BIODIVERSITY AT LOCAL TO GLOBAL SCALES

Freshwater ecosystems are among the world’s most threatened, and their biodiversity is in decline. Our research addresses crucial questions about how aquatic community composition, α diversity (local taxa richness) and β diversity (variability in community composition among sites) respond to drying, including predictable, seasonal drying and unpredictable disturbances. We collaborate with national and international colleagues to explore data at local to global scales; elucidating biodiversity patterns enables development of general ‘rules’ that advance understanding of how ecosystems work; identifying context-dependent relationships informs loca environmental protection strategies. From individuals to metacommunities, we use macroinvertebrates as a diverse and abundant biota that allow in-depth exploration of our research questions:

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• How does community diversity respond to drying, and how do these responses differ among streams with contrasting flow permanence regimes?

• How long does community diversity take to recover from drying – which species recover quickly, and which are impacted for long durations?

• How does drying affect β diversity: do perennial or temporary site networks have greater variability in community composition, and is this driven by taxon losses / gains or replacements?

• Does biodiversity respond similarly to drying across spatial scales, and what global ‘rules’ characterize biotic responses to drying across regions?

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Photo: Paraleptophlebia werneri juvenile, copyright Adrian Chalkley / @Box_Valley