Environmental change and predator diversity drive alpha and beta diversity in freshwater macro and microorganisms

Author(s)

Antiqueira, Pablo Augusto P. ^{[1, 2]} ; Petchey, Owen L. ^[3] ; dos Santos, Viviane Piccin ^[4] ; de Oliveira, Valeria Maia ^[4] ; Romero, Gustavo Quevedo ^{[5, 2, 6]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas UNICAMP, IB, Programa Posgrad Ecol, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Lab Multitroph Interact & Biodivers, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Zurich, Dept Evolutionary Biol & Environm Studies, Zurich - Switzerland

^[4] Univ Estadual Campinas, Res Ctr Chem Biol & Agr CPQBA, Paulinia, SP - Brazil

^[5] Brazilian Res Network Climate Change Rede Clima, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Univ Estadual Campinas UNICAMP, IB, Dept Biol Anim, Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY; v. 24, n. 8, p. 3715-3728, AUG 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 2

Abstract

Global biodiversity is eroding due to anthropogenic causes, such as climate change, habitat loss, and trophic simplification of biological communities. Most studies address only isolated causes within a single group of organisms; however, biological groups of different trophic levels may respond in particular ways to different environmental impacts. Our study used natural microcosms to investigate the predicted individual and interactive effects of warming, changes in top predator diversity, and habitat size on the alpha and beta diversity of macrofauna, microfauna, and bacteria. Alpha diversity (i.e., richness within each bromeliad) generally explained a larger proportion of the gamma diversity (partitioned in alpha and beta diversity). Overall, dissimilarity between communities occurred due to species turnover and not species loss (nestedness). Nevertheless, the three biological groups responded differently to each environmental stressor. Microfauna were the most sensitive group, with alpha and beta diversity being affected by environmental changes (warming and habitat size) and trophic structure (diversity of top predators). Macrofauna alpha and beta diversity was sensitive to changes in predator diversity and habitat size, but not warming. In contrast, the bacterial community was not influenced by the treatments. The community of each biological group was not mutually concordant with the environmental and trophic changes. Our results demonstrate that distinct anthropogenic impacts differentially affect the components of macro and microorganism diversity through direct and indirect effects (i.e., bottom-up and top-down effects). Therefore, a multitrophic and multispecies approach is necessary to assess the effects of different anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/01209-9 - Effects of climate change on the structure of food webs in latitudinal gradients
• Grantee: Gustavo Quevedo Romero
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• FAPESP's process: 15/06646-5 - The effects of global warming on the trophic structure and ecosystem functioning in tank-bromeliads
• Grantee: Pablo Augusto Poleto Antiqueira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 14/04603-4 - Global warming effects on the trophic structure and ecosystem functioning in tank-bromeliads
• Grantee: Pablo Augusto Poleto Antiqueira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate