Testing the validity of the species-area curve: invertebrate diversity in freshwater ponds.

Abstract

The total number of species supported by a habitat is one of the most fundamental ecological characteristics of any system. The increase in species diversity with habitat size is known as the species-area relationship; however, underlying explanations for this relationship are not completely understood. The purpose of this study was to determine whether macroinvertebrate species diversity in northern Michigan ponds exhibits a classic species-area curve. We sampled several ponds near Douglas Lake and compared the number of macroinvertebrate taxa found with area and other abiotic factors. Our data did not show a statistically significant correlation between species and area (p=0.1825). However, a trend was observed between species richness and the water volume (p=0.0928) of the sites sampled. Factors such as habitat diversity, seasonality and ease of macroinvertebrate dispersal may reduce the influence of area on species richness in ponds.