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Small ones and big ones: cross-taxon congruence reflects organism body size in ombrotrophic bogs

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Abstract

The monitoring of currently changing bogs has triggered a need to improve our understanding of correlations between different taxa. We analysed the cross-taxon congruence of six contrasting groups of organisms (vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, diatoms, desmids and testate amoebae) in permanent plots located in differently polluted summit ombrotrophic bogs in two regions of the Czech Republic. In the suboceanic region, whose bogs are more uniformly polluted, the congruence was generally lower. Vascular plants, bryophytes and fungi showed the same gradient structure, while three groups of protists behaved rather independently of one another. In the subcontinental region where recent aerial liming created a new pH gradient, the congruence was generally higher. The main difference among different taxa corresponded clearly with body size and life span (microorganisms versus macroorganisms), conforming the previous results of a faster response of microorganisms to the artificially created pH gradient. Generally, vascular plants, bryophytes and fungi provided similar information, while diatoms behaved most independently. The major division among the study taxa coincided with body size rather than with nutrition or propagule size.

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Acknowledgements

The research was funded by Czech Science Foundation, the project no. GA 206/08/0389, student′s project PrF-2013-003 at Palacký University and it was performed under an institutional support of Masaryk University and Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (long-term development project RVO 67985939). We give thanks to many colleagues who participated in the field survey or laboratory work, including Kamil Rybníček, Lenka Pavlů, Věra Kavalcová, Martin Kočí, Štěpánka Králová, Miroslav Beran, Helena Deckerová, Markéta Chlebická, Martin Kříž, Daniel Dvořák, Petra Mazalová, Zuzana Rutová, Klára Bergová, Radek Hnilica, Jana Jiroušková, Marcela Růžičková and Stanislav Němejc. We thank to Ondřej Hájek for the map preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Michal Hájek, Martina Vašutová, Vít Syrovátka, Martin Jiroušek, Věra Opravilová & Petra Hájková

  2. Department of Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Lidická 25/27, 657 20, Brno, Czech Republic

    Michal Hájek & Petra Hájková

  3. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, Šlechtitelů 11, 783 71, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Aloisie Poulíčková

  4. Department of Landscape Carbon Deposition, Global Change Research Centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Sádkách 7, 370 05, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

    Martina Vašutová

  5. Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Palacký University, Purkrabská 2, 779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Jana Štěpánková

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  1. Michal Hájek
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Hájek, M., Poulíčková, A., Vašutová, M. et al. Small ones and big ones: cross-taxon congruence reflects organism body size in ombrotrophic bogs. Hydrobiologia 726, 95–107 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1754-8

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