Morphometric techniques allow environmental reconstructions from low-diversity continental ostracode assemblages |
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Authors: | Thijs Van der Meeren Dirk Verschuren Emi Ito Koen Martens |
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Institution: | (1) Freshwater Biology, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium;(2) Limnology Unit, Biology Department, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;(3) Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA |
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Abstract: | Quantification of intra-specific morphological variability of aquatic biota along environmental gradients can produce biological
proxies that can be applied to paleoenvironmental reconstructions. This morphology-derived proxy information can be especially
valuable when dealing with low-diversity fossil assemblages, i.e. in situations when paleoenvironmental inference based on
species composition of the assemblage is less effective. We analyzed valve size and outline shape of the widespread and highly
environmentally tolerant ostracode species Limnocythere inopinata collected in 15 lakes and ponds of Western Mongolia. We quantified shape variability among and within these living populations
in relation to water chemistry and physical habitat variables. Our results indicate that: (1) a population’s mean valve outline
is related to habitat type, (2) surface water temperature, the alkalinity to sulphate ratio, specific conductance and total
phosphorus together explain a high portion of the variance in mean valve outline between populations, and (3) a quantitative
model inferring the alkalinity to sulphate ratio from mean valve outline has an R2 of 0.88 and RMSEP of 0.17. These results
corroborate the hypothesis that high morphological variability in this ostracode species is due to both ecophenotypic variance
and high clonal diversity associated with a mixed reproductive strategy (a combination of sexual and parthenogenetically reproducing
lineages), and underline the value of morphometric techniques in paleoecology. |
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