Publicação
Riparian forests as dispersal corridors for adult European mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies (EPTs)
| Resumo: | Meta-community theory is widely applied to study the underlying ecological processes of the landscape. One of the main factors structuring the meta-community is dispersal, this is, the movement of organisms across the landscape. Dispersal is determined by the functional dispersal diversity in the meta-community (stronger and weaker dispersers) and the landscape heterogeneity (landscape features which enhance or inhibit dispersal). The following work addresses pre-existing knowledge gaps on the mayfly, stonefly and caddisfly community dispersal (functional dispersal diversity) and its relationship with riparian forests (landscape heterogeneity) in three studies: In the first (Chapter 2), I investigated the diversity of functional dispersal traits of the European EPT species, analysing the existing empirical data and selecting a suitable functional dispersal index (Peredo Arce et al. 2021). In the second study (Chapter 3), I assessed the effect of riparian forest in landscape connectivity for EPTs, concluding that native riparian forest enhance dispersal under certain conditions (Peredo Arce et al. 2023a). Finally, in Chapter 4, I extended the study to four European regions, concluding that the effect of native riparian forest enhancing EPTs dispersal differs between regions (Peredo Arce et al. 2023b). Three main goals were achieved: First, building a theoretical and methodological framework to include dispersal diversity and landscape heterogeneity in the study of the EPT meta-community, highlighting the role of the riparian forest as dispersal corridor. Second, generating a new perspective for the riverine and riparian ecosystems management, indicating that the restoration and conservation of native riparian forest is a key strategy to improve the ecological health of freshwater ecosystems. Third, identifying several aspects that require further investigation: empirical dispersal studies, interaction between ecological stressors and EPT dispersal, characterization of the riparian forest from the perspective of EPT dispersal, causes for local and regional differences and effects of climate change in the EPT meta-community . |
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| Autores principais: | Peredo Arce, Andrés |
| Assunto: | aquatic macroinvertebrates meta-community landscape connectivity riparian forest Europe macroinvertebrados aquáticos meta-comunidade conectividade da paisagem floresta ripária Europa |
| Ano: | 2023 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | tese de doutoramento |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Resumo: | Meta-community theory is widely applied to study the underlying ecological processes of the landscape. One of the main factors structuring the meta-community is dispersal, this is, the movement of organisms across the landscape. Dispersal is determined by the functional dispersal diversity in the meta-community (stronger and weaker dispersers) and the landscape heterogeneity (landscape features which enhance or inhibit dispersal). The following work addresses pre-existing knowledge gaps on the mayfly, stonefly and caddisfly community dispersal (functional dispersal diversity) and its relationship with riparian forests (landscape heterogeneity) in three studies: In the first (Chapter 2), I investigated the diversity of functional dispersal traits of the European EPT species, analysing the existing empirical data and selecting a suitable functional dispersal index (Peredo Arce et al. 2021). In the second study (Chapter 3), I assessed the effect of riparian forest in landscape connectivity for EPTs, concluding that native riparian forest enhance dispersal under certain conditions (Peredo Arce et al. 2023a). Finally, in Chapter 4, I extended the study to four European regions, concluding that the effect of native riparian forest enhancing EPTs dispersal differs between regions (Peredo Arce et al. 2023b). Three main goals were achieved: First, building a theoretical and methodological framework to include dispersal diversity and landscape heterogeneity in the study of the EPT meta-community, highlighting the role of the riparian forest as dispersal corridor. Second, generating a new perspective for the riverine and riparian ecosystems management, indicating that the restoration and conservation of native riparian forest is a key strategy to improve the ecological health of freshwater ecosystems. Third, identifying several aspects that require further investigation: empirical dispersal studies, interaction between ecological stressors and EPT dispersal, characterization of the riparian forest from the perspective of EPT dispersal, causes for local and regional differences and effects of climate change in the EPT meta-community . |
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