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Effects of connectivity and watercourse distance on temporal coherence patterns in a tropical reservoir

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Abstract

Temporal coherence exists when environmental variables measured at different spatial locations vary synchronously over time. This is an important property to be analyzed because levels of coherence may indicate the role of regional and local processes in determining population and ecosystem dynamics. Also, studies on temporal coherence may guide the optimal allocation of sampling effort. We analyzed a dataset from a monitoring program undertaken at a tropical reservoir (Peixe Angical Reservoir, State of Tocantins, Brazil) to test three predictions. First, coherence should be a common pattern in the reservoir considering that sampling sites were distributed in a single water body and over a small spatial extent. Second, coherence was expected to decline with increasing watercourse distance and to increase with hydrological connectivity. Third, abiotic variables should exhibit higher coherence than biological variables. Twenty limnological variables were monitored at 14 sites and for 31 months. We found significant levels of coherence for all variables, supporting our first prediction. Watercourse distances, hydrological connectivity, or both were significant predictors of coherence for 17 environmental variables. In all these cases, the signs of the coefficients were in the direction predicted. Interestingly, for some environmental variables (color, turbidity, alkalinity, and total phosphorus), hydrological connectivity was even more important in predicting coherence than watercourse distance. The view that abiotic variables should exhibit higher coherence than biological variables was supported. Our analyses revealed that precipitation was an important factor inducing coherence of a key set of environmental variables, highlighting the role of regional processes in ecosystem dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Msc. Carol Costa for helping with Fig. 1, and Katia Bittar Haddad and Wagner Batista Xavier for helping with the fieldwork, and Dr. Bruno Godoy for helpful suggestions throughout the study. This work was supported by the Coordination of higher education personnel (CAPES) and National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPQ). This work was also developed in the context of the National Institutes for Science and Technology (INCT) in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation, supported by MCTIC/CNpq (proc. 465610/2014-5) and FAPEG.

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  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Av. Esperança s/n, Campus Samambaia, Goiânia, GO, 74690-900, Brazil

    Sara Lodi, Priscilla Carvalho & Luis Mauricio Bini

  2. Universidade Estadual de Maringá -Nupelia/Pea, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Luiz Felipe Machado-Velho

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  1. Sara Lodi
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  2. Luiz Felipe Machado-Velho
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Lodi, S., Machado-Velho, L.F., Carvalho, P. et al. Effects of connectivity and watercourse distance on temporal coherence patterns in a tropical reservoir. Environ Monit Assess 190, 566 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6902-1

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