Anuran tadpole assemblages in riparian areas of the Middle Paraná River, Argentina

We investigated habitat variables influencing the species richness and composition of anuran tadpole assemblages in ponds from riparian areas of the Middle Paraná River. Tadpoles were collected at seven ponds that differed in hydroperiod and 10 habitat variables (water temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, depth, size, time of isolation, macrophyte richness, and level of natural or anthropic disturbances) during a 5 year period. The presence/absence of potential tadpole predators was also recorded. Although we did not examine tadpole diets, we categorized anurans into ecomorphological guilds. We found that dissolved oxygen, maximum depth, pond size, macrophyte richness, and disturbances were significantly related to tadpole species richness. We also found that the richness of potential tadpole predator increased with longer pond hydroperiod. Thus, the number of tadpole species was higher in temporary and semi-permanent ponds without potential tadpole predators. The results of our study provide the first quantitative data on the tadpole assemblages in ponds associated with riparian areas of the Middle Paraná River Floodplain based on multi-year intensive sampling, a finding of both ecological interest and practical significance for future conservation management of anurans of Paraná River ecosystems.     

Short-term responses of phytoplankton to nutrient enrichment and planktivorous fish predation in a temperate South American mesotrophic reservoir

The benthic macroinvertebrate community is an important component of stream diversity, because its members are fundamental connectors among the different trophic levels of running waters. In this study, we assessed alpha and beta diversities of benthic macroinvertebrates in three stream sites and four microhabitats: (i) moss in the air-water interface; (ii) submerged roots of terrestrial plants; (iii) leaf litter deposited in pools; (iv) stones in riffles. We constructed rarefaction curves and compared species richness among microhabitats for each stream site. Additionally, we evaluated which factor, stream site, or microhabitat, was most important in determining variation in assemblage structure, i.e., beta diversity. There was no significant difference among microhabitats in terms of taxa richness evaluated by rarefaction curves. Using partial Constrained Correspondence Analysis (pCCA), we found that microhabitat was most important in determining community composition, accounting for 42.02% of the total variation. Stream sites accounted for 22.27%. In accordance with the pCCA, exploratory multivariate methods (ordination and classification) revealed four distinct groups, corresponding to the four microhabitats, independent of stream sites. Our results indicated that differences among environmental conditions are much more important in the determination of stream assemblage structure than are differences in spatial location. Accordingly, adjacent microhabitats in a single stream site harbor macroinvertebrate assemblages more dissimilar than those found in a single microhabitat at different stream sites. Handling editor: D. Dudgeon     

Fish assemblages in temporary ponds adjacent to 'terra-firme' streams in Central Amazonia

1. The effect of habitat structural features and physicochemical characteristics of the water on the composition and richness of fish assemblages in temporary ponds near streams were examined at three spatial scales: among ponds, among streams and between drainage basins, in a ‘terra‐firme’ (not subject to long‐term flooding) forest reserve in Central Amazonia. 2. The fish assemblage in temporary ponds was composed of subsets of 18 small‐bodied species widely distributed in the reserve. The assemblages had a nested subset structure, where smaller ponds contained subgroups of the species found in larger ponds. 3. Species composition and richness in temporary ponds were similar between drainage basins, although the fish assemblages in streams differed between basins. 4. Fish assemblage structure was influenced by local factors related to habitat structure, such as pond area and depth, canopy cover and hydroperiod. Physicochemical characteristics of the water in the ponds were similar between drainage basins and had little detectable effect on the structure of pond fish assemblages. 5. No correspondence was found between the composition, richness or abundance of fishes in the ponds and in stretches of the streams adjacent to the ponds. Therefore, it is not possible to predict the composition of these temporary pond fish assemblages from the fish assemblages found in adjacent streams.     

