The Ecology of Temporary Waters

213 Pages·1987·6.561 MB·English

by  D. Dudley Williams BSc, Dip. Ed MSc, PhD (auth.)

THE ECOLOGY OF TEMPORARY WATERS
THE ECOLOGY OF
TEMPORARY WATERS
D. DUDLEY WILLIAMS BSc, Dip. Ed MSc, PhD
Division of Life Sciences
Scarborough Campus
University of Toronto
CROOM HELM
London & Sydney
TIMBER PRESS
Portland, Oregon
© 1987 D. Dudley Williams
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987
Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,
Beckenham, Kent, BR3 lAT
Croom Helm Australia, 44-50 Waterloo Road,
North Ryde, 2113, New South Wales
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Williams, D. Dudley
The ecology of temporary waters.
1. Aquatic ecology
I. Title
574.5'263 QH541.5.W3
ISBN-13: 978-94-011-6086-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-011-6084-1
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-011-6084-1
First published in the USA 1987 by
Timber Press,
9999S. W. Wilshire,
Portland, OR 97225,
USA
All rights reserved
Contents
Page
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction to Temporary Waters
1.1 What are temporary waters?
1.2 Classification of temporary waters
1.3 Importance of temporary waters 3
Chapter 2: The Physical Factors that Govern the 4
Formation of Temporary Waters
2.1 The runoff cycle 4
2.2 Components of subsurface water 8
2.3 Basin and channel formation 10
2.3.1 Pond basins 10
2.3.2 How many ponds? 12
2.3.3 Stream channels 12
2.3.4 How many streams? 13
Chapter 3: Abiotic Features of Temporary Waters 14
3.1 Water balance 14
3.2 Water temperature 17
3.3 Turbidity 18
3.4 Dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide 18
3.5 Other chemical parameters 20
Chapter 4: The Biota 22
4.1 The temporary water community -global scale 22
4.1.1 Comparison of the communities of four ponds 22
4.1.2 Distribution patterns in the Branchiopoda 25
4.2 The temporary water community -local scale -
case histories 32
4.2.1 Biota of a nearctic temporary pond 33
4.2.2 Biota of a nearctic temporary stream 35
4.2.3 Australian temporary streams 38
4.2.4 Billabong systems 39
4.2.5 Sahara Desert rainpools 41
4.2.6 Rain-filled rock pools of African "Kopjes" 42
4.2.7 Rain-filled rock pools of southwestern Australia 43
4.2.8 Antarctic melt-water streams 43
4.2.9 Temporary saline ponds and lakes 44
4.3 Other inhabitants of temporary waters 48
4.4 Comparison of permanent and temporary water faunas 59
4.5 Community dynamics and trophic relationships 63
4.6 Community structure -biotic versus abiotic
control 65
Chapter 5: Special Adaptations 68
5.1 Introduction 68
5.2 Variability in life cycles 71
5.3 Phenotypic and genotypic variation 78
5.4 Physiological adaptations 79
5.4.1 Behavioural avoidance 82
5.4.2 Timing of growth and emergence 83
5.4.3 Diapause 90
5.5 Physiology of desiccation 95
Chapter 6: Colonization Patterns 99
6.1 Introduction 99
6.2 Adaptive "strategies" of colonizing animals 99
6.3 Active colonization 102
6.3.1 Flight periodicity 103
6.3.2 Flight initiation and termination 106
6.4 Passive colonization 107
6.5 Colonization and competition 110
6.6 Temporary waters as islands in time and space III
Chapter 7: Other Temporary Water Habitats 116
7.1 Introduction 116
7.2 Treeholes 118
7.3 Pitcher plants 123
7.4 Bromeliads 126
7.5 Inflorescences 130
7.6 Snowfields 131
7.7 Deserts 134
7.8 Dung 135
7.9 saltwater rock pools 139
7.10 Starfish 143
Chapter 8: Applied Aspects of Temporary Waters 144
8.1 Aquaculture/agriculture rotation -
an ancient art 144
8.2 Floodplain fisheries 148
8.2.1 Habitat types 148
8.2.2 The flora 152
8.2.3 The fauna 153
8.3 Habitats for vectors of disease 163
Chapter 9: Temporary Waters as Study Habitats 163
9.1 Investigations of the structure and function of
aquatic populations and communities 163
9.2 Investigations of colonization patterns, dynamics 172
and mechanics of temporary water species
9.3 Investigations of the physiological adaptations 175
of temporary water faunas
References 180
Index 194
To the memory of my father,
Frank Williams,
1919 - 1986
Preface
The primary role of this book is to introduce the reader to, and
hopefully stimulate interest in, the ecology of temporary aquatic habi
tats. The book assumes that the reader will have, already, some gen
eral knowledge of ecology but this is not essential.
Temporary waters exhibit amplitudes in both physical and
chemical parameters which are much greater than those found in
most waterbodies. The organisms that live in these types of habitats
have, therefore, to be very well adapted to these conditions if they
are to survive. Survival depends largely on exceptional physiological
tolerance or effective immigration and emigration abilities. Examples
of such adaptations are given throughout the book and it is hoped
that these will aid the reader in gaining an insight into the structure
and function of plant and animal communities of these unusual habi
tats. The final chapter suggests field and laboratory projects that
should be useful to students in school and university studies.
I thank Professor Ernest Naylor for providing facilities in the
School of Animal Biology, U.CN.W., Bangor, where part of the text was
