Different taxa, different rules: disentangling the importance of local conditions, spatial structure, and landscape composition on Amazonian aquatic biodiversity

Understanding how different biological groups respond to multiple drivers is essential for advancing freshwater ecology and improving biodiversity conservation. Here, we investigated the relative importance of local habitat conditions, spatial structure, and landscape composition in shaping species richness and composition across four aquatic biological groups (zooplankton, macrophytes, adult odonates, and fish) in streams and ponds on Marajó Island (eastern Amazonia). We sampled lotic and lentic water bodies and used generalized linear mixed models, permutational analyses, and distance-based regressions to disentangle multiscale controls on biodiversity patterns. Zooplankton richness was primarily driven by local physicochemical variables, whereas macrophyte, odonate, and fish richness were more strongly associated with landscape composition and spatial structure. System type (lentic vs. lotic) influenced richness and composition only for specific groups. Landscape elements, including forests, flooded areas, grasslands, pastures, and urbanization, exerted context- and scale-dependent effects on community structure, with some forms of landscape modification increasing compositional heterogeneity or favoring particular taxa. Weak covariation among biological groups further indicated low cross-taxon congruence in biodiversity patterns. Our findings demonstrate that freshwater biodiversity responses to environmental change are multidimensional, taxon-specific, and scale-dependent. These results highlight the need for integrated, multi-taxon, and multi-scale approaches that account for context-dependent landscape effects to improve biodiversity assessment, monitoring, and conservation in highly heterogeneous tropical systems.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Landscape Ecology
Published
2026-06-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-026-02396-x
Primary Topic
Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Different taxa, different rules: disentangling the importance of local conditions, spatial structure, and landscape composition on Amazonian aquatic biodiversity

Renan Peixoto Rosário, Juan Mateo Rivera-Pérez, Leandro Juen, Marina Barreira Mendonça et al.
Landscape Ecology
Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
article

Different taxa, different rules: disentangling the importance of local conditions, spatial structure, and landscape composition on Amazonian aquatic biodiversity

Renan Peixoto Rosário, Juan Mateo Rivera-Pérez, Leandro Juen, Marina Barreira Mendonça, Luciano Fogaça de Assis Montag, Lucimar Silva Carvalho, Jair da Costa Miranda Filho, Viviane Caetano Firmino, Maura Cardoso de Souza, Thaísa Sala Michelan, Karina Dias‐Silva, Lenize Batista Calvão, Eduarda Silva de Lima, Ana Filipa Palmeirim, Joás Silva Brito, Larissa Araújo dos Santos, Márcio Joaquim da Silva, Francieli de Fátima Bomfim, Luísa Vareira, Francisco Maciel Barbosa-Santos, Jorge Luiz da Silva Pereira, Juan Esteban Bastos Lopes, Vicente Santos de Sousa
article en

Abstract

Understanding how different biological groups respond to multiple drivers is essential for advancing freshwater ecology and improving biodiversity conservation. Here, we investigated the relative importance of local habitat conditions, spatial structure, and landscape composition in shaping species richness and composition across four aquatic biological groups (zooplankton, macrophytes, adult odonates, and fish) in streams and ponds on Marajó Island (eastern Amazonia). We sampled lotic and lentic water bodies and used generalized linear mixed models, permutational analyses, and distance-based regressions to disentangle multiscale controls on biodiversity patterns. Zooplankton richness was primarily driven by local physicochemical variables, whereas macrophyte, odonate, and fish richness were more strongly associated with landscape composition and spatial structure. System type (lentic vs. lotic) influenced richness and composition only for specific groups. Landscape elements, including forests, flooded areas, grasslands, pastures, and urbanization, exerted context- and scale-dependent effects on community structure, with some forms of landscape modification increasing compositional heterogeneity or favoring particular taxa. Weak covariation among biological groups further indicated low cross-taxon congruence in biodiversity patterns. Our findings demonstrate that freshwater biodiversity responses to environmental change are multidimensional, taxon-specific, and scale-dependent. These results highlight the need for integrated, multi-taxon, and multi-scale approaches that account for context-dependent landscape effects to improve biodiversity assessment, monitoring, and conservation in highly heterogeneous tropical systems.

Landscape Ecology
Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE), Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (BR), Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (BR), Instituto de Geociencias (ES), Universidade Federal do Pará (BR), Universidade Federal de Goiás (BR)
Fundação Amazônia Paraense de Amparo à Pesquisa
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.