Direct and indirect effects of predation on tadpole community structure in the Amazon rainforest

Abstract The relationship between the distribution of predators (fish, odonates and water beetles) and prey assemblages (amphibian larvae) was investigated in the tropical rainforest of central Amazonas, Brasil. The anuran community uses a variety of waterbodies for reproduction, ranging from streams and streamside ponds to isolated forest ponds. Predators in this system include fish in streams and streamside ponds, and invertebrates (primarily odonate naiads and beetles) in forest ponds. Tadpole species richness and assemblage structure were related to fish density and species richness. No relationships between tadpole assemblages and abiotic pond characteristics were detected. The presence offish explained much of the variation in both species composition and species richness within and among ponds. Some species of tadpole were consistently found to coexist with high densities of fish. Path analyses suggest that while fish have a strong direct effect on tadpole associations and species richness, they also have an indirect effect through invertebrate predators (odonate larvae and coleopteran beetles). Prey survival-strategies such as palatability and behaviour may explain how tadpole species composition is affected by predators at the community level. These findings suggest that the observed patterns of habitat use by larval anurans may be structured in response to the distribution of key predators (fish) in this system.     

Fossil pollen as a record of past biodiversity

Quaternary pollen records may contribute uniquely to the understanding of present plant diversity. Pollen assemblages can reflect diversity at community and landscape scales but the time resolution of most studies does not match that of modern ecological studies. Because of the complicating effects of differential pollen productivity and dispersal, pollen records do not directly reflect equitability aspects of vegetation diversity. Vegetation diversity indices other than S (the total number of taxa) are therefore not appropriate for pollen assemblages. As a measure of the species richness palynological richness is biased by the lack of taxonomic precision, by a possible interference on pollen dispersal from vegetation structure and by pollen representation. The nonlinear relationship between species richness and pollen-taxa richness may be used in attempts to estimate past floristic richness from fossil pollen assemblages. Using a hypothetical example the strong effect of cover shifts in the vegetation affecting taxa with different representation (R_rel) values on observed palynological richness is demonstrated. It is suggested that estimates of relative pollen productivity should be used to guide the pollen sum on which pollen-type richness is estimated by rarefaction techniques and this approach is illustrated using a paired site study of late Holocene diversity dynamics. The need for a modern training set relating pollen-type richness to species richness, pollen productivity and vegetation structure is emphasized.     

Spatio-temporal nested patterns in macroinvertebrate assemblages across a pond network with a wide hydroperiod range

Nestedness has been widely used to measure the structure of biological communities and occurs when species-poor sites contain subsets of species-rich ones. Here, we examine nested patterns across the macroinvertebrate assemblages of 91 ponds in Doñana National Park, Spain, and explore temporal variation of nestedness and species richness in 19 temporary ponds over 2 years with differing rainfall. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were significantly nested; both pond spatial arrangement and environmental variation being important in driving nested patterns. Despite the nested structure observed, a number of taxa and ponds deviate from this pattern (termed idiosyncratic), by occurring more frequently than expected in species-poor sites, or having assemblages dominated by species largely absent from species-rich sites. Aquatic adults of winged insects, capable of dispersal, were more highly nested than non-dispersing taxa and life-history stages. Idiosyncratic taxa were found in ponds spanning a wide range of hydroperiods, although nestedness was higher in more permanent waterbodies. Monthly sampling demonstrated a gradual increase of species richness and nestedness from pond filling to April–May, when the most temporary ponds started to dry. Although the degree of nestedness of individual pond assemblages varied from month to month, the overall degree of nestedness in the two study years was practically identical despite marked differences in hydroperiod. Our results suggest that differential colonization and environmental variation are key processes driving the nested structure of Doñana ponds, that macroinvertebrate assemblages change in a predictable manner each year in response to cycles of pond wetting and drying, and that connectivity and environmental variability maintain biodiversity in pond networks.     

Are cladoceran diversity and community structure linked to spatial heterogeneity in urban landscapes and pond environments?

Biodiversity patterns in cladoceran communities were investigated in urban waterbodies in relation with residential land use, pond management, and waterbody environments. We evaluated species richness in the pelagic and littoral zones of eighteen waterbodies of a large Canadian city. Gamma diversity (26 species) observed at a small scale in the urban survey was important comparatively to large-scale surveys of lakes. Beta diversity ranged from 1 to 8 species among waterbodies. We tested if littoral species greatly contributed to regional diversity in urban waterbodies. Littoral species (Chydoridae, Ilyocryptidae, Macrothricidae, Polyphemidae) accounted for 58% of the total species pool. We distinguished five cladoceran assemblages associated to different waterbodies (temporary ponds, permanent lakes, and wetlands). Cladoceran communities were more diverse and variable in permanent lakes than in temporary ponds. Changes in cladoceran species assemblages among waterbodies were driven by variations in waterbody size and phosphorus enrichment, macrophyte and algal biomass, urban density, pond management practices, and the presence of potential predators as fish and macroinvertebrates. Our study indicates that both artificial ponds and lakes and natural wetlands are valuable habitats for the conservation of cladoceran biodiversity and rare endemic species in urban regions. Further research on pond management strategies promoting urban aquatic biodiversity should be undertaken.     

