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Floods increase similarity among aquatic habitats in river-floodplain systems

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Abstract

During low water levels, habitats in river-floodplain systems are isolated from each other and from the main river. Oppositely, floods tend to connect water bodies with distinct hydrological characteristics and, as a result, ecological processes and biological communities tend to be more similar among the distinct habitats that comprise a river-floodplain system. Based on a literature review and also using unpublished data obtained in tropical floodplains, the aim of this paper is to highlight the effects of floods as a process that reduce spatial variability. The usual negative relationship between the coefficient of variation of any ecological indicator (e.g., chlorophyll-a or total phosphorus) and water level is the main result demonstrating a reduction in spatial variability due to floods. Considering physical, chemical or biotic data gathered in distinct habitats within the floodplain, this pattern was found in temperate and tropical regions, subjected to distinct levels of anthropogenic impacts, and at different spatial extents. The main mechanism that accounts for this pattern may be stated as follow. During low water level, the biological communities of each habitat in the floodplain (e.g. lagoons, backwater, streams) follow distinct temporal trajectories due to the effects of local driving forces (e.g. an efficient predator trapped in a lagoon but not in another). Management plans and biodiversity conservation in river floodplain systems will benefit by considering the effects of flood homogenization and increased connectivity peculiar to these unique ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge with appreciation the critical reading and English corrections made by Dr. Michael Lemke (University of Illinois at Springfield) and Dr. Doerthe Mueller-Navarra (University of Hamburg), and the suggestions by Dr. Rosemara Fugi (Nupélia – University of Maringá), MSc. Fernando Mayer Pelicice and MSc. Josilaine Kobayashi (Graduate students at the Program of Ecology in Inland Waters – University of Maringá). The authors acknowledge the Brazilian Council of Research (CNPq) for providing Research Productivity grants and funds for the Long Term Ecological Research Program at the Upper Paraná River Floodplain. RL Bozelli also thanks the colleagues from the Laboratory of Limnology (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), IBAMA and Mineração Rio do Norte for funding his research at Lake Batata and Trombetas River.

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  1. Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Nupelia, Av. Colombo, 5790, Maringá, PR, Brasil

    Sidinei M. Thomaz

  2. Universidade Federal de Goiás, ICB, DBG, 74001-970, Goiânia, GO, Brasil

    Luis Mauricio Bini

  3. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21941-540, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

    Reinaldo Luiz Bozelli

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Thomaz, S.M., Bini, L.M. & Bozelli, R.L. Floods increase similarity among aquatic habitats in river-floodplain systems. Hydrobiologia 579, 1–13 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0285-y

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