Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes

Tropical lakes harbour high levels of biodiversity, but the temporal and spatial variability of biological communities are still inadequately characterised, making it difficult to predict the impact of accelerated rates of environmental change in these regions. Our goal was to identify the spatiotem...

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Main Author: Hampel , Henrietta
Format: ARTÍCULO
Language:es_ES
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dspace.ucuenca.edu.ec/handle/123456789/44166
https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182458676&doi=10.1111%2ffwb.14218&origin=inward&txGid=67ef43564d9d933b291ad3fc8cf32369
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author Hampel , Henrietta
author_facet Hampel , Henrietta
author_sort Hampel , Henrietta
collection DSpace
description Tropical lakes harbour high levels of biodiversity, but the temporal and spatial variability of biological communities are still inadequately characterised, making it difficult to predict the impact of accelerated rates of environmental change in these regions. Our goal was to identify the spatiotemporal dynamics of the planktic diatom community in the Cajas Massif in the tropical Andes. We analysed seasonal diatom and environmental data over a period of 1 year from 10 lakes located in geologically distinct basins and modelled community–environment relationships using multivariate ordination and variation partitioning techniques. Generalised additive models with a full-subset information theoretic approach also were used to determine which environmental variables explain single-species abundance. Although the lakes are monomictic and thus have variable thermal structure across the year, seasonal variability of water chemistry conditions was negligible, and seasonal differences in diatom community composition were small. Across space, diatom community composition was correlated primarily with ionic content (divalent cations and alkalinity), related to bedrock composition, and secondly with lake thermal structure and productivity. The ionic gradient overrode the effect of the thermal structure–productivity gradient at the diatom community level, whereas individual diatom species responded more sensitively to variables related to in-lake and catchment productivity, including chlorophyll-a and iron, and the proportion of wetlands in the catchment. Our results indicate that the spatiotemporal variability of Cajas lakes and their diatom communities is the result of multiple intertwined environmental factors. The emergence of the ionic and thermal structure–productivity gradients in a rather small tropical lake district suggests segregation of ecological niches for diatoms that also may be important in other high-elevation lake regions. Future studies that track tropical Andean lakes under natural and anthropogenically mediated change, both in contemporary times and in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, would benefit from the modelling approach (community and species levels) developed here.
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spelling oai:dspace.ucuenca.edu.ec:123456789-441662024-03-07T19:17:54Z Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes Hampel , Henrietta Bedrock geology High-mountain tropical lakes Diatoms Generalised additive models Spatial and temporal factors Tropical lakes harbour high levels of biodiversity, but the temporal and spatial variability of biological communities are still inadequately characterised, making it difficult to predict the impact of accelerated rates of environmental change in these regions. Our goal was to identify the spatiotemporal dynamics of the planktic diatom community in the Cajas Massif in the tropical Andes. We analysed seasonal diatom and environmental data over a period of 1 year from 10 lakes located in geologically distinct basins and modelled community–environment relationships using multivariate ordination and variation partitioning techniques. Generalised additive models with a full-subset information theoretic approach also were used to determine which environmental variables explain single-species abundance. Although the lakes are monomictic and thus have variable thermal structure across the year, seasonal variability of water chemistry conditions was negligible, and seasonal differences in diatom community composition were small. Across space, diatom community composition was correlated primarily with ionic content (divalent cations and alkalinity), related to bedrock composition, and secondly with lake thermal structure and productivity. The ionic gradient overrode the effect of the thermal structure–productivity gradient at the diatom community level, whereas individual diatom species responded more sensitively to variables related to in-lake and catchment productivity, including chlorophyll-a and iron, and the proportion of wetlands in the catchment. Our results indicate that the spatiotemporal variability of Cajas lakes and their diatom communities is the result of multiple intertwined environmental factors. The emergence of the ionic and thermal structure–productivity gradients in a rather small tropical lake district suggests segregation of ecological niches for diatoms that also may be important in other high-elevation lake regions. Future studies that track tropical Andean lakes under natural and anthropogenically mediated change, both in contemporary times and in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, would benefit from the modelling approach (community and species levels) developed here. 2024-03-07T19:17:49Z 2024-03-07T19:17:49Z 2024 ARTÍCULO 0046-5070 http://dspace.ucuenca.edu.ec/handle/123456789/44166 https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182458676&doi=10.1111%2ffwb.14218&origin=inward&txGid=67ef43564d9d933b291ad3fc8cf32369 10.1111/fwb.14218 es_ES application/pdf Freshwater Biology
spellingShingle Bedrock geology
High-mountain tropical lakes
Diatoms
Generalised additive models
Spatial and temporal factors
Hampel , Henrietta
Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes
title Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes
title_full Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes
title_fullStr Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes
title_full_unstemmed Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes
title_short Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes
title_sort planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high-mountain tropical lakes
topic Bedrock geology
High-mountain tropical lakes
Diatoms
Generalised additive models
Spatial and temporal factors
url http://dspace.ucuenca.edu.ec/handle/123456789/44166
https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182458676&doi=10.1111%2ffwb.14218&origin=inward&txGid=67ef43564d9d933b291ad3fc8cf32369
work_keys_str_mv AT hampelhenrietta plankticdiatomresponsestospatiotemporalenvironmentalvariationinhighmountaintropicallakes