Determinant landscape‐scale factors on pond odonate assemblages

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Disentangling the Role of Climate,Topography and Vegetation in Species Richness Gradients

Environmental gradients (EG) related to climate, topography and vegetation are among the most important drivers of broad scale patterns of species richness. However, these different EG do not necessarily drive species richness in similar ways, potentially presenting synergistic associations when driving species richness. Understanding the synergism among EG allows us to address key questions arising from the effects of global climate and land use changes on biodiversity. Herein, we use variation partitioning (also know as commonality analysis) to disentangle unique and shared contributions of different EG in explaining species richness of Neotropical vertebrates. We use three broad sets of predictors to represent the environmental variability in (i) climate (annual mean temperature, temperature annual range, annual precipitation and precipitation range), (ii) topography (mean elevation, range and coefficient of variation of elevation), and (iii) vegetation (land cover diversity, standard deviation and range of forest canopy height). The shared contribution between two types of EG is used to quantify synergistic processes operating among EG, offering new perspectives on the causal relationships driving species richness. To account for spatially structured processes, we use Spatial EigenVector Mapping models. We perform analyses across groups with distinct dispersal abilities (amphibians, non-volant mammals, bats and birds) and discuss the influence of vagility on the partitioning results. Our findings indicate that broad scale patterns of vertebrate richness are mainly affected by the synergism between climate and vegetation, followed by the unique contribution of climate. Climatic factors were relatively more important in explaining species richness of good dispersers. Most of the variation in vegetation that explains vertebrate richness is climatically structured, supporting the productivity hypothesis. Further, the weak synergism between topography and vegetation urges caution when using topographic complexity as a surrogate of habitat (vegetation) heterogeneity.     

The role of river longitudinal gradients,local and regional attributes in shaping frog assemblages

We studied anuran assemblage composition from 1st to 4th orders along two rivers in the Rio Preto State Park, southeastern Brazil. We aimed to understand how species distribution relates to local features/longitudinal gradients within a river, and to differences between rivers. We assessed climatic (temperature, humidity), chemical (water pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity), physical (river bottom type, current), and biotic (vegetation structure) features thought to affect anuran distribution. Cluster analyses showed that species assemblages tended to be more similar among sections of the same river than between corresponding sections of different rivers, and Mantel tests showed assemblages to be spatially structured, although river features were not. The river with a mixture of open vegetation and forest at its margins sheltered higher species diversity than the one bordered by forest. Using Canonical Correspondence Analyses, we found variables related to microhabitat availability to be the best ones to explain species distribution in the adult stage, and conductivity to be the best one for the tadpole stage. The river seasonal flood pulse seems to influence availability of additional reproductive sites and tadpole dispersal. We found no evidence of gradients of tadpole abundance responding to river size or predator abundance. Considering that anuran species are spatially structured and influenced by variables that change both locally and regionally, we recommend that the whole longitudinal gradient along permanent lotic ecosystems, together with its original limnological and structural attributes, is preserved in order to ensure conservation of anuran diversity in both local and regional scales.     

The effect of fish and aquatic habitat complexity on amphibians

Fish introductions are considered one of the most widespread anthropogenic threats to aquatic ecosystems. Their negative impact on native amphibian communities has received increasing attention in recent years. We investigated the relationship between the introduced fish, emergent vegetation cover and native amphibians in man-made ponds generated by regulation and dam building along the Tarnava Mare Valley (Romania) during the last 40 years. We inventoried amphibians and fish inhabiting 85 permanent ponds and estimated habitat complexity focusing on emergent vegetation cover. Four amphibian species were found to be negatively associated with the presence of predatory fish. Species richness of ponds without fish and ponds without predatory fish did not differ significantly, whereas ponds containing only predatory fish had significantly lower amphibian richness. A significant positive relationship was found between the emergent vegetation cover and pond occupancy of six amphibian species and amphibian species richness. As a management recommendation, we suggest the restriction of fish introductions to non predatory fish and the maintenance of high emergent vegetation cover in the ponds. Handling editor: S. Declerck     

