Functional redundancy modifies species-area relationship for freshwater phytoplankton.

ABSTRACT: Although species-area relationship (SAR) is among the most extensively studied patterns in ecology, studies on aquatic and/or microbial systems are seriously underrepresented in the literature. We tested the algal SAR in lakes, pools and ponds of various sizes (10^-2-10⁸ m²) and similar hydromorphological and trophic characteristics using species-specific data and functional groups. Besides the expectation that species richness increases monotonously with area, we found a right-skewed hump-shaped relationship between the area and phytoplankton species richness. Functional richness however did not show such distortion. Differences between the area dependence of species and functional richness indicate that functional redundancy is responsible for the unusual

SUBMITTER: Varbiro G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5723584 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature