Kiemel Katrin, Weithoff Guntram, Tiedemann Ralph
Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
Unit of Ecology and Ecosystem Modelling, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
Mol Ecol. 2023 Dec;32(23):6190-6209. doi: 10.1111/mec.16627. Epub 2022 Aug 2.
Understanding the environmental impact on the assembly of local communities in relation to their spatial and temporal connectivity is still a challenge in metacommunity ecology. This study aims to unravel underlying metacommunity processes and environmental factors that result in observed zooplankton communities. Unlike most metacommunity studies, we jointly examine active and dormant zooplankton communities using a DNA metabarcoding approach to overcome limitations of morphological species identification. We applied two-fragment (COI and 18S) metabarcoding to monitor communities of 24 kettle holes over a two-year period to unravel (i) spatial and temporal connectivity of the communities, (ii) environmental factors influencing local communities, and (iii) dominant underlying metacommunity processes in this system. We found a strong separation of zooplankton communities from kettle holes of different hydroperiods (degree of permanency) throughout the season, while the community composition within single kettle holes did not differ between years. Species richness was primarily dependent on pH and permanency, while species diversity (Shannon Index) was influenced by kettle hole location. Community composition was impacted by kettle hole size and surrounding field crops. Environmental processes dominated temporal and spatial processes. Sediment communities showed a different composition compared to water samples but did not differ between ephemeral and permanent kettle holes. Our results suggest that communities are mainly structured by environmental filtering based on pH, kettle hole size, surrounding field crops, and permanency. Environmental filtering based on specific conditions in individual kettle holes seems to be the dominant process in community assembly in the studied zooplankton metacommunity.
在集合群落生态学中，理解环境对当地群落组装的影响及其空间和时间连通性仍是一项挑战。本研究旨在揭示导致观察到的浮游动物群落的潜在集合群落过程和环境因素。与大多数集合群落研究不同，我们使用DNA宏条形码方法联合研究活跃和休眠的浮游动物群落，以克服形态学物种鉴定的局限性。我们应用双片段（细胞色素氧化酶亚基I和18S）宏条形码技术，在两年时间内监测24个壶穴的群落，以揭示（i）群落的空间和时间连通性，（ii）影响当地群落的环境因素，以及（iii）该系统中主要的潜在集合群落过程。我们发现，整个季节中，来自不同水文周期（永久性程度）壶穴的浮游动物群落有明显分离，而单个壶穴内的群落组成在不同年份间没有差异。物种丰富度主要取决于pH值和永久性，而物种多样性（香农指数）受壶穴位置影响。群落组成受壶穴大小和周围大田作物的影响。环境过程主导了时间和空间过程。与水样相比，沉积物群落显示出不同的组成，但在临时性和永久性壶穴之间没有差异。我们的结果表明，群落主要由基于pH值、壶穴大小、周围大田作物和永久性的环境过滤作用构建。基于单个壶穴特定条件的环境过滤作用似乎是所研究的浮游动物集合群落中群落组装的主导过程。
