恒湖农场茶叶港草洲枯水期湿地植物与土壤关系及种群生态位分析

湿地植物与土壤关系问题一直就是生态学研究的热点,也是湿地植物种群生态位研究的基础。基于鄱阳湖典型湿地-|恒湖农场茶叶港草洲19个样地20种植物重要值组成的样地-|物种矩阵,用等级聚类分析中的Ward法(离差平方和法)将研究区植物划分为灰化薹草(Carex cinerascens)群落、虉草(Phalaris arundinacea)群落及南荻(Triarrhena lutarioriparia)群落3个群落类型。通过Spearman秩相关分析检验物种多样性指数(Shannon-Wiener多样性指数H'、物种丰富度指数S和Pielou均匀度指数J)与土壤因子(土壤pH值、电导率、含水量和有机质)的相关性,结果发现研究区植物物种的Shannon-Wiener多样性指数H'、物种丰富度指数S与土壤pH值分别为显著(P0.05)和极显著(P0.01)正相关关系,而与土壤有机质分别达到显著(P0.05)和极显著(P0.01)负相关水平,Pielou均匀度指数J与土壤因子相关性不明显。利用RDA(冗余分析)排序分析研究区植物物种分布与土壤p H值、电导率、含水量、有机质的关系,结果发现土壤pH值、土壤有机质与研究区植物物种分布关系最为密切(P=0.042,0.048),可以看成是关键控制因子。基于对研究区植物物种分布影响较大的土壤pH值及有机质环境因子,将其分别划分为10个梯度等级,分析植物种群生态位。发现研究区优势种灰化薹草、虉草生态位宽度较大,蚊母草(Veronica peregrina)、荇菜(Nymphoides peltata)等生态位宽度较小,生态位重叠值整体保持在较低水平,说明物种在土壤pH值和土壤有机质两个环境梯度上生态位分化明显。     

生境因子对岩质边坡生态恢复过程中植被多样性的影响

通过对舟山市已生态恢复的岩质边坡进行植物群落调查,记录了36个不同生境条件下边坡样地中的植物种及生境因子,计算了4个植物物种多样性指数,利用广义线性混合模型分析了生境因子与边坡植被多样性交化的关系,以揭示生境因子对岩质边坡生态恢复植被的影响.结果表明:从1 a到7 a的岩质边坡生态恢复过程中,坡位对边坡植被多样性的影响最显著(P＜0.05),不同坡位的Shannon-Wiener指数、Margalef指数、物种丰富度差异明显,其变化呈现一致的趋势为下坡＞中坡＞上坡;坡向与Margalef指数显著相关(P＜0.05),从阳坡、半阳坡、半阴坡到阴坡,植被多样性呈总体上升趋势;随着边坡恢复年限的延长,边坡植被多样性逐渐增加,但没有表现出统计学意义上的差异(P＞0.05);坡度、海拔、土壤厚度对边坡植被多样性的变化无明显影响(P＞0.05);Pielou均匀度指数与各个生境因子均无显著关系,在边坡植被恢复过程中基本保持稳定的状态.因此,坡位、坡向是影响岩质边坡生态恢复过程中植被多样性最重要的因子;Margalef丰富度指数和Shannon-Wiener多样性指数是岩质边坡生态恢复过程中植物群落变化的主要指示因子.     