Functional traits reveal environmental constraints on amphibian community assembly in a subtropical dry forest

The relationships between functional traits and environmental gradients are useful to identify different community assembly processes. In this work, we used an approach based on functional traits to analyse if changes in hydroperiod and tree covers of ponds are relevant for local amphibian community assembly processes. Ephemeral ponds with low vegetation cover are expected to impose constraints on different species with particular trait combinations and, therefore, to exhibit communities with lower functional diversity than more stable ponds with greater tree cover. Sampling was conducted in 39 temporary ponds located along vegetation and hydroperiod gradients in the most arid portion of the Chaco ecoregion. Seven functional traits were measured in each species present in the regional pool. Associations between these traits and environmental gradients were detected using multivariate ordination techniques and permutation test (RLQ and fourth‐corner analyses respectively). Functional diversity indices were then calculated and related to variations in the environmental gradients. The results obtained allowed us to identify different sets of traits associated with hydroperiod and tree cover, suggesting that these environmental variables are relevant for structuring amphibian communities according to interspecific variations in functional traits from both, larval and adult stages. Contrary to our expectations, communities associated with more stable ponds and with greater tree cover exhibited lower functional diversity than expected by chance (and were the ponds with highest species richness). This result indicates that the reduction in relative importance of environmental restrictions imposed by a very short hydroperiod and the lack of tree cover, favours different species of the regional pool that are similar in several functional traits. Accordingly, communities associated with stable ponds with high tree cover exhibited high functional redundancy.     

Plant species diversity and composition of wetlands within an upland forest

Though often overlooked, small wetlands in an upland matrix can support diverse plant communities that increase both local and regional species richness. Here we characterize the full range of wetland vegetation within an upland forest landscape and compare the diversity and composition of different wetland plant communities. In an old-growth forest reserve in southern Quebec, Canada, we sampled wet habitats including lakeshores, permanent and seasonal ponds, swamps, glades, and streamsides. We used clustering, indicator species analysis, and nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination to identify and compare vegetation types. The wetlands contained 280 species of vascular plants, 45% of the reserve's flora, in only 1.1% of its area. Local diversity averaged 24 ± 0.7 species per 7 m(2), much higher than in the surrounding upland forests. Plant communities sorted into five types, whose strongest indicator species were Osmunda regalis, Glyceria striata, O. cinnamomea, Deparia acrostichoides, and Matteuccia struthiopteris, respectively. Both local species richness and compositional variation among sites differed among the vegetation types. By combining species representative of the region's major wetlands with species from the upland forest matrix, the plant assemblages of these wetlands make disproportionately important contributions to landscape-level diversity.     

Ecological biogeography of Mexican bats: the relative contributions of habitat heterogeneity,beta diversity,and environmental gradients to species richness and composition patterns

Mexico has higher mammalian diversity than expected for its size and geographic position. High environmental hetero geneity throughout Mexico is hypothesized to promote high turnover rates (β‐diversity), thus contributing more to observed species richness and composition than within‐habitat (α) diversity. This is true if species are strongly associated with their environments, such that changes in environmental attributes will result in changes in species composition. Also, greater heterogeneity in an area will result in greater species richness. This hypothesis has been deemed false for bats, as their ability to fly would reduce opportunities for habitat specialization. If so, we would expect no significant relationships between 1) species composition and environmental variables, 2) species richness and environmental heterogeneity, 3) β‐diversity and environmental heterogeneity. We tested these predictions using 31 bat assemblages distributed across Mexico. Using variance partitioning we evaluated the relative contribution of vegetation, climate, elevation, horizontal heterogeneity (a variate including vegetation, climate, and elevational heterogeneity), spatial variation (lat‐long), and vertical hetero geneity (of vegetation strata) to variation in bat species composition and richness. Variation in vegetation explained 92% of the variation in species composition and was correlated with all other variables examined, indicating that bats respond directly to habitat composition and structure. Beta‐diversity and vegetational heterogeneity were significantly correlated. Bat species richness was significantly correlated with vertical, but not horizontal, heterogeneity. Nonetheless, neither horizontal nor vertical heterogeneity were random; both were related to latitude and to elevation. Variation in bat community composition and richness in Mexico were primarily explained by local landscape heterogeneity and environmental factors. Significant relationships between β‐diversity and environmental variation reveal differences in habitat specialization by bats, and explain their high diversity in Mexico. Understanding mechanisms acting along environmental or geographic gradients is as important for understanding spatial variation in community composition as studying mechanisms that operate at local scales.     

