Lakes as Islands: Biogeographic Distribution, Turnover Rates, and Species Composition in the Lakes of Central New York

Abstract

The principles of island biogeographic theory are applied to the species diversity and distribution of various taxa within lakes of central New York state. Greater emphasis is placed on mollusc species, owing to the extensiveness of surveys, but data for zooplankton and fish species are also presented. Species diversity was found to correlate positively with lake surface area, with best descriptive equations being power curve functions. z-values of 0.23, 0.17 and 0.24 were found respectively for mollusc, zooplankton, and fish species-area equations. Species turnover rates over a half-century interval were calculated to be 0.50%/year for molluscs in a large lake, and 0.28%/year for the zooplankton communities of twelve lakes. Zooplankton turnover rates were negatively correlated with lake surface area and initial species number.