Local contributions to beta diversity in urban pond networks: Implications for biodiversity conservation and management

Matthew J. Hill; James C. White; Jeremy Biggs; Robert A. Briers; David Gledhill; Mark E. Ledger; Ian Thornhill; Paul J. Wood; Chris Hassall

doi:10.1111/ddi.13239

Local contributions to beta diversity in urban pond networks: Implications for biodiversity conservation and management

Matthew J. Hill^*, James C. White, Jeremy Biggs, Robert A. Briers, David Gledhill, Mark E. Ledger, Ian Thornhill, Paul J. Wood, Chris Hassall

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Aim: An understanding of how biotic communities are spatially organized is necessary to identify and prioritize habitats within landscape-scale biodiversity conservation. Local contribution to beta diversity (LCBD) identifies individual habitats that make a significant contribution to beta diversity and may have important practical implications, particularly for conservation of habitat networks. In this study, we develop and apply a conservation prioritization approach based on LCBD in aquatic invertebrate communities from 132 ponds.

Location: Five urban settlements in the UK: Halton, Loughborough, Stockport, Birmingham and Huddersfield.

Methods: We partition LCBD into richness difference (nestedness: _RichDiffLCBD) and species replacement (turnover: _ReplLCBD) and identify key environmental variables driving LCBD. We examine LCBD at two scales relevant to conservation planning: within urban settlements and nationally across the UK.

Results: Significant differences in LCBD values were recorded among the five settlements. In four of the five urban settlements studied, pond sites with the greatest LCBD values typically showed high replacement values. Significant LCBD sites and sites with high taxonomic diversity together supported more of the regional species pool (70%–97%) than sites with high taxonomic diversity alone (54%–94%) or what could be protected by the random selection of sites. LCBD was significantly associated with vegetation shading, surface area, altitude and macrophyte cover.

Main conclusions: Conservation prioritization that incorporates LCBD and sites with high taxonomic diversity improves the effectiveness of conservation actions within pond habitat networks, ensures sites supporting high biodiversity are protected and provides a method to define a spatial network of protected sites. Identifying new, effective conservation approaches, particularly in urban areas where resources may be scarce and conflicts regarding land use exist, is essential to ensure biodiversity is fully supported, and detrimental anthropogenic effects are reduced.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	887-900
Number of pages	14
Journal	Diversity and Distributions
Volume	27
Issue number	5
Early online date	15 Mar 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13239
Publication status	Published - May 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
MJH fully acknowledges the support of Loughborough University Graduate School Studentship. Thanks must be extended to Barry Kenny and Richard Harland for their assistance with field and laboratory work. Thanks go to Jonathan Guest and David Bentley who carried out the surveys for the Pond Life project, funded under an EU LIFE Project grant.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Diversity and Distributions published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

conservation
ecological uniqueness
LCBD
spatial patterns
taxonomic richness
urban ecology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/ddi.13239Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

HillM2021LocalFinal published version, 941 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Cite this

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title = "Local contributions to beta diversity in urban pond networks: Implications for biodiversity conservation and management",

abstract = "Aim: An understanding of how biotic communities are spatially organized is necessary to identify and prioritize habitats within landscape-scale biodiversity conservation. Local contribution to beta diversity (LCBD) identifies individual habitats that make a significant contribution to beta diversity and may have important practical implications, particularly for conservation of habitat networks. In this study, we develop and apply a conservation prioritization approach based on LCBD in aquatic invertebrate communities from 132 ponds. Location: Five urban settlements in the UK: Halton, Loughborough, Stockport, Birmingham and Huddersfield. Methods: We partition LCBD into richness difference (nestedness: RichDiffLCBD) and species replacement (turnover: ReplLCBD) and identify key environmental variables driving LCBD. We examine LCBD at two scales relevant to conservation planning: within urban settlements and nationally across the UK. Results: Significant differences in LCBD values were recorded among the five settlements. In four of the five urban settlements studied, pond sites with the greatest LCBD values typically showed high replacement values. Significant LCBD sites and sites with high taxonomic diversity together supported more of the regional species pool (70%–97%) than sites with high taxonomic diversity alone (54%–94%) or what could be protected by the random selection of sites. LCBD was significantly associated with vegetation shading, surface area, altitude and macrophyte cover. Main conclusions: Conservation prioritization that incorporates LCBD and sites with high taxonomic diversity improves the effectiveness of conservation actions within pond habitat networks, ensures sites supporting high biodiversity are protected and provides a method to define a spatial network of protected sites. Identifying new, effective conservation approaches, particularly in urban areas where resources may be scarce and conflicts regarding land use exist, is essential to ensure biodiversity is fully supported, and detrimental anthropogenic effects are reduced.",

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note = "Funding Information: MJH fully acknowledges the support of Loughborough University Graduate School Studentship. Thanks must be extended to Barry Kenny and Richard Harland for their assistance with field and laboratory work. Thanks go to Jonathan Guest and David Bentley who carried out the surveys for the Pond Life project, funded under an EU LIFE Project grant. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors. Diversity and Distributions published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

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doi = "10.1111/ddi.13239",

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AU - White, James C.

AU - Biggs, Jeremy

AU - Briers, Robert A.

AU - Gledhill, David

AU - Ledger, Mark E.

AU - Thornhill, Ian

AU - Wood, Paul J.

AU - Hassall, Chris

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PY - 2021/5

Y1 - 2021/5

N2 - Aim: An understanding of how biotic communities are spatially organized is necessary to identify and prioritize habitats within landscape-scale biodiversity conservation. Local contribution to beta diversity (LCBD) identifies individual habitats that make a significant contribution to beta diversity and may have important practical implications, particularly for conservation of habitat networks. In this study, we develop and apply a conservation prioritization approach based on LCBD in aquatic invertebrate communities from 132 ponds. Location: Five urban settlements in the UK: Halton, Loughborough, Stockport, Birmingham and Huddersfield. Methods: We partition LCBD into richness difference (nestedness: RichDiffLCBD) and species replacement (turnover: ReplLCBD) and identify key environmental variables driving LCBD. We examine LCBD at two scales relevant to conservation planning: within urban settlements and nationally across the UK. Results: Significant differences in LCBD values were recorded among the five settlements. In four of the five urban settlements studied, pond sites with the greatest LCBD values typically showed high replacement values. Significant LCBD sites and sites with high taxonomic diversity together supported more of the regional species pool (70%–97%) than sites with high taxonomic diversity alone (54%–94%) or what could be protected by the random selection of sites. LCBD was significantly associated with vegetation shading, surface area, altitude and macrophyte cover. Main conclusions: Conservation prioritization that incorporates LCBD and sites with high taxonomic diversity improves the effectiveness of conservation actions within pond habitat networks, ensures sites supporting high biodiversity are protected and provides a method to define a spatial network of protected sites. Identifying new, effective conservation approaches, particularly in urban areas where resources may be scarce and conflicts regarding land use exist, is essential to ensure biodiversity is fully supported, and detrimental anthropogenic effects are reduced.

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Local contributions to beta diversity in urban pond networks: Implications for biodiversity conservation and management

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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Cite this