Abstract
Evaluating beta diversity patterns along environmental gradients and different geographic ranges helps comprehend the roles of niche-based and spatial processes to metacommunity structure. Pond-breeding anuran composition depends on environmental predictors such as climate, vegetation type and habitat features as well as spatial processes (e.g., dispersal limitation or distances among patches). Here, we investigated the role of spatial and local (water chemistry and habitat structure) and regional (climate) environmental predictors to tadpole beta diversity (and its turnover and nestedness-resultant components) in temporary ponds distributed along a forest–grassland transition in the southern Brazilian Coastal Plain. Additionally, we investigated the role of the assessed predictors within forest and grassland sub-regions to test for congruence in their contribution across vegetation types. Turnover was the most relevant component of beta diversity. Spatial predictors alone explained beta diversity (and both components) at the broadest scale. However, the contribution of environmental and spatial predictors to beta diversity differed between sub-regions. Spatial and local environmental predictors independently explained beta diversity in the grassland, while in the forest sub-region, local predictors and spatially-structured climate were the most important. Our results revealed a complex interplay of niche-based and spatial assembly processes shaping anuran metacommunities. The different relationships of environmental and spatial predictors with beta diversity in the forest and grassland sub-regions suggest that the contribution of assembly processes to anuran metacommunity structure change with vegetation type.
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Acknowledgements
This study was part of DSK Master course dissertation at the Biology Graduate Program from UNISINOS University. This research was funded by CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), as part of the project entitled ‘Effects of climate change on wetland biodiversity in southern Brazil: A space-time approach’ (Grant number 474892/2013-1). CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) granted a Master scholarship to DSK. CNPq granted a postdoctoral research fellowship to MMP at the Biology Graduate Program from UNISINOS University (Grant number 151152/2018-7). LM and CS have been continuously funded by CNPq via Research Productivity grants.
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DSK collected and conducted the specimen identification and participated in the drafting of the manuscript. MMP analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. LM and CS conceived the project and coordinated several aspects of the study, including revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Fig. S1. Graphical outputs of the first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) of the principal component analysis (PCA) of the WorldClim bioclimatic variables for the 24 ponds studied. (A) Plot of the ponds; (B) plot of the correlation (loadings) of the variables. (TIFF 2741 kb)
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Fig. S2. Conceptual figure summarizing the objectives of the study. (A) The two components of beta diversity (turnover and nestedness/richness; adapted from: Baselga 2012). (B) Sampling design of the study emphasizing the main vegetation types (Pampa and Atlantic Forest) in the study region (Coastal Plain) and the scales of analysis (broad extent and sub-regions). (TIFF 1306 kb)
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Fig. S3. Step by step representation of the undertaken statistical procedures for the analyses of the relationships between tadpole beta diversity and spatial predictors and environmental drivers. (TIFF 1290 kb)
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Fig. S4. Graphic outputs of the multivariate Mantel correlograms used for the testing of spatial autocorrelation in each dataset (Coastal Plain, Atlantic Forest and Pampa subsets). (TIFF 1129 kb)
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Knauth, D.S., Pires, M.M., Stenert, C. et al. Disentangling the role of niche-based and spatial processes on anuran beta diversity in temporary ponds along a forest–grassland transition. Aquat Sci 81, 63 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-019-0658-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-019-0658-8