敦煌西湖荒漠-湿地生态系统优势物种生态位研究

水文情势改变会引起土壤盐分变化,直接影响到荒漠-湿地生态系统植被的分布与演替。基于对57个样地、171个样方植物物种分布影响较大的土壤pH值和土壤电导率两个环境因子,将其划分为6个梯度等级,测度分析了敦煌西湖植被群落中15个主要优势种的生态位特征,了解不同物种利用资源和占据生态空间的能力,对维持和科学保育植物群落的多样性具有重要意义。结果表明：（1）在土壤pH值和电导率梯度两个资源维上,多枝柽柳和芦苇的重要值和生态位宽度均较大,说明这两个物种适应能力强能够较好地利用环境资源,分布范围大且均匀。它们作为敦煌西湖植被群落中的广域种,具有重要的生态地位和作用。其次生态位较宽的疏叶骆驼刺、胡杨和苏枸杞对环境因子也具有较强的适应能力。（2）两个土壤因子梯度下植物种群生态位宽度相似,但也存在差异。如泡泡刺、蒙古沙枣在土壤pH值梯度资源维上的生态位宽度值远大于在土壤电导率梯度资源维上,但尖叶盐爪爪和甘蒙柽柳在土壤电导率梯度资源维上生态位宽度较大,表现出较强的耐盐能力,从而说明这些物种对不同土壤因子的利用能力和适应性不完全相同。（3）在两个资源维上优势物种间的生态位重叠值小于0.5的种对均为61对,占总种对的58.10%,因此生态位重叠值整体保持在较低水平,说明物种在土壤pH值和土壤电导率两个环境梯度上生态位分化明显。（4）敦煌西湖优势物种间总体表现为不显著的负关联,表明物种之间处于竞争关系,但竞争强度不大且群落结构稳定性较弱。     

气候生态位进化与物种多样化的关系——以泛热带植物番荔枝科为例

热带地区较高的物种多样性与其气候条件有关,但气候如何影响热带地区物种的多样化却未有定论。为了解气候对热带植物多样性的影响,本研究以泛热带植物番荔枝科为研究对象,利用系统发育比较分析方法,计算了该科植物气候生态位的进化速率,并与该科的净多样化速率进行了相关性分析。结果显示:(1)番荔枝科气候生态位的进化速率较低,但新近分化类群的进化速率相对较高;(2)气候生态位下界(低温与低降水)的进化速率较上界(高温与高降水)快;(3)净多样化速率与气候生态位的进化速率,尤其是温度生态位的进化速率紧密相关。本研究揭示了番荔枝科植物气候生态位的进化对其物种多样性形成的重要作用,对该科在当前气候变化下的保护具有参考意义。     

乡土植物生活型构成对川渝地区边坡植被水土保持效益的影响

乡土植物灌木化建植是高速公路边坡防护的重要生态模式。为了探讨生态恢复过程中乡土植物的生活型构成对边坡植被水土保持效益的影响,揭示乡土植物生活型-物种多样性-生态系统功能间的偶合关系,借助3个物种配置试验,于2009年4月构建了以草本、灌木或乔木为主体的草本型、灌木型、乔木型绿化配置及草-灌-乔混合型试验区。自建植次年(2010年)起,对试验区进行持续5a生态监测。结果表明:1)边坡植被的物种丰富度与乡土植物的生活型有关,呈现乔木型灌木型草-灌-乔混合型草本型趋势;2)植被的物种多样性(Shannon-Wiener指数、Pielou指数)与乡土植物生活型构成及建植年限有关:建植后第1、第2年,多样性水平呈草本型草-灌-乔混合型灌木型乔木型变化趋势;自建植后第三起(2012—2014年),呈草-灌-乔混合型草本型灌木型乔木型波动;3)植被的水土保持性能(径流系数、侵蚀模数)与群落的物种多样性密切相关:多样性水平越高,水土保持性能越强。可见,乡土植物的生活型构成对提高边坡植被的物种多样性、改善生态性能至关重要。     

