Biodiversity Loss Threatens the Current Functional Similarity of Beta Diversity in Benthic Diatom Communities
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MICROBIOLOGY OF AQUATIC SYSTEMS
Biodiversity Loss Threatens the Current Functional Similarity of Beta Diversity in Benthic Diatom Communities Leena Virta 1,2
&
Janne Soininen 1 & Alf Norkko 2,3
Received: 13 May 2020 / Accepted: 10 August 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The global biodiversity loss has increased the need to understand the effects of decreasing diversity, but our knowledge on how species loss will affect the functioning of communities and ecosystems is still very limited. Here, the levels of taxonomic and functional beta diversity and the effect of species loss on functional beta diversity were investigated in an estuary that provides a naturally steep environmental gradient. The study was conducted using diatoms that are among the most important microorganisms in all aquatic ecosystems and globally account for 40% of marine primary production. Along the estuary, the taxonomic beta diversity of diatom communities was high (Bray-Curtis taxonomic similarity 0.044) and strongly controlled by the environment, particularly wind exposure, salinity, and temperature. In contrast, the functional beta diversity was low (Bray-Curtis functional similarity 0.658) and much less controlled by the environment. Thus, the diatom communities stayed functionally almost similar despite large changes in species composition and environment. This may indicate that, through high taxonomic diversity and redundancy in functions, microorganisms provide an insurance effect against environmental change. However, when studying the effect of decreasing species richness on functional similarity of communities, simulated species loss to 45% of the current species richness decreased functional similarity significantly. This suggests that decreasing species richness may increase variability and reduce the stability and resilience of communities. These results highlight the importance of high taxonomic biodiversity for the stable functioning of benthic communities. Keywords Biodiversity loss . Functional beta diversity . Microphytobenthos . Diatoms . Estuary . Freshwater marine gradient
Introduction The global biodiversity crisis has increased the need for understanding the effects of biodiversity loss to ecosystem functioning and the services that ecosystems provide to humans. There is substantial evidence that taxonomically and functionally diverse communities support ecosystem functioning [e.g., Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-020-01576-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Leena Virta [email protected] 1
Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
2
Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, J.A. Palméns väg 260, FI-10900 Hangö, Finland
3
Baltic Sea Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
1]. However, despite evidence that diversity is threatened by environmental change [e.g., 2], our knowledge on whether the functions of commu
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