biological evolution at scales ranging from local to global (Mittelbach et al, 2007; Etienne and Apol, 2009; Smith et al, 2010; Bryson et al, 2013; Gillespie and Roderick, 2014; Steinbauer et al, 2016). Biodiversity is dynamic and evolutionary processes and changes in species composition and distribution may take place at faster rates or even in absence of geological variability This implies that geodiversity may have different degrees of contribution in shaping biodiversity at regional scales. In areas with highly dynamic and complex biological systems such as the Tropics (Rull, 2011; Antonelli et al, 2018; Matzke-Karasz et al, 2019; Moguel et al, 2021), it is difficult to understand the contribution of geodiversity in shaping the distribution of past and modern biota (Rossetti and Toledo, 2016)
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