AUTHOR=Okamura Beth , Hartikainen Hanna , Trew Jahcub TITLE=Waterbird-Mediated Dispersal and Freshwater Biodiversity: General Insights From Bryozoans JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution VOLUME=7 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00029 DOI=10.3389/fevo.2019.00029 ISSN=2296-701X ABSTRACT=
Freshwater environments are fragmented and heterogeneous in space and time. Long term persistence thus necessitates at least occasional dispersal of aquatic organisms to locate suitable habitats. However, the insubstantial movements of many require zoochory—hitchhiking a ride with more mobile animals. We review evidence for waterbird-mediated zoochory of freshwater bryozoans, a group that provides an excellent model for addressing this issue. The feasibility of long distance transport by waterbirds of bryozoan propagules (statoblasts) is evaluated in relation to statoblast resistance to extreme conditions and waterbird gut retention times, flight durations and distances. We highlight genetic evidence for colonization following waterbird-mediated transport. The consequences of zoochory for biodiversity are manifold. Taxa that release statoblasts show lower levels of genetic differentiation, genetic divergence and haplotype diversity than those whose statoblasts are retained