Temporary lentic water bodies of Latin America and Caribbean: a scientometric study

ABSTRACT

Temporary lentic waters, those which alternate wet and dry periods, are globally distributed and highly prevalent on Earth and can be classified according to their hydroperiod. We used a scientometric perspective, to summarize the knowledge about temporary lentic ecosystems in 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries. We conducted a topic search in Web of Science (WoS) using various keyword combinations of hydroperiod type (temporary, ephemeral, intermittent, episodic and seasonal), type of aquatic lentic ecosystem (wetland, pond, pool, lake and lagoon) and the name of the country. Final searches and screenings provided 608 publications. To analyze the data, we used two qualitative approaches. We generated word clouds to ascertain the primary research topics concerning temporary lentic waters in Latin America. In addition, we constructed a bipartite network to visualize the geographical distribution of publications by topics. Knowledge gaps observed were geographical, encompassing disparities between and within countries, and thematic, as certain topics have received limited attention. Moreover, we detected a terminology gap: a lack of consensus about the terms used that are associated with temporary waters and a collaborative gap: the study of temporary waters has historically been fragmented in Latin America. Finally, we attempted to unravel the potential factors contributing to these knowledge gaps. By revealing major gaps in understanding the structure and functioning of temporary water bodies in the region, our study provides a valuable tool for identifying pertinent research areas to be explored in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• seasonal
• intermittent
• ephemeral
• episodic
• Neotropics

Disclaimer

As a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to Dr. Francesc Mesquita-Joanes and Dr. Xavier Armengol for their valuable comments and enthusiastic awareness of temporary waters. We also appreciate the contributions made by the anonymous reviewers that helped to improve this article.

FUNDING INFORMATION

This work was supported by the “Recualificación del sistema universitario español + Next Generation”: under Grant C21.I4.P1/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 for C. Olmo, Chilean ANID/FONDECYT Iniciación under Grant 11230384 for C. Olmo and ANID/FONDECYT under Grant 1231321 for R. Ramos–Jiliberto . Additional financial support was provided by the grant PID2020-114440GB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

DECLARATION OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.