Lentic macroinvertebrate assemblage structure along gradients in spatial heterogeneity, habitat size and water chemistry

Littoral zones of small water bodies are spatially heterogeneous habitats, harbouring diverse biotic communities. Despite this apparent heterogeneity, many studies have stressed the importance of water chemistry in determining the structure of littoral macroinvertebrate assemblages. The purpose of this study was to consider the relative importance of several spatial and water chemistry variables in explaining the patterns in the structure of macroinvertebrate assemblages in 21 lentic water bodies in northeastern Finland. Water bodies were selected to represent various habitat conditions ranging from small permanent bog ponds to small forest lakes. According to canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), the most important environmental factors related to assemblage composition were water body area, moss cover, total nitrogen and water hardness. In general, species composition in small bog ponds tended to differ from that in larger lakes with forested shoreline. Total species richness was best explained by a composite variable (PCA) describing physical habitat heterogeneity, species richness being lowest in small bog lakes with simple bottom structure and low amount of aquatic plants. Species numbers in dominant functional feeding groups were related to different environmental factors. Shredder species richness was best explained by a regression model incorporating total nitrogen and the amount of organic matter, both of which were negatively related to the number of shredder species. The number of gatherer species increased with mean substratum particle size. Scraper species richness was negatively affected by the abundance of detritus and positively affected by depth, and a model including both variables explained most of the variation. Variation in the number of predatory species was best explained by a regression model including moss cover and lake area.     

Factors influencing the appearance of spider (Araneae) and beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages in nests of great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus

The appearance of spider (Araneae) and beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages found in nests of great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus was studied, firstly to investigate breeding success and the amount of precipitation as potential factors which might affect the abundance and species richness of both groups. In addition, we compared the diversity of spider and beetle assemblages between nests found in different reed habitats, and considered the position of nests (above water or dry ground). In this study we selected five different randomly chosen reed habitats: two mining ponds, two small canals and one large canal. Great Reed Warbler nests were collected either shortly after fledging, or after the clutch had failed. Altogether, 12 species of spider and 19 species of beetle were collected. In both groups there was no significant difference in abundance between successful, lost and cuckoo-parasitized nests; however, there was a significant difference in species richness between the three nest categories in spider assemblages, which was not the case in beetle assemblages. The amount of precipitation did not affect beetle or spider abundance; only the species richness of spiders showed significant growth. Furthermore, we found no significant relationship between vegetation cover and the species richness and abundance of spiders and beetles. The diversity of both groups differed significantly according to reed habitat: beetle assemblages were most diverse by the large canal and spiders at the mining ponds.     

Relating fish kills to upwellings and wind patterns in the Salton Sea

Awareness of pond conservation value is growing all over Europe. Ponds are recognized as important ecosystems supporting large numbers of species and several rare and threatened aquatic plants, macroinvertebrates and amphibians. Notwithstanding ponds, particularly temporary ones, are still neglected in Italy. There are some gaps in our understanding of the macrophyte ecology and the conservation value of Mediterranean small still waters. Therefore, this study investigated the macrophyte communities and physico-chemical characteristics of 8 permanent and 13 temporary ponds along the Tyrrhenian coast near Rome, with the aim to relate the distribution of aquatic plants to environmental variables, and to define the botanical conservation value of ponds. Throughout the study period (Spring 2002), Principal Component Analysis performed on abiotic variables clearly discriminated temporary ponds, smaller and more eutrophic, from permanent ponds, larger and with higher pH and oxygen concentration. A total of 73 macrophyte taxa were collected in the study ponds. Temporary waters hosted a smaller number of plant species than permanent ones. Besides hydroperiod length, the environmental factors related to plant richness were maximum depth, surface area, dissolved oxygen and nitrogen concentration in the water. Moreover, the Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling showed a high dissimilarity in the taxonomic composition of aquatic plants between temporary and permanent ponds. The former contained more annual fast-growing species (Callitriche sp. pl. and Ranunculus sp. pl.), while in the latter species with long life-cycles (i.e. Potamogeton sp. pl.) were more abundant. Our results highlighted that temporary and permanent ponds in central Italy have different macrophyte assemblages, with aquatic species (including some of conservation interest at regional scale) exclusively found in each pond type. This suggested that both type of ponds could give an irreplaceable contribution to the conservation of aquatic plant diversity of these freshwater ecosystems. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Guest editors: R. Céréghino, J. Biggs, B. Oertli & S. Declerck The ecology of European ponds: defining the characteristics of a neglected freshwater habitat     

