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Shallow lake sediments provide evidence for metapopulation dynamics: a pilot study

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Abstract

The aim of this pilot study is to test the hypotheses that sediment cores can provide evidence for metapopulation dynamics and that these can be linked with site characteristics. We focus on temporal patterns of incidence and abundance of overwintering stages (statoblasts) produced by the freshwater bryozoan Cristatella mucedo, an organism characterised by a metapopulation ecology, in sediment cores retrieved from 18 UK lakes. Runs and goodness-of-fit tests provided evidence for population instability, periods of low abundance and absence, and of asynchrony—all signatures of metapopulation dynamics. Further hypothesis testing indicated that extinction risk is greater in more isolated sites and in sites of smaller size. Absence of statoblasts from the top sections of spatially separated, replicate cores provided independent evidence for extinction in one site. Our study demonstrates how the abundances of sedimentary-bound propagules may be analysed initially for metapopulation dynamics and subsequently how this may lead to working hypotheses regarding the drivers of such dynamics. The sediment archive represents a unique historical record whose potential for characterising metapopulation dynamics has previously been untapped but is broadly relevant for understanding the population biology of freshwater organisms.

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Acknowledgments

We thank K. Benyon, K. Evans, K. Kari, V. Rimmer, C. Shutts and Y. Zhao for data collection and J. Freeland, P. Spaak and anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. This work was partly funded by a Natural Environment Research Council Fellowship (GT5/98/22/CB) awarded to C. Sayer, by consultancy projects undertaken for the Broads Authority and the Countryside Council for Wales as administered by ENSIS Ltd. and by undergraduate project research funds provided by the University of Reading to B. Okamura.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Beth Okamura

  2. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Reading, JJ Thomson Building, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AX, UK

    Karen Ayres

  3. Department of Geography, Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, Pearson Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Jorge Salgado & Carl D. Sayer

  4. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Thomas A. Davidson

  5. Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK

    Rosalind F. Shaw

  6. School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    Thomas W. Stephens

  7. Broads Authority, Yare House, 62-64 Thorpe Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 1RY, UK

    Daniel Hoare

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  1. Beth Okamura
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Correspondence to Beth Okamura.

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Okamura, B., Ayres, K., Salgado, J. et al. Shallow lake sediments provide evidence for metapopulation dynamics: a pilot study. Aquat Ecol 47, 163–176 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-013-9432-5

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