异质生境对荒漠草原植物群落组成和种群生态位的影响

为揭示荒漠草原不同植物种群生态位特征以及对有限资源的利用状况,以围栏内外不同土壤类型下植物群落为研究对象,运用经典生态位理论,探讨其群落组成和种群生态位特征。结果表明：在调查样方中共记录到15科36属42种植物,以豆科、禾本科、菊科和藜科的草本植物为主。风沙土生境中的植被生物量和密度最高,一年生植物生态位宽度值往往较高,以猪毛蒿的重要值最大。灰钙土生境中植被盖度较高,多年生植物生态位宽度值相对较高,以牛枝子和针茅的重要值最大。放牧会减少多年生草本的种类和数量,而一年生草本有所增加,对半灌木数量则影响不大。在不同生境下猪毛蒿生态位宽度和总宽度值均居首,是该区域主要优势种和典型的泛化种。在放牧和短期围栏内猪毛蒿与其他物种的生态位重叠指数均较高,但在长期围封样地中,特别是灰钙土生境下,重叠指数比重有所降低。基岩风化沉积土中物种间的重叠程度最大,而风沙土中则最小。猪毛蒿分布在生态位重叠指数DCA排序图的中心,说明其在群落中占有重要地位,对有限资源的竞争能力和对环境的适应能力较强。综上,生境的异质性是导致群落组成及生态位不同的关键因子,因此在荒漠草原进行植被恢复建设和保护措施时,应考虑不同土壤类型条件下各物种生态适应性,避免生态位功能冲突。     

新疆阿勒泰山两河源自然保护区地面生地衣的物种多样性

阿勒泰山地是我国著名水系额尔齐斯河和乌伦古河的发源地,该山地地衣植物的研究在中国乃至中亚都占有非常重要的科学地位。新疆阿勒泰山两河源自然保护区位于阿勒泰山东段,气候在新疆最为潮湿,其地衣植物种类十分丰富。作者在该保护区选择6个植被带类型,即山地荒漠带、山地草原带、针阔混交林带、针叶林带、亚高山草甸带、高山草甸带,研究了其地面生地衣植物的物种多样性特征。结果表明:阿勒泰山两河源自然保护区地衣植物区系成分丰富而且复杂,共有地面生地衣植物5科6属46种,以石蕊科种类最为丰富,约32种。该地区不同植被带类型下地面生地衣植物物种的S?renson相似性系数在0.200–0.739之间,以针阔混交林和针叶林带的相似性为最高(0.739),针阔混交林和高山草甸带地衣植物物种相似性最低(0.200)。各植被带地衣优势种中白边岛衣(Cetrarialaeuigata)、林鹿蕊(Cladoniaarbuscula)、佐木氏珊瑚枝(Stereocaulonsasakii)、鳞地卷(Peltigeralepido-phora)、喇叭粉石蕊(Cladoniachlorophaea)、东方鹿蕊(Cladinagrisea)等的重要值在0.5以上,其余优势种的重要值均在0.5以下;山地森林带地衣植物物种多样性最为丰富,在整个阿勒泰山两河源自然保护区地面生地衣植物群落中占据优势地位,为该地区地衣植物多样性的分布中心,是地衣植物多样性保护的关键地区。     

塔里木荒漠河岸林异质生境物种多样性比较与其测度指标筛选及评价

选择合适的物种多样性测度指标与多样性指数是进行群落多样性研究的基础工作。依据塔里木河上游荒漠河岸林样地调查资料,分别采用重要值、盖度和多度为测度指标比较了反映群落物种丰富度、多样性、均匀度和优势度12种多样性指数与异质生境群落多样性特征,并对多样性指数进行了相关分析与评价。结果表明,荒漠河岸林异质生境群落物种组成种类差异明显,轮南镇胡杨群落物种丰富度与多样性指数最高,水工三连灰胡杨群落多样性最低,土壤水盐的空间异质性是引起荒漠植被空间分布与群落多样性差异的主导因子。表征荒漠群落多样性以重要值和盖度为测度指标优于多度指标,其中以重要值为测度指标来反映群落多样性更为合理。相关与主成分分析表明,均匀度与多样性指数间的相关性高于丰富度与多样性指数,且多样性指数受均匀度、优势度指数受丰富度影响较大,反映出荒漠河岸林群落多样性主要决定于物种分布的均匀程度。12种多样性指数中Margalef丰富度指数（Ma）、Shannon-Weiner多样性指数（H）与Simpson多样性指数（D）能客观真实地反映异质生境荒漠植物群落多样性。同时,针对高度生境异质性的荒漠植物群落,还应综合考虑群落物种组成与生境特征,选择合适的多样性指数组合可更客观地反映荒漠河岸林群落多样性变化。     

