Randomized trial investigates community composition in aquatic macrophytes, highlighting environmental and spatial influences.
Key Points
This research aims to understand how environmental factors and spatial structures influence the composition of aquatic macrophyte communities across freshwater systems.
Analyzed abundance data from a nationwide freshwater network including lotic and lentic systems.
Used non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), variation partitioning, and local contribution to beta diversity (LCBD) analyses.
Investigated community similarity and turnover patterns in relation to geographic distance and ecosystem types.
Community similarity declined significantly with geographic distance, with stronger spatial structuring in lotic systems than reservoirs.
Beta diversity was high, driven primarily by species turnover, especially in lotic systems.
LCBD analysis revealed sites contributing disproportionately to regional heterogeneity, linked to hydrological connectivity and environmental gradients.