Invertebrate assemblages and their ecological controls across the world’s freshwater wetlands

Abstract

In this chapter, we perform a comparison of the invertebrate assemblages of the 15 wetland types included in the book using nine faunal groups (mollusks, leeches, large branchiopods, malacostracans, odonates, the so-called EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera), hemipterans, coleopterans, and dipterans). Family level was used in order to avoid some biogeographic biases and because it is the lowest taxon that was reliably reported by authors across all habitats. Tables comparing assemblage composition of each wetland type were provided for each fauna group. Richness patterns of the nine analyzed taxonomic groups clearly distinguished between high- and low-richness wetland types. Additionally, we proposed some conceptual models in order to explain how the Pool of Taxa available to colonize specific wetland types are determined by biogeography, climate, and habitat history, and how environmental factors operate filter the taxa present in a wetland type (i.e., hydroregime, wetland size, predation, etc.).