Does taxonomic and numerical resolution affect the assessment of invertebrate community structure in New World freshwater wetlands?

The efficiency of biodiversity assessments and biomonitoring studies is commonly challenged by limitations in taxonomic identification and quantification approaches. In this study, we assessed the effects of different taxonomic and numerical resolutions on a range of community structure metrics in invertebrate compositional data sets from six regions distributed across North and South America. We specifically assessed the degree of similarity in the metrics (richness, equitability, beta diversity, heterogeneity in community composition and congruence) for data sets identified to a coarse resolution (usually family level) and the finest taxonomic resolution practical (usually genus level, sometimes species or morphospecies) and by presence-absence and relative abundance numerical resolutions. Spearman correlations showed highly significant and positive associations between univariate metrics (richness and equitability) calculated for coarse- and finest-resolution datasets. Procrustes analysis detected significant congruence between composition datasets. Higher correlation coefficients were found for datasets with the same numerical resolutions regardless of the taxonomic level (about 90%), while the correlations for comparisons across numerical resolutions were consistently lower. Our findings indicate that family-level resolution can be used as a surrogate of finer taxonomic resolutions to calculate a range of biodiversity metrics commonly used to describe invertebrate community structure patterns in New World freshwater wetlands without significant loss of information. However, conclusions on biodiversity patterns derived from datasets with different numerical resolutions should be critically considered in studies on wetland invertebrates.

Climate- versus geographic-dependent patterns in the spatial distribution of macroinvertebrate assemblages in New World depressional wetlands.

Analyses of biota at lower latitudes may presage impacts of climate change on biota at higher latitudes. Macroinvertebrate assemblages in depressional wetlands may be especially sensitive to climate change because weather-related precipitation and evapotranspiration are dominant ecological controls on habitats, and organisms of depressional wetlands are temperature-sensitive ectotherms. We aimed to better understand how wetland macroinvertebrate assemblages were structured according to geography and climate. To do so, we contrasted aquatic-macroinvertebrate assemblage structure (family level) between subtropical and temperate depressional wetlands of North and South America using presence-absence data from 264 of these habitats across the continents and more-detailed relative-abundance data from 56 depressional wetlands from four case-study locations (North Dakota and Georgia in North America; southern Brazil and Argentinian Patagonia in South America). Both data sets roughly partitioned wetland numbers equally between the two climatic zones and between the continents. We used ordination methods (PCA and NMDS) and tests of multivariate dispersion (PERMDISP) to assess the distribution and the homogeneity in variation in the composition of macroinvertebrate assemblages across climates and continents, respectively. We found that macroinvertebrate assemblage structures in the subtropical depressional wetlands of North and South America were similar to each other (at the family level), while assemblages in the North and South American temperate wetlands were unique from the subtropics, and from each other. Tests of homogeneity of multivariate dispersion indicated that family-level assemblage structures were more homogeneous in wetlands from the subtropical than the temperate zones. Our study suggests that ongoing climate change may result in the homogenization of macroinvertebrate assemblage structures in temperate zones of North and South America, with those assemblages becoming enveloped by assemblages from the subtropics. Biotic homogenization, more typically associated with other kinds of anthropogenic factors, may also be affected by climate change.

Alternative stable states in inherently unstable systems.

Alternative stable states are nontransitory states within which communities can exist. However, even highly dynamic communities can be viewed within the framework of stable-state theory if an appropriate "ecologically relevant" time scale is identified. The ecologically relevant time scale for dynamic systems needs to conform to the amount of time needed for a system's community to complete an entire cycle through its normal range of variation. For some systems, the ecologically relevant period can be relatively short (eg, tidal systems), for others it can be decadal (eg, prairie wetlands). We explore the concept of alternative stable states in unstable systems using the highly dynamic wetland ecosystems of North America's Prairie Pothole Region. The communities in these wetland ecosystems transition through multiple states in response to decadal-long climate oscillations that cyclically influence ponded-water depth, permanence, and chemistry. The perspective gained by considering dynamic systems in the context of stable-state theory allows for an increased understanding of how these systems respond to changing drivers that can push them past tipping points into alternative states. Incorporation of concepts inherent to stable-state theory has been suggested as a key scientific element upon which to base sustainable environmental management.