TY - JOUR
T1 - Novel temporary aquatic habitats and desert invertebrate communities
AU - Griffis-Kyle, Kerry L.
AU - Parker, Ashley Eckhardt
AU - Goetting, Jordan
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the 56th Range Management Office of Luke Air Force Base for funding and thank the entire office for support. We appreciate M Bogan’s advice on the differences between complexities in tinaja invertebrate communities. We thank J Arnett for initial conversations about desert waters and logistical support throughout. J Drake, K Smith, V Marshall, T Calvert, and others participated in data collection. We thank T Raspillar and D Urquidez from the Arizona Game and Fish Department for their time and acknowledge the Department of Natural Resources Management for covering page charges for this publication. The authors report no conflict of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Texas Academy of Science. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The addition of desert water developments alleviates water stress for a variety of organisms and is likely necessary for some species as water availability from other isolated water sources declines with climate change. However, constructed water catchments are different structurally and do not cycle water the same way as natural sites. We assessed whether these novel habitats, the constructed catchments of the Sonoran Desert, function as ecological equivalents of the natural waters and evaluated their effects on macroinvertebrate biodiversity, community composition, and trophic function. We documented an accumulation of ammonia and less diversity and different taxa assemblages in the novel habitat. We also documented a more heterotrophic food web in the natural water basins that are more dependent on resource pulses, and a more autotrophic food web in novel habitats that are more dependent on primary production from the open catchment basin. As natural resource managers continue to add constructed waters to mitigate for climate change induced declines in water availability, organisms are more likely to encounter these novel habitats as they disperse. Consequently, by increasing the density of these novel habitats we are having a measurable effect on the types of species and trophic groups present as well as the ecosystem cycling of energy and nutrients across the desert landscape. The consequences of these shifts in invertebrate community composition and ecosystem cycling on the larger desert ecosystem is unknown.
AB - The addition of desert water developments alleviates water stress for a variety of organisms and is likely necessary for some species as water availability from other isolated water sources declines with climate change. However, constructed water catchments are different structurally and do not cycle water the same way as natural sites. We assessed whether these novel habitats, the constructed catchments of the Sonoran Desert, function as ecological equivalents of the natural waters and evaluated their effects on macroinvertebrate biodiversity, community composition, and trophic function. We documented an accumulation of ammonia and less diversity and different taxa assemblages in the novel habitat. We also documented a more heterotrophic food web in the natural water basins that are more dependent on resource pulses, and a more autotrophic food web in novel habitats that are more dependent on primary production from the open catchment basin. As natural resource managers continue to add constructed waters to mitigate for climate change induced declines in water availability, organisms are more likely to encounter these novel habitats as they disperse. Consequently, by increasing the density of these novel habitats we are having a measurable effect on the types of species and trophic groups present as well as the ecosystem cycling of energy and nutrients across the desert landscape. The consequences of these shifts in invertebrate community composition and ecosystem cycling on the larger desert ecosystem is unknown.
KW - Biodiversity
KW - Community ecology
KW - Ephemeral wetland
KW - Tinaja
KW - Trophic function
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081969824&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.32011/txjsci_71_1_Article5
DO - 10.32011/txjsci_71_1_Article5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081969824
VL - 71
JO - Texas Journal of Science
JF - Texas Journal of Science
SN - 0040-4403
IS - 1
M1 - 5
ER -