Factors affecting the metacommunity structure of periphytic ostracods (Crustacea, Ostracoda): a deconstruction approach based on biological traits

Abstract

Metacommunity studies using the deconstruction approach based on biological traits have received a great deal of attention in recent years as they often better describe characteristics of the species that reflect adaptations to a specific environment. This approach has not yet been used for ostracods, which are nevertheless highly diverse crustaceans and abundant in continental aquatic environments. Here, we investigate the influence of environmental and spatial factors on the metacommunity structure of periphytic ostracods in 27 tropical floodplain lakes in the Upper Paraná River floodplain (Brazil). An analysis of variance partitioning was used to estimate the relative importance of these factors (environmental and spatial) on both the entire community as well as after its deconstruction according to the biological traits (size and locomotion mode). Ostracods, regardless of body size, are good dispersers at regional scales. In addition, as expected, swimming ostracods were better dispersers at local scales than non-swimmers, which were influenced mainly by the diversity of aquatic macrophytes. Environmental factors (species sorting mechanism) seem important in structuring the entire ostracods metacommunity, as well as for most categories of biological traits. The unexplained variability remained high showing that other variables, not measured here, must be important. The analysis based on deconstruction, when compared to the analysis based on the metacommunity as a whole, contributed to a better assessment of ostracod metacommunity structuring.