The contribution of lateral aquatic habitats to insect diversity along river corridors in the Alps

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• 作者：Ute Karaus (1) (2)
  Stefano Larsen (3)
  Helene Guillong (4)
  Klement Tockner (3) (5)
  
• 关键词：Beta ; diversity ; Conservation ; Diversity partitioning ; EPT taxa ; Floodplains ; Spatial scales ; Floodplain ; Biodiversity
• 刊名：Landscape Ecology
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：November 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：28
• 期：9
• 页码：1755-1767
• 全文大小：
• 作者单位：Ute Karaus (1) (2)
  Stefano Larsen (3)
  Helene Guillong (4)
  Klement Tockner (3) (5)
  
  1. AquaPlus, Bundestrasse 6, 6300, Zurich, Switzerland
  2. Eawag, 8600, Duebendorf, Switzerland
  3. Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fishery, Mueggelseedamm 310, 12587, Berlin, Germany
  4. ETH Zurich, Universitaetstrasse 16, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
  5. Institute of Biology, Freie Universit?t Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  
• ISSN：1572-9761

文摘

River floodplains are among the most threatened ecosystems globally. Understanding the mechanisms that create and maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of floodplains, is therefore a prerequisite for developing scientifically-sound management and conservation strategies. We quantified the spatial distribution of lateral aquatic habitats (i.e. tributaries, ponds, backwaters) and the associated insect assemblages (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera) along three Alpine river corridors (Tagliamento, Thur, and Rh?ne). Our objective was to assess the relative contribution of lateral habitats to river corridor diversity, and to identify the scale that contributed the most to regional (Alpine scale) species diversity. The number of lateral habitats decreased by 72?% from the near-natural Tagliamento (101) to the Thur river (42) and the regulated Rh?ne river (28). More than 50?% of the total species richness along each river was restricted to lateral habitats, which also exhibited higher taxon turnover rates (Whittaker? beta diversity) than the associated main channel. Hierarchical diversity partitioning revealed that beta diversity among corridors was higher than expected, and accounted for 48?% of regional richness, partly reflecting biogeographical differences among catchments. However, diversity partitioning, excluding catchment-specific effects, showed that beta diversity among habitat types contributed significantly to regional richness (79?%). The present study is among the first to quantify the distribution and biodiversity of floodplain habitats along entire river continua. Our results demonstrated that biodiversity would be best preserved by protecting multiple catchments, and that lateral floodplain habitats contribute disproportionally to species richness at the river corridor and regional scale.