Effects of glacial influence on trophic function of benthic fauna in tropical high-Andean streams
Glacial-fed stream features affect macroinvertebrate communities in both temperate and tropical streams. Alpine glacier-fed stream food chain present specific features, yet nothing is known about the organization of trophic webs in tropical glacier fed streams. Understanding the connections between...
| Autor Principal: | Andino Guarderas, Patricio Javier |
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| Idioma: | esp |
| Publicado: |
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
2016
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: |
CDT/551.512/An24e |
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| Sumario: |
Glacial-fed stream features affect macroinvertebrate communities in both temperate and tropical streams. Alpine glacier-fed stream food chain present specific features, yet nothing is known about the organization of trophic webs in tropical glacier fed streams. Understanding the connections between different levels of ecosystem organization, can help develop a more coherent theoretical framework to predict the ecological consequences of Climate Change (CC). Enhancing our understanding of CC repercussions over ecological resilience, and the future use of this knowledge on the management of biodiversity affected by glacial retreat. Carried out at the foothills of the snowcapped Antisana volcano, sites for this study were chosen to cover a gradient of Glacier Influence (hereafter GI). Based on the diminishing GI effect of non-glacier fed over glacier fed streams. And classified using a modified Glaciality Index, that integrated the distinctive environmental variables of tropical glacier fed streams. Results indicate that feeding guild abundance was negatively related with GI, while Functional Feeding Group (FFG) richness was less affected. Functional redundancy was found at intermediate levels of GI, as new colonizers possess similar traits to taxa already present at higher levels. And so, niche filtering processes take place due to environmental harshness caused by GI. More specialized feeding habits are distributed towards more stable streams as they struggle to avoid imbalances between the supply and the demand of resources. While, in severe environments, opportunistic generalist habits seem to prevail over specialization on a single food resource; allowing them to inhabit a wider range of environments. Coarse Organic Matter Decomposition (COMD) follows a weak humped-shaped relationship with glacial influence that reflects the overriding abiotic environment effects over decomposition ecosystem function. This study indicates that organic matter dynamics in tropical andean glacier fed streams bare low autochtho |
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