Abstract Freshwater ecosystems are highly threatened due to increased population growth, thereby affecting biodiversity. The objective of designating an area as ‘protected’ is to reduce habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. However, most protected areas focus on the conservation of the terrestrial environment and its related biodiversity. Little attention is given to the protection of freshwater biodiversity and consequently far less is known on how freshwater biodiversity differs between wetlands with a different protection status. The objectives of this study was to investigate alpha and beta diversity of macroinvertebrates and wetland dependent birds in wetlands with a different protection status and thus a different level of human impact in southwestern Ethiopia. Data on macroinvertebrates, birds, physico-chemical water quality, human disturbance and vegetation cover were collected from 42 sampling sites during dry and wet season of 2015. Besides the calculation of alpha and beta diversity, multiple regression models were used to identify the main drivers of the variation in beta diversity of macroinvertebrates and birds in these wetlands. Our results revealed that the average alpha diversity of both macroinvertebrates and wetland dependent birds was significantly higher in protected wetlands (low overall human disturbance) compared to unprotected wetlands (high overall human disturbance), whereas beta diversity was higher in unprotected wetlands for wetland dependent birds. Turnover contributed more than nestedeness to total beta diversity for both macroinvertebrates and wetland birds in protected and unprotected areas. Human disturbance, water temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen were significantly related to beta diversity of macroinvertebrates, whereas beta diversity of wetland dependent birds was significantly related to vegetation cover, nutrients and chemical oxygen demand. Conservationists should give attention to both alpha and beta diversity of freshwater wetlands in order to conserve wetland biodiversity maximally.

中文翻译：

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湿地保护现状是否保障了埃塞俄比亚西南部大型无脊椎动物和鸟类的多样性？

摘要 由于人口增长，淡水生态系统受到高度威胁，从而影响生物多样性。将一个区域指定为“受保护”区域的目的是减少栖息地退化和生物多样性丧失。然而，大多数保护区侧重于保护陆地环境及其相关生物多样性。淡水生物多样性的保护很少受到关注，因此对不同保护状态的湿地之间淡水生物多样性的差异知之甚少。本研究的目的是调查大型无脊椎动物和湿地依赖鸟类的 alpha 和 beta 多样性，这些湿地具有不同的保护状态，因此在埃塞俄比亚西南部受到不同程度的人类影响。关于大型无脊椎动物、鸟类、物理化学水质的数据，2015 年旱季和雨季从 42 个采样点收集了人类干扰和植被覆盖情况。 除了计算 alpha 和 beta 多样性外，还使用多元回归模型确定了这些大型无脊椎动物和鸟类 beta 多样性变化的主要驱动因素。湿地。我们的研究结果表明，与未受保护的湿地（总体人类干扰高）相比，大型无脊椎动物和湿地依赖鸟类的平均 α 多样性在受保护湿地（总体人类干扰低）中显着更高，而湿地依赖鸟类在未受保护湿地中的 β 多样性更高. 对于受保护和未受保护区域中的大型无脊椎动物和湿地鸟类，周转率不仅仅是嵌套性对总贝塔多样性的贡献。人为干扰、水温、pH值和溶解氧与大型无脊椎动物的β多样性显着相关，而依赖湿地鸟类的β多样性与植被覆盖、养分和化学需氧量显着相关。保护主义者应同时关注淡水湿地的 alpha 和 beta 多样性，以最大限度地保护湿地生物多样性。