Evaluating ecological assembly rules for aquatic-terrestrial transition zones in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

群落生态学的主要目标之一是了解生物多样性的驱动因素，包括如何以及为什么如此多的物种可以共存。在洪水脉冲驱动的系统中，群落基于一系列跨越多个空间和时间尺度运行的环境过滤器，从陆地物种转变为水生物种。量化在这些异质生境中发生的不同机制的相对重要性，包括扩散、竞争和捕食，将提供对促进广泛生态系统中生物多样性的条件的洞察。该项目的中心目标将是收集与博茨瓦纳奥卡万戈三角洲原始洪水冲击湿地水陆过渡地带的水生无脊椎动物生物多样性有关的经验数据集。野外采集将用于探索群落组成、相互作用、食物网络结构以及对干旱时期的适应。目标群体将是水生大型无脊椎动物，重点是摇蚊，因为这一群体作为生物指标特别相关。很少有研究集中在三角洲地区的水生大型无脊椎动物，物种水平的调查也非常稀少，因此，本项目将寻求提供了解当地和区域生物多样性的解决方案，从而为爱知生物多样性目标(https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/).)做出贡献

One of the main aims of community ecology is to understand the drivers of biodiversity, including how and why so many species can coexist. In flood-pulse driven systems, communities switch from terrestrial to aquatic species based on a range of environmental filters that operate across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Quantifying the relative importance of different mechanisms, including dispersal, competition and predation, that occur in these heterogeneous habitats will provide insights about conditions that promote biodiversity across a wide range of ecosystems. A central aim of this project will be the collection of empirical datasets related to aquatic invertebrate biodiversity along an aquatic-terrestrial transition zone in a pristine flood-pulsing wetland, the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The field collections will be used to explore community composition, interactions, food web structure, and adaptations to dry periods. The target group will be aquatic macroinvertebrates, with a focus on Chironomidae, since this group is especially relevant as bioindicator. Very few studies have focused on aquatic macroinvertebrates in the Delta, and surveys at species level are very scarce, therefore, this project will seek to provide resolution to understand the local and regional biodiversity, contributing, in this way, to Aichi biodiversity targets (https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/).