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Published on: April 28, 2023
458
Human pressure drives biodiversity-multifunctionality relationships in large Neotropical wetlands
Dieison A Moi1, Fernando M Lansac-Tôha2, Gustavo Q Romero3
1Department of Biology (DBI), Center of Biological Sciences (CCB), State University of Maringá (UEM), Maringá, Brazil. dieisonandrebv@outlook.com.
Nature Ecology & Evolution
|August 4, 2022
Summary
Biodiversity is crucial for ecosystem productivity. Human activities harm wetland multifunctionality by reducing aquatic organism diversity, though larger species like fish remain resilient.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Conservation Biology
Background:
- Biodiversity regulates ecosystem functions and productivity.
- Human activities can impact ecosystem multifunctionality through direct and indirect effects.
- The role of biodiversity loss in altering ecosystem multifunctionality under human pressure is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how human activities alter ecosystem multifunctionality.
- To assess the impact of species and functional diversity on ecosystem multifunctionality.
- To examine the differential effects of human pressure on various organismal groups and their link to multifunctionality.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an extensive database of 72 lakes across four Neotropical wetlands in Brazil.
- Assessed species richness and functional diversity across multiple aquatic organism groups (fish, macrophytes, microcrustaceans, rotifers, protists, phytoplankton).
- Analyzed the relationship between biodiversity metrics, human pressure, and ecosystem multifunctionality.
Main Results:
- Species richness and functional diversity of both larger (fish, macrophytes) and smaller (microcrustaceans, phytoplankton, etc.) aquatic organisms were positively associated with ecosystem multifunctionality.
- The positive link between smaller organisms and multifunctionality diminished under increasing human pressure.
- Larger aquatic organisms maintained a positive association with multifunctionality even with increased human pressure.
- Human activities directly and indirectly reduced species richness and functional diversity, negatively impacting multifunctionality.
Conclusions:
- Aquatic biodiversity is essential for maintaining wetland multifunctionality.
- Human pressure erodes aquatic biodiversity, diminishing its positive effects on ecosystem functions.
- Conservation strategies should consider the resilience of larger organisms to maintain wetland multifunctionality under human pressure.
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