Disentangling drivers of temporal changes in urban pond macroinvertebrate diversity

Abstract

Ponds are key elements for ecosystem functions in urban areas. However, little is known about pond biodiversity changes over time and the drivers underlying such changes. Here, we tested whether past species assemblages, land cover and pond environmental change influence pond macroinvertebrate species richness and temporal beta diversity. We also compared spatial and temporal beta diversity, and investigated species-specific colonization and extinction rates over time. We sampled for presence of Odonata and Trichoptera (larvae), and Coleoptera and Hemiptera (larvae and adults) species in 30 ponds in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2014 and 2019. Past species richness was the best predictor of current species richness, whereas temporal changes in land cover and pond environment were not significantly related to current species richness. No correlations between temporal beta diversity and land cover or pond environmental changes were detected. However, ponds showed large changes in their temporal beta diversity, with equal contributions from species gains and losses. The probability of species colonizing and going extinct from ponds revealed that more common species were more likely to colonize a pond, while uncommon species were more likely to go extinct in a pond. Within our 5-year study, we found (i) highly similar spatial and temporal beta diversity, (ii) that past species richness is a good predictor of current species richness; however, the same does not hold true for species composition. The high dynamics of urban pond communities suggest that a large number of ponds are required to maintain high species richness at a landscape level.