Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Spatial And Temporal Ecological Uniqueness Of Andean Diatom Communities Are Correlated With Climate, Geodiversity And Long-Term Limnological Change, Xavier Benito, Annika Vilmi, Melina Luethje, Maria Laura Carrevedo, Marja Lindholm, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

High-elevation tropical lakes are excellent sentinels of global change impacts, such as climate warming, land-use change, and atmospheric deposition. These effects are often correlated with temporal and spatial beta diversity patterns, with some local communities contributing more than others, a phenomenon known as local contribution to beta diversity (LCBD) or ecological uniqueness. Microorganisms, such as diatoms, are considered whole-ecosystem indicators, but little is known about their sensitivity and specificity in beta diversity studies mostly because of the lack of large spatial and temporal datasets. To fill this gap, we used a tropical South American diatom database comprising modern (144 lakes) …