Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina

1. Palaeoecological records may be useful in predicting the ecological outcomes for certain communities exposed to natural and human disturbance. In turn, theoretical work has emphasized the importance of baseline information on diversity to establish precise conservation and restoration policies. 2...

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Autores principales: Massaferro, J., Corley, J.
Formato: JOUR
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_10527613_v8_n3_p315_Massaferro
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spelling todo:paper_10527613_v8_n3_p315_Massaferro2023-10-03T16:00:33Z Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina Massaferro, J. Corley, J. Disturbing events Fossil chironomids Lake conservation Long-term diversity Patagonia biodiversity community composition community response disturbance palaeoecology Argentina, Patagonia, Lake Mascardi Chironomidae Chironomus thummi Diptera Hexapoda Insecta 1. Palaeoecological records may be useful in predicting the ecological outcomes for certain communities exposed to natural and human disturbance. In turn, theoretical work has emphasized the importance of baseline information on diversity to establish precise conservation and restoration policies. 2. Lake sediments provide good evidence of long-term changes in community composition, especially of insects from the family Chironomidae. Midge fauna is highly diverse and their remains are well preserved in sequential order allowing the construction of past assemblages. 3. To assess long-term community trends and stability in an environment virtually free from human impact, fossil midge assemblages were collected from a sediment core at Lake Mascardi (Rio Negro, Argentina). Shannon's diversity index as well as rank-abundance relationships were estimated for core subsamples (10 cm slices), using a 'taxonomic minimalist' approach. 4. Diversity levels are relatively constant along the core. However, sharp reductions in diversity and equitability in midge assemblages are recorded. These reductions appear to be related to natural variability-mainly ash falls (pulse) and climatic (press) disturbing events. During pulse disturbances, both diversity and equitability fall, recovering rapidly after pressure is released. During press events (long-term disturbances) equitability falls whereas diversity remains fairly constant. Subfamily succession between pulse disturbances, follows proposed ecological species rank-abundance models. 5. These findings suggest that at long time-scales, a low level of taxonomic detail may be adequate for the analysis of community responses to environmental change. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_10527613_v8_n3_p315_Massaferro
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Disturbing events
Fossil chironomids
Lake conservation
Long-term diversity
Patagonia
biodiversity
community composition
community response
disturbance
palaeoecology
Argentina, Patagonia, Lake Mascardi
Chironomidae
Chironomus thummi
Diptera
Hexapoda
Insecta
spellingShingle Disturbing events
Fossil chironomids
Lake conservation
Long-term diversity
Patagonia
biodiversity
community composition
community response
disturbance
palaeoecology
Argentina, Patagonia, Lake Mascardi
Chironomidae
Chironomus thummi
Diptera
Hexapoda
Insecta
Massaferro, J.
Corley, J.
Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina
topic_facet Disturbing events
Fossil chironomids
Lake conservation
Long-term diversity
Patagonia
biodiversity
community composition
community response
disturbance
palaeoecology
Argentina, Patagonia, Lake Mascardi
Chironomidae
Chironomus thummi
Diptera
Hexapoda
Insecta
description 1. Palaeoecological records may be useful in predicting the ecological outcomes for certain communities exposed to natural and human disturbance. In turn, theoretical work has emphasized the importance of baseline information on diversity to establish precise conservation and restoration policies. 2. Lake sediments provide good evidence of long-term changes in community composition, especially of insects from the family Chironomidae. Midge fauna is highly diverse and their remains are well preserved in sequential order allowing the construction of past assemblages. 3. To assess long-term community trends and stability in an environment virtually free from human impact, fossil midge assemblages were collected from a sediment core at Lake Mascardi (Rio Negro, Argentina). Shannon's diversity index as well as rank-abundance relationships were estimated for core subsamples (10 cm slices), using a 'taxonomic minimalist' approach. 4. Diversity levels are relatively constant along the core. However, sharp reductions in diversity and equitability in midge assemblages are recorded. These reductions appear to be related to natural variability-mainly ash falls (pulse) and climatic (press) disturbing events. During pulse disturbances, both diversity and equitability fall, recovering rapidly after pressure is released. During press events (long-term disturbances) equitability falls whereas diversity remains fairly constant. Subfamily succession between pulse disturbances, follows proposed ecological species rank-abundance models. 5. These findings suggest that at long time-scales, a low level of taxonomic detail may be adequate for the analysis of community responses to environmental change.
format JOUR
author Massaferro, J.
Corley, J.
author_facet Massaferro, J.
Corley, J.
author_sort Massaferro, J.
title Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina
title_short Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina
title_full Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina
title_fullStr Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina
title_full_unstemmed Environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr BP of history at Lake Mascardi, Patagonia, Argentina
title_sort environmental disturbance and chironomid palaeodiversity: 15 kyr bp of history at lake mascardi, patagonia, argentina
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_10527613_v8_n3_p315_Massaferro
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