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Assessing Congruence and Surrogacy Among Wetland Macroinvertebrate Taxa Towards Efficiently Measuring Biodiversity

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Abstract

Aquatic macroinvertebrates are a biodiverse component of wetlands. Knowing the degree to which the different groups show congruence in their diversity and composition is therefore necessary if we are to optimize cost effectiveness of macroinvertebrate-based monitoring tools. Here we used published family lists of macroinvertebrate assemblages from 381 wetlands spread across the Western Palearctic and the Nearctic geographic regions, comprising both temporary and permanent waters. In order to determine the magnitude and nature of the spatial variability in the composition of molluscans, crustaceans and insects, we first examined beta diversity patterns for these groups. We then assessed which pairs of these taxonomic groups, or sub-groups (i.e. molluscan and crustacean classes, and insect orders), had a higher congruence in taxonomic richness and composition. We finally tested if any particular combination of groups could serve as a useful surrogate to estimate overall taxonomic richness. We found Mollusca composition could be better predicted than Crustacea and Insecta compositions. Mollusca (M), Hemiptera (H) and Coleoptera (C) family richnesses showed highest congruence with the rest of the groups. We subsequently combined the family richness of these groups (MHC) and observed that this metric was highly correlated with non-MHC family richness. We thus suggest that MHC should be considered when implementing new, or adapting existing, wetland biodiversity monitoring programs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Albert Ruhí

  2. Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Darold P. Batzer

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  1. Albert Ruhí
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  2. Darold P. Batzer
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Correspondence to Albert Ruhí.

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Ruhí, A., Batzer, D.P. Assessing Congruence and Surrogacy Among Wetland Macroinvertebrate Taxa Towards Efficiently Measuring Biodiversity. Wetlands 34, 1061–1071 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-014-0566-6

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