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Contrasting Species—Environment Relationships in Communities of Testate Amoebae, Bryophytes and Vascular Plants Along the Fen–Bog Gradient

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

We studied the vegetation, testate amoebae and abiotic variables (depth of the water table, pH, electrical conductivity, Ca and Mg concentrations of water extracted from mosses) along the bog to extremely rich fen gradient in sub-alpine peatlands of the Upper Engadine (Swiss Alps). Testate amoeba diversity was correlated to that of mosses but not of vascular plants. Diversity peaked in rich fen for testate amoebae and in extremely rich fen for mosses, while for testate amoebae and mosses it was lowest in bog but for vascular plants in extremely rich fen. Multiple factor and redundancy analyses (RDA) revealed a stronger correlation of testate amoebae than of vegetation to water table and hydrochemical variables and relatively strong correlation between testate amoeba and moss community data. In RDA, hydrochemical variables explained a higher proportion of the testate amoeba and moss data than water table depth. Abiotic variables explained a higher percentage of the species data for testate amoebae (30.3% or 19.5% for binary data) than for mosses (13.4%) and vascular plants (10%). These results show that (1) vascular plant, moss and testate amoeba communities respond differently to ecological gradients in peatlands and (2) testate amoebae are more strongly related than vascular plants to the abiotic factors at the mire surface. These differences are related to vertical trophic gradients and associated niche differentiation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ryszard Ochyra and Iwona Melosik for the identification of the mosses, Ralf Meisterfeld for help in the identification of some difficult testate amoeba taxa and Bertrand Fournier, Aurélie Thébault, François Gillet and Daniel Borcard for advice on numerical analyses. The study is part of the European Union project Millennium (SUSTDEV-2004-3.1.4.1). This research was further supported by the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) on Climate, (Bern, Switzerland). Funding to EM by Swiss NSF project no. 205321-109709/1 and CCES projects RECORD and BigLink is kindly acknowledged. Further funding to ML by Foundation for Polish Science (FNP; Outgoing Fellowship KOLUMB) is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biogeography and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Geosciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680, Poznań, Poland

    Mariusz Lamentowicz

  2. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Ecosystem Boundaries Research Unit, Wetlands Research Group, Station 2, CH–1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Mariusz Lamentowicz & Edward A. D. Mitchell

  3. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Laboratoire des Systèmes Ecologiques, Station 2, CH–1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Mariusz Lamentowicz & Edward A. D. Mitchell

  4. Laboratory of Soil Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, CH-2009, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Mariusz Lamentowicz & Edward A. D. Mitchell

  5. Department of Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-614, Poznań, Poland

    Łukasz Lamentowicz & Maciej Gąbka

  6. Institute of Plant Sciences and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013, Bern, Switzerland

    Willem O. van der Knaap

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  1. Mariusz Lamentowicz
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  2. Łukasz Lamentowicz
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Lamentowicz, M., Lamentowicz, Ł., van der Knaap, W.O. et al. Contrasting Species—Environment Relationships in Communities of Testate Amoebae, Bryophytes and Vascular Plants Along the Fen–Bog Gradient. Microb Ecol 59, 499–510 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-009-9617-6

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