Spatial scales drive zooplankton diversity in savanna Cerrado streams

Padovesi-Fonseca, Claudia and de Souza Rezende, Renan and da Costa, Damião Ferreira and Martins-Silva, Maria Júlia (2021) Spatial scales drive zooplankton diversity in savanna Cerrado streams. Community Ecology, 22 (2). pp. 249-259. ISSN 1585-8553

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Abstract

Zooplankton is an important community in aquatic ecosystems due to its linkage between primary producers and secondary consumers, and by their key role in cycling organic materials. However, a low number of studies were performed in small lotic systems, mainly in savanna Cerrado headwater systems. Therefore, our objective was to investigate α and β diversities of the zooplankton community along 21 headwater streams in relation to micro-basin and sub-basin spatial scales and the water physicochemical parameters. Our hypotheses are that α diversity is negatively related to the increase on spatial scale and β diversity is positively related to the increase on scale. Zooplankton samples were taken using a bucket and filtered 200 L by a 64 μm mesh plankton net and preserved for subsequent identification. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, ions, and anions (nutrients) were measured. A total of 2650 individuals (m −3 ) from 19 taxa were collected. The most abundant taxa were Cyclopoida (copepodite; 24.4%) and rotifer Tricocerca cylindrica (17.7%). The lower spatial scale was the most important factor driving the α diversity. However, the richness of the zooplankton community did not change among sub-basins and micro-basins. Changes on species composition by nested spatial organization between habitat patches drove the β diversity. The communities from the same sub-basin and micro-basin were more structurally related than those from different basins. Finally, closer points show similar environmental characteristics and electrical conductivity concentration increases the species richness. Therefore, patterns of species diversity are essential to understand community ecology, as well as to provide information for conservation planning on savanna Cerrado streams.

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