(1) The distribution of organisms that inhabit patchy systems is dictated by their ability to move between patches, and the suitability of environmental conditions at patches to which they disperse. Understanding whether the species involved are identical to one another in their environmental requirements and their responses to variance in their environment is essential to understanding ecological processes in these systems, and to the management of species whose patchy and limited distributions present conservation risks. (2) Artesian springs in Australia’s arid interior are “islands” of hospitable wetland in uninhabitable “oceans” of dry land and are home to diverse and threatened assemblages of endemic species with severely restricted distributions. Many have strict environmental requirements, but the role of environmental heterogeneity amongst springs has rarely been considered alongside conventional patch characteristics (isolation and patch geometry). (3) We quantified environmental heterogeneity across springs, and the relationship between spring size, isolation (distances to neighbours) and environmental quality (depth, water chemistry), and patterns of occupancy and population persistence of six endemic spring snail species, all from different families, and with all restricted to a single 300 m to nearest neighbour). Springs with highest diversity were significantly larger, deeper and had more numerous neighbours within 300 m than those devoid of endemic snails, or those with low diversity. (5) Although spring size and isolation affect patterns of occupancy, the six snail species had significantly different environmental requirements from one another and these correlated with the distribution pattern of each. Approaches that ignore the role of environmental quality—and particularly depth in springs—are overlooking important processes outside of patch geometry that influence diversity. These organisms are highly susceptible to extinction, as most occupy less than 3 ha of habitat spread across few springs, and habitat degradation continues to compromise what little wetland area is needed for their persistence.

中文翻译：

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异质泉群中的不同物种需求影响澳大利亚沙漠泉中受威胁蜗牛的斑块占有率

(1) 栖息在斑块系统中的生物的分布取决于它们在斑块之间移动的能力，以及它们分散到的斑块的环境条件的适宜性。了解所涉及的物种在环境要求方面是否彼此相同，以及它们对环境变化的反应是否相同，对于理解这些系统中的生态过程以及管理那些分布不均且存在保护风险的物种至关重要。(2) 澳大利亚干旱内陆的自流泉是不适宜居住的旱地“海洋”中宜人的湿地“岛屿”，是分布严重受限的多种受威胁的特有物种组合的家园。许多有严格​​的环保要求，但是，很少考虑与传统补丁特征（隔离和补丁几何形状）一起考虑泉水环境异质性的作用。(3) 我们量化了泉水的环境异质性，以及泉水大小、隔离（与邻居的距离）和环境质量（深度、水化学）之间的关系，以及六种地方性春蜗牛物种的居住模式和种群持久性，它们都来自不同的物种。家庭，并且都限制在距离最近的邻居 300 m 以内）。与没有地方性蜗牛或多样性低的泉水相比，具有最高多样性的泉水明显更大、更深，并且在 300 m 范围内拥有更多的邻居。(5) 尽管弹簧尺寸和隔离度会影响占用模式，六种蜗牛对环境的要求明显不同，这些要求与每种蜗牛的分布模式相关。忽视环境质量作用的方法——尤其是泉水的深度——忽视了影响多样性的补丁几何之外的重要过程。这些生物极易灭绝，因为大多数生物占据的栖息地不到 3 公顷，分布在少数几个泉水中，而且栖息地退化继续损害它们生存所需的很少湿地面积。