广西岩溶植被类型及其分类系统

岩溶区具有特殊的生态环境,影响着植被的分布特征,广西的岩溶植被类型丰富,生态结构复杂、物种多样性丰富、特有成分突出,岩溶植被具有自身起源与演替方式的特点,同时带有植被地带性分布规律的烙印。广西岩溶植被类型可分为5个植被型组、8个植被型,共96群系。     

艾比湖流域杜加依林荒漠植物群落多样性及优势种生态位

多样性格局的形成是物种间相互作用及其适应环境的结果。为了阐释艾比湖流域荒漠植物的物种多样性及优势种生态位特征,我们对艾比湖湿地国家级自然保护区内阿其克苏河北岸的杜加依林进行了物种组成与环境因子调查。结果表明:(1)按照土壤水盐含量,根据多元回归树(multivariate regression tree,MRT)方法可将植被划分为胡杨–罗布麻–芦苇(Ass.Populus euphratica–Apocynum venetum–Phragmites australis)(I型)、胡杨–琵琶柴(Ass.Populus euphratica–Reaumuria songonica)(II型)和盐爪爪∥胡杨–罗布麻+骆驼刺(Ass.Kalidium foliatum∥Populus euphratica–Apocynum venetum+Alhagi sparsifolia)(III型)3个主要群丛。(2)I型群丛抵御极端环境的能力较差,包括5个样方,II型群丛能够忍受轻微的盐旱胁迫,包括3个样方,III型群丛对盐旱生境具有一定的适应性,包括22个样方;随着典型群丛从I型演替成为III型,沙生和盐生植物逐渐占据生境并成为主要优势种,Shannon-Wiener多样性指数(H)和Margalef丰富度指数(Ma)先降低后增加,Simpson优势度指数(C)和Pielou均匀度指数(E)先增加后逐渐降低,体现了杜加依林植物群落的演替序列。(3)生态位宽度Bray-Curtis相似性聚类分析将13个优势种分为2组,平均相似性分别为96.89%和97.66%,反映了研究区物种生态位宽度具有较高的相似性;基于物种多度数据的非度量多维标度排序(NMDS)压力系数为0.04,除铃铛刺(Halimodendron halodendron)与甘草(Glycyrrhiza uralensis)外,物种之间的分布也具有较高的相似性。综上所述,土壤水盐含量是影响艾比湖流域杜加依林中荒漠植物群丛结构及多样性的主要环境因子,并决定了群落的演替方向;各优势种之间的生态位和分布具有较高的相似性,存在明显的竞争关系。     

Combining projected changes in species richness and composition reveals climate change impacts on coastal Mediterranean fish assemblages

Species Temporal Turnover (STT) is one of the most familiar metrics to assess changes in assemblage composition as a consequence of climate change. However, STT mixes two components in one metric, changes in assemblage composition caused by a process of species loss or gain (i.e. the nestedness component) and changes in assemblage composition caused by a process of species replacement (i.e. the species replacement component). Drawing on previous studies investigating spatial patterns of beta diversity, we propose measures of STT that allow analysing each component (species replacement vs. nestedness), separately. We also present a mapping strategy to simultaneously visualize changes in species richness and assemblage composition. To illustrate our approach, we used the Mediterranean coastal fish fauna as a case study. Using Bioclimatic Envelope Models (BEMs) we first projected the potential future climatic niches of 288 coastal Mediterranean fish species based on a global warming scenario. We then aggregated geographically the species‐level projections to analyse the projected changes in species richness and composition. Our results show that projected changes in assemblage composition are caused by different processes (species replacement vs. nestedness) in several areas of the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, our mapping strategy highlights that the coastal fish fauna in several regions of the Mediterranean Sea could experience a ‘cul‐de‐sac’ effect if exposed to climate warming. Overall, the joint exploration of changes in species richness and composition coupled with the distinction between species replacement and nestedness bears important information for understanding the nature of climate change impacts on biodiversity. These methodological advances should help decision‐makers in prioritizing action in the areas facing the greatest vulnerability to climate.     

