Assessing environmental and spatial drivers of non-marine ostracod metacommunities structure in Northern and Southern Patagonian environments

COVIAGA, CORINA A.; PÉREZ, A. PATRICIA; RAMOS, LORENA Y.; ZALAZAR, LAURA; GARCÍA, PATRICIA E.; CUSMINSKY, GABRIELA C.

AQUATIC SCIENCES

BIRKHAUSER VERLAG AG

Año: 2023 vol. 85

1015-1621

Understanding the mechanisms structuring metacommunities is a fundamental question in community ecology. Ostracods are an ideal study group for metacommunity studies, due to their environmental sensitivity, high dispersal capacity and increased use as biological proxy in (paleo-)ecology studies. We studied the contribution of environmental and spatial processes in the structure of non-marine ostracod metacommunities in Northern and Southern Patagonia. A total of 37 ostracod species were found at the 105 environments studied. According to variation partitioning results, the metacommunities in Northern Patagonia were influenced by a combination of species sorting (environmental control, including non-spatial and spatial components) and spatial effects (e.g. dispersal limitation), while species sorting (environmental control, due to non-spatial components) was the principal mechanism affecting Southern Patagonia. Discrepancies between the degree of environmental and spatial control affecting ostracod metacommunity structure was associated with differences in study area extension and in sampled site distances, more than differences in Ostracoda response. Instead, the spatial extent did not influence total beta diversity and its components between the studied areas. Our study expands the understanding of the drivers affecting the non-marine ostracod metacommunities in Patagonia, Argentina, and also the variables affecting the structure of the ostracod assemblages. Increased knowledge in these aspects has important implications for (paleo-)ecology studies, allowing reliable interpretation in biological assessment programs and paleoenvironmental interpretation.