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Phytoplankton diversity (alpha, beta, and gamma) from the Araguaia River tropical floodplain lakes (central Brazil)

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Abstract

Alpha, beta and gamma are three components of species diversity. Knowing these attributes in floodplain lake phytoplankton communities is vital when selecting conservation areas. Species diversity is commonly used with other taxonomic groups, but rarely with phytoplankton. We compared the number of phytoplankton species (alpha diversity) from 21 Middle Araguaia River floodplain lakes in the 2000 and 2001 rainy and dry seasons. From these samples we estimated complete survey species richness (gamma diversity), quantified differences in species composition between lakes (beta diversity) and assessed the influence of abiotic variables on beta diversity. We recorded a total of 577 taxa. The Sjack1 estimator indicated that 62.31% of taxa were sampled in the 2000 rainy and 67.65% dry seasons, and 68.36% in the 2001 rainy and 73.5% dry seasons. In almost all seasons, alpha diversity negatively correlated with latitude. Beta diversity (β-1) was higher in high water periods, especially in 2000. This may have been caused by isolated heavy rainfall, which would have increased environmental heterogeneity and raised beta diversity. DCA showed differences in phytoplankton composition between rainy and dry seasons in 2000 and 2001, reflecting the influence of flood pulses on phytoplankton composition. The Mantel test indicated spatial distribution patterns where geographically more distant lakes had less-similar phytoplankton communities.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to SECTEC for the financial support of the project, to the Environmental Agency of Goiás State for the aid in the field work, and to the NUPELIA-UEM for processing of the physical-chemical analysis. We also thank Dr. Luis M. Bini (Universidade Federal de Goiás) and Dra. Vera L. M. Huszar (Museu Nacional/ UFRJ) for critical comments on our manuscript and Dra. Judit Padisák and anonymous reviewer for corrections and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia, Laboratório de Limnologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus II, C.P.131, Goiânia, GO, CEP 74001-970, Brasil

    João C. Nabout, Ina S. de Nogueira, Leandro G. de Oliveira & Raquel R. Morais

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  1. João C. Nabout
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  2. Ina S. de Nogueira
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  3. Leandro G. de Oliveira
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  4. Raquel R. Morais
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Correspondence to João C. Nabout.

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Handling editor: J. Padisak

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Nabout, J.C., de Nogueira, I.S., de Oliveira, L.G. et al. Phytoplankton diversity (alpha, beta, and gamma) from the Araguaia River tropical floodplain lakes (central Brazil). Hydrobiologia 575, 455–461 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0393-8

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