A1 Journal article (refereed)
Do the ecological drivers of lake littoral communities match and lead to congruence between organism groups? (2020)

Tolonen, K. T., Karjalainen, J., Hämäläinen, H., Nyholm, K., Rahkola-Sorsa, M., Cai, Y., & Heino, J. (2020). Do the ecological drivers of lake littoral communities match and lead to congruence between organism groups?. Aquatic Ecology, 54(3), 839-854. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-020-09781-x

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Tolonen, Kimmo T.; Karjalainen, Juha; Hämäläinen, Heikki; Nyholm, Kristiina; Rahkola-Sorsa, Minna; Cai, Yongjiu; Heino, Jani

Journal or series: Aquatic Ecology

ISSN: 1386-2588

eISSN: 1573-5125

Publication year: 2020

Publication date: 10/07/2020

Volume: 54

Issue number: 3

Pages range: 839-854

Publisher: Springer

Publication country: Netherlands

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-020-09781-x

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/71149

Abstract

Lake littoral environments are heterogeneous, and different organisms typically show specific responses to this environmental variation. We examined local environmental and spatial factors affecting lake littoral biodiversity and the structuring of assemblages of phytoplankton, zooplankton and macroinvertebrates within and among three basins of a large lake system. We explored congruence of species composition and species richness among the studied organism groups to evaluate their general indicator potential to represent spatial variation in other groups. We expected that effects of water chemistry on plankton assemblages were stronger than effects of habitat characteristics. In contrast, we anticipated stronger effects of habitat on macroinvertebrates due to their mainly benthic mode of life. We also expected that within-basin spatial effects would be strongest on macroinvertebrates and weakest on phytoplankton. We predicted weak congruence in assemblage composition and species richness among the organism groups. Phytoplankton assemblages were mainly structured by the shared effects of water chemistry and large-scale spatial factors. In contrast to our expectations, habitat effects were stronger than water chemistry effects on zooplankton assemblages. However, as expected, macroinvertebrate species composition and richness were mainly affected by habitat conditions. Among-group congruence was weak for assemblage composition and insignificant for richness. Albeit weak, congruence was strongest between phytoplankton and zooplankton assemblages, as we expected. In summary, our analyses do not support the idea of using a single organism group as a wholesale biodiversity indicator.

Keywords: shore zones; biotic communities; habitat; natural diversity; biodiversity; plankton; invertebrates

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Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2020

JUFO rating: 1