Spatial distribution of freshwater crustaceans in Antarctic and Subantarctic lakes

Antarctic and Subantarctic lakes are unique ecosystems with relatively simple food webs, which are likely to be strongly affected by climate warming. While Antarctic freshwater invertebrates are adapted to extreme environmental conditions, little is known about the factors determining their current...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Reports
Main Authors: Díaz, Angie, Maturana, Claudia S., Boyero González, María Luz, De Los Ríos Escalante, Patricio, Tonin, Alan M., Correa Araneda, Francisco
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature 2019
Subjects:
ecological data
biodiversity
climate
zooplankton
ecosystems
anomopoda
islands
scales
fauna
Antarctic
Inach
Antarc*
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/43176
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44290-4
Description
Summary:Antarctic and Subantarctic lakes are unique ecosystems with relatively simple food webs, which are likely to be strongly affected by climate warming. While Antarctic freshwater invertebrates are adapted to extreme environmental conditions, little is known about the factors determining their current distribution and to what extent this is explained by biogeography or climate. We explored the distribution of freshwater crustaceans (one of the most abundant and diverse group of organisms in Antarctic and Subantarctic lakes) across four biogeographic provinces (Continental Antarctic, CA; Maritime Antarctic, MA; Subantarctic islands, SA; and Southern Cool Temperate, SCT) based on the literature, predicting that species distribution would be determined by biogeography, spatial autocorrelation among regions (in relation to dispersal) and climate. We found that variation in species composition was largely explained by the joint effect of spatial autocorrelation and climate, with little effect of biogeography – only regions within the SA province had a clearly distinct species composition. This highlights a plausible main influence of crustacean dispersal – mainly through migratory seabirds – and suggests that some regions will be more affected by climate warming than others, possibly in relation to the existence of nearby sources of colonists. Funding was obtained from PIA CONICYT ACT172065 to AD and CM, CONICYT Ph.D. Grant 21150317, P05-002 ICM, CONICYT PIA APOYO CCTE AFB170008 from Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), INACH DT_0416 to CM, FONDECYT INICIACION 11170390, and Basque Government funds (IT951-16) to the Stream Ecology Group at UPV/EHU led by J. Pozo. We thank the English language editing provided by Journal Prep Service

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