Multi-scale Homogenization of Caddisfly Metacomminities in Human-modified Landscapes

The multiple scale of stream networks spatial organization reflects the hierarchical arrangement of streams habitats with increasingly levels of complexity from sub-catchments until entire hydrographic basins. Through these multiple spatial scales, local stream habitats form nested subsets of increasingly landscape scale and habitat size with varying contributions of both alpha and beta diversity for the regional diversity. Here, we aimed to test the relative importance of multiple nested hierarchical levels of spatial scales while determining alpha and beta diversity of caddisflies in regions with different levels of landscape degradation in a core Cerrado area in Brazil. We used quantitative environmental variables to test the hypothesis that landscape homogenization affects the contribution of alpha and beta diversity of caddisflies to regional diversity. We found that the contribution of alpha and beta diversity for gamma diversity varied according to landscape degradation. Sub-catchments with more intense agriculture had lower diversity at multiple levels, markedly alpha and beta diversities. We have also found that environmental predictors mainly associated with water quality, channel size, and habitat integrity (lower scores indicate stream degradation) were related to community dissimilarity at the catchment scale. For an effective management of the headwater biodiversity of caddisfly, towards the conservation of these catchments, heterogeneous streams with more pristine riparian vegetation found within the river basin need to be preserved in protected areas. Additionally, in the most degraded areas the restoration of riparian vegetation and size increase of protected areas will be needed to accomplish such effort.