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Uncovering aquatic diversity patterns in two Patagonian glacial lakes: does habitat heterogeneity matter?

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A Correction to this article was published on 21 March 2023

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Abstract

Glacially-influenced lakes are responding to global warming, improving our understanding of these threatened ecosystems is globally imperative especially at southern hemisphere areas like Patagonia. We compared environmental parameters, phytoplankton and littoral benthic macroinvertebrates at two lakes fed by retreating glaciers: El Antiguo (proglacial) and Bagillt (glacial). Our prediction was that differences in water temperature, nutrients, food resources and spatial heterogeneity will modulate aquatic diversity facets. Harsher environmental conditions were recorded at the proglacial lake, including colder water, lower availability of allochthonous resources, and lower pH; but no differences existed in total suspended solids, chlorophyll a, and nutrients. The phytoplankton community (23 taxa) was dominated by Coscinodiscophyceae and Fragilariophyceae at El Antiguo, whereas at Bagillt (20 taxa) Bacillariophyceae and Zygnemathophyceae were the richest groups. The glacial lake included aquatic insects, amphipods, leeches, and mollusks, exhibiting a significantly higher invertebrate richness than the proglacial lake (33 and 8 taxa, respectively). The latter was dominated by Podonominae and Diamesinae (Chironomidae, Diptera). The turnover component of within lakes beta diversity was consistently higher at Bagillt than at El Antiguo. Long-term approaches could clarify whether the expected compositional changes recorded in the northern hemisphere’s aquatic communities correspond to southern hemisphere patterns.

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The authors declare that all data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

We thank to Dr. Luz Manzo, Dr. Ricardo Casaux, Lic. Lucía Molina, Dr. Gabriel Martin, Pablo de la Fuente, Pablo Gervasini, Ezequiel Suárez, Brenda Sede Lucena, Fidel Moreno, Walter Cerdá, Ignacio Contreras, Dirección Nacional de Parques (DNP), for field trip assistance. Dr. Yanina Assef assisted with laboratory analyses. For permission to conduct field work in parks and reserves to: Subsecretaría de Conservación de Áreas Protegidas, Dirección Pcial. de Flora y Fauna Silvestre, and DNP. This is scientific contribution n° 170 from LIESA-CIEMEP-CONICET-UNPSJB.

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This paper was partially supported by the CONICET (PIP 11220120100119).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica (CIEMEP-CONICET-UNPSJB), Roca 780 Esquel, Chubut, Argentina

    María Laura Miserendino, Luis B. Epele & Cecilia Brand

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de La Salud-UNPSJB, Sarmiento 849. Esquel, Chubut, Argentina

    María Laura Miserendino, Luis B. Epele & Cecilia Brand

  3. Instituto de Investigación de Hidrobiología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de La Salud-UNPSJB, Gales 48. Trelew, Chubut, Argentina

    Noelia Uyua, Norma Santinelli & Viviana Sastre

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  1. María Laura Miserendino
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Contributions

MLM designed the study, analyzed the data and led the writing. MLM and CB conducted invertebrate analyses. LBE collected field data, run analyses and revised the manuscript critically in contents and structure, NS, VS and NU analyzed phytoplankton. All authors provided critical feedback on the whole manuscript.

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Correspondence to María Laura Miserendino.

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The original online version of this article was revised due to missing figure 6.

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27_2023_949_MOESM1_ESM.png

Supplementary file1 Figure S1: Taxa richness and rarefied richness of macroinvertebrates at El Antiguo and Bagillt lakes (Patagonia, Argentina) (PNG 84 KB)

Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 Phytoplankton composition at El Antiguo Lake (Torrecillas Glacier) and Bagillt Lake (Cónico Glacier) during Summer/Autumn of 2015 (Patagonia, Argentina)
Full size table
Table 5 Mean density (ind rep–1) of macroinvertebrate taxa at sampling sites on El Antiguo Lake (Torrecillas Glacier) and Bagillt Lake (Cónico Glacier) during the summer/autumn of 2015 (Patagonia, Argentina)
Full size table

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Miserendino, M.L., Epele, L.B., Brand, C. et al. Uncovering aquatic diversity patterns in two Patagonian glacial lakes: does habitat heterogeneity matter?. Aquat Sci 85, 52 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-023-00949-9

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