Influence of isolation on the resilience of tank bromeliad ecosystems to drought in a Neotropical rainforest
Abstract Little is known of how Neotropical freshwater ecosystems will respond to future climate scenarios. In Neotropical rainforests, a substantial fraction of the freshwater available to the aquatic fauna is found within phytotelmata, plant-held waters that form aquatic islands in a terrestrial matrix. We hypothesized that phytotelmata in close proximity have higher resilience capacity to severe drought than the isolated ones, under the assumption that immigration from nearby sources promotes faster recovery. We used rainshelters to emulate an extreme drought (67 days without rainfall) in tank-forming bromeliads arranged in patches of 1, 3 or 6 plants in a primary forest of French Guiana. Habitat size was a stronger determinant of invertebrate species richness and biomass per bromeliad than patch size. Larger bromeliad patches attenuated the adverse effect of drought on the biomass of predators, probably because short-range migration within dense patches allowed individuals to find moist refuges. However, the recovery of aquatic communities and ecosystem functions was mostly supported by in situ resistance, and a rescue effect of immigration was weak. Whilst environmental management plans tend to focus on dense networks of connected water bodies, our study shows that efforts should not omit the isolated ones.
Authors
- Marie Séguigne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0973-7896)
- Thibaut Rota (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2195-0529)
- Céline Leroy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4859-8040)
- Jean‐François Carrias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6201-1544)
- Régis Céréghino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3981-3159)
- Bruno Corbara
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (FR)
- Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR)
- University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (CH)
- Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR)
- Université Clermont Auvergne (FR)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- UMR Botanique et Modélisation de l’Architecture des Plantes et des végétations (FR)
- Laboratoire Microorganismes Génome et Environnement (FR)
- Institut Agro Montpelier (FR)
- Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane (GF)
- Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l'Environnement (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Hydrobiologia
- Published
- 2024-10-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05704-1
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.38
Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier