Do latitudinal gradients exist in New Zealand stream invertebrate metacommunities?

ABSTRACT: That biodiversity declines with latitude is well known, but whether a metacommunity process is behind this gradient has received limited attention. We tested the hypothesis that dispersal limitation is progressively replaced by mass effects with increasing latitude, along with a series of related hypotheses. We explored these hypotheses by examining metacommunity structure in stream invertebrate metacommunities spanning the length of New Zealand's two largest islands (∼1,300 km), further disentangling the role of dispersal by deconstructing assemblages into strong and weak dispersers. Given the highly dynamic nature of New Zealand streams, our alternative hypothesis was that these systems are so unpredictable (at different stages of post-flood succession) that metacommunity structure is hi

SUBMITTER: Tonkin JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5971837 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature