Cross-taxon congruence in Mediterranean temporary wetlands: vascular plants, crustaceans, and coleopterans

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the dynamics of plant, crustacean, and coleopteran assemblages living in Mediterranean temporary wetlands. We measured assemblage parameters (species richness, diversity and abundance) and succession rates during the hydroperiod for each assemblage analysed. Moreover, the species were classified according to their affinity to the temporary aquatic habitats in order to study if each assemblage had similar patterns among species groups of habitat affinity. Only among plants, the temporary water species were dominant in terms of species richness, diversity or abundance. Cross-taxon congruence between plants and crustaceans, previously reported, was not confirmed when temporal succession was taken into account, suggesting different temporal patterns for the studied taxa. Plants showed the lowest level of successional changes and significant differences between local and regional diversity. In contrast, coleopterans had the highest level of successional changes and a different relationship between local and regional diversity, with regard to the hydroperiod phase. Finally, crustaceans had intermediate levels of successional changes and the relationship between the local and regional diversity during the hydroperiod was dependent on the type of organism (generalist vs. temporary water species). All of this gave evidence of the difficulties to use one taxonomic group in order to elucidate the ecological patterns of other groups.