Effects of spatial scale and habitat on the diversity of diapausing wetland invertebrates

Abstract

The community structure of aquatic invertebrates producing dormant propagules has been associated with both local and regional-scale factors in temporary wetlands. We explore how patterns in the diversity of drought-resistant aquatic invertebrates are related to different spatial scales in ponds with distinct plant structural complexities. We tested 3 hypotheses: (1) the finest spatial scale (fine-scale diversity) has the strongest contribution to diversity and composition; (2) the fine-scale diversity will be higher in habitats that are more complex; and (3) the habitat-scale diversity has a higher contribution to regional diversity than broad- and fine-scale diversity. Dry sediment samples were collected from 3 ponds with 2 distinct plant habitats. The findings from individual partitions show that the importance of spatial scales was different between habitats. Fine-scale diversity represented a greater fraction of the total diversity for the habitat with the highest complexity, and broad-scale diversity showed a substantial contribution to total diversity in the habitat with the lowest complexity. Habitat-scale diversity contributed most to regional diversity, which underlines the importance of habitat type in the diversity of aquatic invertebrates that produce dormant propagules in temporary ponds.