<p>Elucidating the mechanisms structuring communities has been a challenge for community ecology since its beginnings. One theory argues that assembly rules structure communities by means of deterministic mechanisms arising from biological interactions. Another view maintains that patterns seen in community composition and species abundance result from stochastic processes such as migration and extinction. The dilemma has yet not been resolved unambiguously. The main issue is that communities shaped by deterministic mechanisms can produce stochastic patterns via priority effects. The main goal of this study was to determine whether assembly rules structure communities. My strategy was to minimize priority effects by controlling timing of colonization. To do this I used a null community by combining communities of 17 rock pools. This null community was later divided among experimental communities. I conducted three experiments: (1) Experimental communities were exposed to the same external conditions. (2) Communities were exposed to different environments, disturbance, dispersal and habitat heterogeneity. (3) Replicated null communities were connected to allow inter-replicate dispersal. After 4 months, communities (experiment 1) formed alternative states, suggesting the lack of assembly rules control in community structure. The second experiment showed that adding factors results in more alternative states. The increasing number of alternative states among replicate communities indicates that diversified environment and migration are needed to reproduce qualitative patterns observed in nature. The last experiment (3) showed that patterns observed among connected replicate communities resemble patterns that emerged in the presence of biological interactions in unconnected communities. Similarity of patterns between connected and unconnected groups of communities suggest that local biological interactions can be sufficient to structure communities to a considerable degree. Nevertheless, the regional processes appear necessary in their role of supplying species for local communities.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Dissertação (mestrado)-Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, 2012. / Submitted by Cristiane Gomides (cristiane_gomides@hotmail.com) on 2014-01-13T17:21:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 0000010065.pdf: 2640072 bytes, checksum: 684c38e9d51f045a0f7b69cc99781e58 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by cristiane soares (krikasoares@live.com) on 2014-02-23T02:02:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 0000010065.pdf: 2640072 bytes, checksum: 684c38e9d51f045a0f7b69cc99781e58 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-02-23T02:02:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 0000010065.pdf: 2640072 bytes, checksum: 684c38e9d51f045a0f7b69cc99781e58 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Esta dissertação teve como objetivo descrever a composição e estrutura da assembleia de Chironomidae durante um período de 10 anos e sua resposta frente a mudança de estados alternativos em um lago raso. Buscou-se também verificar se a estrutura das plantas aquáticas tem influência sobre esta assembleia em quatro diferentes lagos. Para verificar a semelhança quanto à composição dos gêneros entre os anos foi realizada similaridade de Jaccard e Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS, distância de Bray Curtis) para verificar a similaridade entre os anos com base nas abundâncias dos gêneros. A contribuição das variáveis ambientais para a distribuição dos gêneros de Chironomidae ao longo dos anos foi avaliada através da Análise de Correspondência Canônica (CCA). No estudo que analisou a influência da complexidade das plantas e características ambientais entre quatro lagos foi realizado a similaridade de Jaccard para verificar a semelhança quanto à composição dos gêneros entre os lagos e a composição em relação as plantas, MANOVA para testar se existe diferença entre os lagos e entre as plantas em relação às abundâncias médias dos gêneros, MANOVA entre os lagos em função dos grupos tróficos funcionais (GTFs) e entre as plantas em função dos GTFs. Os resultados do estudo a longo prazo no lago eutrófico demonstraram mudanças na riqueza, densidade e estrutura trófica de Chironomidae, com as alterações na qualidade de água e estrutura do ecossistema, confirmando nossa hipótese de que esta assembleia pode ser utilizada como indicadora nos estados alternativos e estado trófico em lagos rasos subtropicais. Os resultados indicam que as mudanças de estados alternativos podem corresponder a distúrbios de moderada intensidade no ecossistema. A assembleia de Chironomidae respondeu com maior riqueza e diversidade nos períodos de transição, sugerindo que este grupo responde a hipótese do distúrbio intermediário. Os resultados referentes ao estudo sobre a complexidade de plantas indicam que a complexidade da estrutura das plantas aquáticas em ambientes lênticos subtropicais rasos, influencia na composição dos gêneros de Chironomidae. Embora não tenhamos encontrado diferença significativa entre os lagos em relação a abundância desses gêneros, com a categorização em grupos funcionais obtivemos uma resposta desses organismos em relação as características ambientais de cada lago. / This study aims to describe the composition and structure of the assembly of chironomids for a period of 10 years and its response to change of alternative states in a shallow eutrophic lake. It also sought to verify that the structure of aquatic plants has an influence on this assembly in four different lakes. To check the similarity in the composition of the genera was performed between the years Jaccard similarity and Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS, Bray Curtis distance) to verify the similarity between the years based on the abundances of the genera. The contribution of environmental variables for the distribution of Chironomidae genera over the years was evaluated by Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). In the study examined the influence of the complexity of plants and environmental characteristics of four lakes was conducted Jaccard similarity to verify the similarity in the composition of the genera among the lakes and composition in relation to plants, MANOVA to see if there are differences between the lakes and among plants in relation to the average abundances of the genera, MANOVA between lakes depending on the functional trophic groups (GTFs) and among plants depending on the GTFs. The results of longterm study in eutrophic lake showed changes in density, richness and trophic structure of Chironomidae with changes in water quality and ecosystem structure confirming our hypothesis that this assembly can be used as an indicator in the alternative states and trophic state in subtropical shallow lakes. The results indicate that changes in alternative states may correspond to moderate disturbances in the ecosystem. The assembly of chironomids responded with greater richness and diversity in transition periods, suggesting that this group responds to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. The results for the study of the complexity of plants indicate that the complexity of the structure of aquatic plants in lentic shallow subtropical influences the composition of the genera of Chironomidae. Although we found no significant difference between the lakes relative abundance of these genera, as categorized into functional groups obtained a response of these organisms in relation to environmental characteristics of each lake.