Temporal changes in community composition.

Correspondence Analysis (CA) axis scores for each floodplain waterbody over the hydrologic year. The colour code follows the gradient of lateral hydrologic connectivity (%) indicated in the text boxes. Black and blue lines represent the main and side channel, respectively. The brown line indicates backwater, while the others, mostly isolated, waterbodies are shown in orange. The dashed line indicates the ephemeral pond. The ephemeral channel, inundated for only three months, is not shown. Vertical blue lines indicate the occurrence of bankful floods. Temporal patterns show that the composition of the floodplain waterbodies tended to converge (towards a ‘main channel’ condition) after the floods, but to diverge during months of stable hydrologic conditions, reflecting differential species sorting.