Macroevolutionary dynamics in environmental space and the latitudinal diversity gradient in New World birds

Correlations between species richness and climate suggest non-random occupation of environmental space and niche evolution through time. However, the evolutionary mechanisms involved remain unresolved. Here, we partition the occupation of environmental space into intra- and inter-clade components to differentiate a model based on pure conservation of ancestral niches with higher diversification rates in the tropics, and an adaptive radiation model based on shifts in adaptive peaks at the family level allowing occupation of temperate regions. We examined these mechanisms using within- and among-family skewness components based on centroids of 3560 New World bird species across four environmental variables. We found that the accumulation of species in the tropics is a result of both processes. The components of adaptive radiation have family level skewness of species' distributions strongly structured in space, but not phylogenetically, according to the integrated analyses of spatial filters and phylogenetic eigenvectors. Moreover, stronger radiation components were found for energy variables, which are often used to argue for direct climatic effects on diversity. Thus, the correspondence between diversity and climate may be due to the conservation of ancestral tropical niches coupled with repeated broad shifts in adaptive peaks during birds' evolutionary history more than by higher diversification rates driven by more energy in the tropics.     

Diversity of European habitat types is correlated with geography more than climate and human pressure

Habitat richness, that is, the diversity of ecosystem types, is a complex, spatially explicit aspect of biodiversity, which is affected by bioclimatic, geographic, and anthropogenic variables. The distribution of habitat types is a key component for understanding broad‐scale biodiversity and for developing conservation strategies. We used data on the distribution of European Union (EU) habitats to answer the following questions: (i) how do bioclimatic, geographic, and anthropogenic variables affect habitat richness? (ii) Which of those factors is the most important? (iii) How do interactions among these variables influence habitat richness and which combinations produce the strongest interactions? The distribution maps of 222 terrestrial habitat types as defined by the Natura 2000 network were used to calculate habitat richness for the 10 km × 10 km EU grid map. We then investigated how environmental variables affect habitat richness, using generalized linear models, generalized additive models, and boosted regression trees. The main factors associated with habitat richness were geographic variables, with negative relationships observed for both latitude and longitude, and a positive relationship for terrain ruggedness. Bioclimatic variables played a secondary role, with habitat richness increasing slightly with annual mean temperature and overall annual precipitation. We also found an interaction between anthropogenic variables, with the combination of increased landscape fragmentation and increased population density strongly decreasing habitat richness. This is the first attempt to disentangle spatial patterns of habitat richness at the continental scale, as a key tool for protecting biodiversity. The number of European habitats is related to geography more than climate and human pressure, reflecting a major component of biogeographical patterns similar to the drivers observed at the species level. The interaction between anthropogenic variables highlights the need for coordinated, continental‐scale management plans for biodiversity conservation.     

Habitat type richness associations with environmental variables: a case study in the Greek Natura 2000 aquatic ecosystems

