The influence of landscape-level factors on the abundance and diversity of diapausing wetland (lagoon) microinvertebrates

Abstract

Temporary wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems available to aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Invertebrates play a critical role in wetlands linking aquatic and terrestrial carbon sources to higher trophic levels such as fish and waterbirds. We assessed the role of large-scale landscape variables (including altitude, longitude and latitude) and wetland size and on the egg-bank structure in 15 wetlands (lagoons) in the North Tableland region of New South Wales. We used microcosms to inundate dry soil from the lagoons and identified the resulting emerged microinvertebrate assemblages. We identified nine microinvertebrate taxa and each lagoon had its own unique microinvertebrate assemblage. The environmental variables did not play a role in determining the assemblages, which emerged from the egg banks of the lagoons, suggesting that each individual lagoon would need to be managed separately for conservation purposes.