Abstract
In depressional freshwater wetlands, habitat size, hydrology, and fish predation are considered key controls on invertebrate assemblages. However, the relative importance of each of these factors is difficult to isolate because the factors are frequently correlated. We assessed controls exerted by habitat size, hydrology, and fish occurrence in a set of 10 Carolina bay wetlands where these factors were largely independent. Invertebrate assemblages were sampled seasonally for six years. Using Joint Species Distribution Modeling of presence/absence and relative abundance data, < 6% of the variance in overall invertebrate assemblages was explained by the combined effects of size, hydrology, and fish occurrence: hydrology explained the most. However, when assessing responses of individual taxa, 32% were responsive, again primarily to variation in hydrology. Habitat size was minimally important. Fish occurrence affected only a handful of taxa, but some of those were key ecologically (abundant consumers). Most taxa responded to only one of the three environmental factors; effect sizes for responses ranged from 2 to 15.6% of total variance explained. Overall, the influences of habitat size, hydrology, and fish occurrence were less important to invertebrates in Carolina bay wetlands than we had presumed, given the prominence of these controls in the wetland invertebrate literature.
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Data are available upon reasonable request to the senior author.
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Acknowledgements
This study statistical analyses were supported in part by resources and technical expertise from the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center, a partnership between the University of Georgia’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Office of the Vice President for Information Technology. We thank Nyree Riley and Kelly Murray-Stoker for assistance with field sampling, and Joseph McHugh (Coleoptera, Sisyridae) and Gabriela Cardona Rivera (Odonata) with help in confirming genus classifications.
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DPB was supported, in part, by the USDA Hatch Program. LBE was supported by CONICET and Fulbright.
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DPB developed the conceptual and theoretical basis for the paper, collected and processed much of the data, and wrote the manuscript. LBE contributed to the theory, conducted statistical modeling, and developed the figure. SR contributed to the theory, collected and processed much of the data, and assisted in development of the supplementary table.
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Batzer, D.P., Epele, L.B. & Reindl, S. Assessing the relative impacts of habitat size, hydrology, and fish occurrence on aquatic invertebrate assemblages in a set of depressional wetlands of Georgia, USA. Hydrobiologia 851, 2519–2527 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05473-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05473-x