We investigated the potential associations of habitat type richness patterns with a series of environmental variables in 61 protected aquatic ecosystems of the Greek Natura 2000 network. Habitat type classification followed the Natura 2000 classification scheme. Habitat type richness was measured as the number of different habitat types in an area. To overcome a potential area effect in quantifying habitat type richness, we applied the “moving window” technique. The environmental variables were selected to account for some of the major threats to biodiversity, such as fragmentation, habitat loss and climate change. We run GLMs to associate habitat type richness with different combinations of climatic, spatial and topographic variables. Habitat type richness seemed to significantly associate with climatic variables, more than spatial or topographic ones. In particular, for the climatic ones, the importance of precipitation surpassed that of temperature and especially the precipitation of the wettest and driest month had a limiting contribution to richness unlike average climate estimators. Moreover, the landscape’s latitude and longitude and fragmentation were significantly associated to richness. Our findings are in accordance to those observed in recent literature at lower (i.e. species) levels of ecological organization, fact showing that large-scale phenomena (such as climate change) can also be observed at the habitat type level, at least in our case. Thus, following the context of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), that habitat types and not solely species of community interest should be protected and restored, this study serves as a first step towards investigating habitat type richness patterns.     

Species richness and phylogenetic diversity of seed plants across vegetation zones of Mount Kenya,East Africa

Mount Kenya is of ecological importance in tropical east Africa due to the dramatic gradient in vegetation types that can be observed from low to high elevation zones. However, species richness and phylogenetic diversity of this mountain have not been well studied. Here, we surveyed distribution patterns for a total of 1,335 seed plants of this mountain and calculated species richness and phylogenetic diversity across seven vegetation zones. We also measured phylogenetic structure using the net relatedness index (NRI) and the nearest species index (NTI). Our results show that lower montane wet forest has the highest level of species richness, density, and phylogenetic diversity of woody plants, while lower montane dry forest has the highest level of species richness, density, and phylogenetic diversity in herbaceous plants. In total plants, NRI and NTI of four forest zones were smaller than three alpine zones. In woody plants, lower montane wet forest and upper montane forest have overdispersed phylogenetic structures. In herbaceous plants, NRI of Afro‐alpine zone and nival zone are smaller than those of bamboo zone, upper montane forest, and heath zone. We suggest that compared to open dry forest, humid forest has fewer herbaceous plants because of the closed canopy of woody plants. Woody plants may have climate‐dominated niches, whereas herbaceous plants may have edaphic and microhabitat‐dominated niches. We also proposed lower and upper montane forests with high species richness or overdispersed phylogenetic structures as the priority areas in conservation of Mount Kenya and other high mountains in the Eastern Afro‐montane biodiversity hotspot regions.     

The evolution of climate tolerance in conifer‐feeding aphids in relation to their host's climatic niche

Climate adaptation has major consequences in the evolution and ecology of all living organisms. Though phytophagous insects are an important component of Earth's biodiversity, there are few studies investigating the evolution of their climatic preferences. This lack of research is probably because their evolutionary ecology is thought to be primarily driven by their interactions with their host plants. Here, we use a robust phylogenetic framework and species‐level distribution data for the conifer‐feeding aphid genus Cinara to investigate the role of climatic adaptation in the diversity and distribution patterns of these host‐specialized insects. Insect climate niches were reconstructed at a macroevolutionary scale, highlighting that climate niche tolerance is evolutionarily labile, with closely related species exhibiting strong climatic disparities. This result may suggest repeated climate niche differentiation during the evolutionary diversification of Cinara. Alternatively, it may merely reflect the use of host plants that occur in disparate climatic zones, and thus, in reality the aphid species' fundamental climate niches may actually be similar but broad. Comparisons of the aphids' current climate niches with those of their hosts show that most Cinara species occupy the full range of the climatic tolerance exhibited by their set of host plants, corroborating the hypothesis that the observed disparity in Cinara species' climate niches can simply mirror that of their hosts. However, 29% of the studied species only occupy a subset of their hosts' climatic zone, suggesting that some aphid species do indeed have their own climatic limitations. Our results suggest that in host‐specialized phytophagous insects, host associations cannot always adequately describe insect niches and abiotic factors must be taken into account.     