written. Dr. Henri Tachet, Departement de Biologie animale et Ecolo
gie, Universite Claude Bernard, Lyon provided details of the fish
ponds at Dombes; Dr. David Dudgeon, Department of Zoology, Univer
sity of Hong Kong provided information on the temporary streams of
that area; Dr. Richard Marchant, Museum of Victoria, Australia and
Peter Outridge, University of Toronto provided information on the
Magela Creek system, Northern Territories; Rama Chengalath, Inver
tebrate Zoology Division, National Museum, Ottawa provided data on
the distribution of branchiopods in Canada. Dr. Ron Dengler, Univer
sity of Toronto gave advice on matters botanical. Geraldine Dunn
drew many of the figures and she and Mrs. Sybella Hendley typed the
original manuscript. D. Harford, L. McGregor, T. Westbrook and A.
Hollingsworth assisted with the illustrations. Mrs. K.A. Moore assist
ed with the index. I would like to thank also the many authors who
gave me permission to reproduce tables and figures from their publi
cations.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Dr. Nancy Williams for a
critical reading of the manuscript and for excusing me from many
domestic duties so that I could write.
D. Dudley Williams Toronto, 1987
1
INTRODUCTION TO TEMPORARY WATERS
1.1 What are temporary waters1
We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a Spring,
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you or any thing.
-Robert Herrick, 1591-1674
Temporary ponds and streams are found in many parts of the
world. They are essentially natural bodies of water which experience
a recurrent dry phase of varying duration. The emphasis is on the
cyclical nature of drought in these habitats as permanent water
bodies are also capable of going dry in exceptional years. In such
cases, however, most of the permanent water fauna will be wiped out
because it is not adapted to survive such conditions. Cyclical
temporary water bodies, on the other hand, select for species which
are adapted to these conditions.
1.2 Classification of temporary waters:
Classification of temporary aquatic habitats has been attempt
ed by few people. One way of doing it is on the basis of size and
Table 1.1 categorizes various types of temporary waters at three lev
els: micro-, meso- and macrohabitats. Perhaps the best criteria to use
are length and intensity of the dry period as these relate more to the
biology of these habitats.
Length of the dry phase is probably best divided simply into
seasonal, annual and greater than annual - but cyclical. Intensity of
the drought is important because, for example, two habitats which
both remain dry for four months of the year might have different
moisture-retaining capacities in their substrates allowing the survival
of totally different faunas. As with all systems of classification, there
are bound to be exceptions which do not fit any of the categories, for
example, Lake Eyre in southern Australia only fills with water every
half century or so (Mawson, 1950). Can this really be called cyclical?
The majority of animals that would colonize such a lake would die
when it dried up, while only highly specialized forms which are
2 Introduction
Table 1.1: Classification of temporary water habitats based on size.
Microhabitats: axils of plant leaves, e.g. bromeliads, tree hollows,
tin cans, broken bottles and other containers, foot
prints, tyre tracks, empty shells
Mesohabitats: flood-plain pools, temporary streams, temporary
ponds, snow-melt pools, monsoon rain-pools
Macrohabitats: large old river-beds - periodically flooded, shallow
oxbow lakes, drying lakes, drying lakeshores, al
pine lakes
(adapted from Decksbach, N.K. von, 1929)
relatively few in number, would be able to span the fifty-six years
between fill ups. Again, the occurrence of some temporary water
bodies in Britain affords us an example of a misfit. Triops (a
notostracan or tadpole shrimp), was first recorded in 1738 from a
"temporary" pond. it was next recorded in 1837 and again in 1948,
after a lapse of III years (Schmitt, 1971). Although it did not appear
during all that time, it could be hatched from dried mud obtained
from the pond. It was concluded that this species required a period
of desiccation to stimulate hatching and Britain, not being renowned
for its dry climate, was unsuitable for promoting the establishment of
its habitats, that is cyclical temporary ponds. Nevertheless when the
permanent ponds in which its eggs lay dried up, it hatched.
Klimowicz (1959) attempted to classify small ponds in Poland
on the basis of their molluscan faunas. Granted, some snail and clam
species are very resistant to a temporary loss of water, each having
its own particular range of drought resistance, but some species have
drought-resistant properties that differ between populations.
Nevertheless, in some instances it is possible to speak of a "species X
- temporary water", but unless this species has great dispersal and
colonization powers, such a classification will have little meaning out
side of a rather limited geographical area. Some other criteria for
classifying temporary waters are given in later chapters which deal
with specific environmental or biological topics.