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Weak relationships between landscape characteristics and multiple facets of stream macroinvertebrate biodiversity in a boreal drainage basin

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Abstract

Variability in biodiversity is often assessed based on species richness, and this adherence to a single index has been typical in studies of ecology, biogeography, and conservation in the past two decades. More recent studies have suggested that species richness alone is insufficient as a measure of biodiversity, mainly because it is not necessarily correlated with other measures of biodiversity. We examined (1) if nine indices embracing species diversity, functional diversity, and taxonomic distinctness of stream macroinvertebrate assemblages show congruent patterns, and (2) if these indices show similar relationships to landscape characteristics. Not all indices varied similarly and were thus not significantly correlated. There were three principal components that effectively described variation in the correlation structure of the nine indices. These three components were: (1) diversity and evenness indices, (2) two indices of taxonomic distinctness, and (3) species richness and functional richness. Four of the nine biodiversity indices examined showed no significant relationships to landscape-catchment characteristics, and even the significant correlations between the remaining five indices and explanatory variables were rather weak. However, species richness showed a rather strong quadratic relationship to catchment area. Our study provided a number of suggestions for future biodiversity studies at the landscape scale. First, given that different indices describe different components of biodiversity and are not strongly correlated, multiple indices should be considered in any study describing stream biodiversity. Second, despite the study was restricted to near-pristine streams, all indices showed considerable variation. Thus, this natural variability should be accounted for prior to the examination of anthropogenic effects on stream biodiversity. Third, landscape-catchment variables may have only limited value in explaining variability in biodiversity indices, at least in regions with no strong anthropogenic gradients in land-use.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Academy of Finland (grants to J. Heino and T. Muotka). We thank Oulanka Research Station for logistical support during the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Department, Finnish Environment Institute, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 413, 90014, Oulu, Finland

    Jani Heino & Heikki Mykrä

  2. South Savo Regional Environment Centre, Jääkärinkatu 14, 50100, Mikkeli, Finland

    Juho Kotanen

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  1. Jani Heino
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  2. Heikki Mykrä
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  3. Juho Kotanen
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Correspondence to Jani Heino.

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Heino, J., Mykrä, H. & Kotanen, J. Weak relationships between landscape characteristics and multiple facets of stream macroinvertebrate biodiversity in a boreal drainage basin. Landscape Ecol 23, 417–426 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-008-9199-6

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