Phylogenetic signals in the realized climate niches of Chinese grasses (Poaceae)

Explaining relationships between species richness and biogeographical patterns over a broad geographic scale is a central issue of biogeography and macroecology. We document the realized climate niches for grasses in China’s nature reserves and discuss its formation mechanism using grass richness data combined with climatic, physiological, and phylogenetic data. Our results suggest that climate niche structure of grasses is phylogenetically conservative for BEP (Bambusoideae, Ehrhartoideae, and Pooideae) and PACMAD (Panicoideae, Arundinoideae, Chloridoideae, Micrairoideae, Aristidoideae, and Danthonioideae) clades along temperature gradients and for Chloridoideae and Panicoideae along precipitation gradients. At the national scale, the divergence patterns of climate niches between two major clades are more distinguishable than between C₃ and C₄ grasses. High rates of climate niche evolution are found in C₄ clades in the subtropical forest region. There appears to be a strong association between elevation gradients and grass diversity: the specific environmental conditions (e.g. energy) and the rapid shifts of climate conditions drive high grass diversification. Evolutionary conservatism of climate niches may be influenced by the specific adaptive ability to changing environmental conditions within NAD-ME/NADP-ME clades. Our results indicate that adaptations to major climate changes may be accomplished by C₄ grass nodes of high climate niche evolutionary rates in China’s nature reserves.     

On the brink of extinction? How climate change may affect global chelonian species richness and distribution

Anthropogenic global climate change has already led to alterations in biodiversity patterns by directly and indirectly affecting species distributions. It has been suggested that poikilothermic animals, including reptiles, will be particularly affected by global change and large‐scale reptile declines have already been observed. Currently, half of the world's freshwater turtles and tortoises are considered threatened with extinction, and climate change may exacerbate these declines. In this study, we assess how global chelonian species richness will change in the near future. We use species distribution models developed under current climate conditions for 78% of all extant species and project them onto different Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios for 2080. We detect a strong dependence of temperature shaping most species ranges, which coincide with their general temperature‐related physiological traits (i.e., temperature‐dependent sex determination). Furthermore, the extent and distribution of the current bioclimatic niches of most chelonians may change remarkably in the near future, likely leading to a substantial decrease of local species abundance and ultimately a reduction in species richness. Future climatic changes may cause the ranges of 86% of the species to contract, and of these ranges, nearly 12% are predicted to be situated completely outside their currently realized niches. Hence, the interplay of increasing habitat fragmentation and loss due to climatic stress may result in a serious threat for several chelonian species.     

Historical vs. ecological factors influencing global patterns of scarabaeine dung beetle diversity

Abstract. There has been much debate concerning the relative influence on biodiversity of historical vs. current ecological factors. Although both are important, we suggest that historical influences might be greater at higher taxonomic level, since one is looking further back into evolutionary history than at lower taxonomic level. Although we are unable to separate ecological from historical effects in the present global study on scarabaeine dung beetles, we are able to demonstrate differences in correlations between major environmental influences (climatic area, numbers of dung types) and major components of diversity (taxon richness, taxon diversity, functional composition) at different taxonomic levels (tribe, genus, species). Current global variation in taxon richness is correlated strongly to current biogeographical variation in the area of suitable climate at all three taxonomic levels. However, generic and species richness is correlated most strongly to climatic combinations which include tropical and warm summer rainfall climate types (I, II). In contrast, tribal richness is correlated most strongly to climatic combinations which include both warm summer rainfall and temperate climate types (II, VI, X). Regional variation in the number of available dung types shows a strong positive correlation to regional variation in taxon richness at higher tribal level but not at lower generic and species levels. Similarly, biogeographical differences in the number of available dung types show a strong negative correlation to dominance indices for taxon diversity at tribal level (distribution of generic numbers between tribes) but none at generic level (species numbers per genus). As functional diversification is linked closely to taxonomic diversification at tribal level, proportions of both ball‐rolling genera and ball‐rolling species also show strong negative correlations to the number of dung types available in each region. In conclusion, the presence of dung type correlations only at higher taxonomic level may reflect historical effects on scarabaeine taxon diversification, whereas differences in correlations to climate type with taxonomic level may reflect both current ecological and historical effects.