Environmental drivers of aquatic macrophyte assemblages in ponds along an altitudinal gradient

The aim of this study was to explore the environmental drivers of the aquatic macrophyte assemblage in a large, heterogeneous Spanish region covering a wide altitudinal range. We hypothesized that physicochemical variables affecting assemblages would differ depending on altitude. The study was conducted in 46 plateau ponds and 21 mountain ponds. Our results revealed a shift in hydrophyte assemblage composition and structure along an altitude and water chemistry gradient. However, altitude was not a good predictor of species richness. Conductivity and nutrient concentrations were higher in plateau ponds than in mountain ponds and binary logistic regression showed that conductivity was the best variable for differentiating between both pond types. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that conductivity was the main factor responsible for the species distribution in both pond types. Generalized linear models showed that in plateau ponds, total phosphorus and mean depth were the strongest predictors of submerged macrophyte coverage, and no model could be created for richness. In the mountain ponds, conductivity and pond area explained coverage of submerged plants, while richness was related to pond area. Our results corroborated the hypothesis to be tested, and the conclusions obtained may be of relevance for making decisions on conservation and restoration.     

Impact of three aquatic invasive species on native plants and macroinvertebrates in temperate ponds

Biological plant invasions pose a serious threat to native biodiversity and have received much attention, especially in terrestrial habitats. In freshwater ecosystems impacts of invasive plant species are less studied. We hypothesized an impact on organisms from the water column and from the sediment. We then assessed the impact of three aquatic invasive species on the plants and macroinvertebrates: Hydrocotyle ranunculoides, Ludwigia grandiflora and Myriophyllum aquaticum. Our research on 32 ponds in Belgium indicated that the reduction in the native plant species richness was a common pattern to invasion. However, the magnitude of impacts were species specific. A strong negative relationship to invasive species cover was found, with submerged vegetation the most vulnerable to the invasion. Invertebrate richness, diversity and abundance were measured in sediments of invaded and uninvaded ponds along a gradient of H. ranunculoides, L. grandiflora, and M. aquaticum species cover. We found a strong negative relationship between invasive species cover and invertebrate abundance, probably due to unsuitable conditions of the detritus for invertebrate colonization. Taxonomic compositions of aquatic invertebrate assemblages in invaded ponds differed from uninvaded ponds. Sensitive benthos, such as mayflies were completely absent in invaded ponds. The introduction of H. ranunculoides, L. grandiflora, and M. aquaticum in Belgian ponds has caused significant ecological alterations in the aquatic vegetation and the detritus community of ponds.     

Disentangling vegetation diversity from climate–energy and habitat heterogeneity for explaining animal geographic patterns

Broad‐scale animal diversity patterns have been traditionally explained by hypotheses focused on climate–energy and habitat heterogeneity, without considering the direct influence of vegetation structure and composition. However, integrating these factors when considering plant–animal correlates still poses a major challenge because plant communities are controlled by abiotic factors that may, at the same time, influence animal distributions. By testing whether the number and variation of plant community types in Europe explain country‐level diversity in six animal groups, we propose a conceptual framework in which vegetation diversity represents a bridge between abiotic factors and animal diversity. We show that vegetation diversity explains variation in animal richness not accounted for by altitudinal range or potential evapotranspiration, being the best predictor for butterflies, beetles, and amphibians. Moreover, the dissimilarity of plant community types explains the highest proportion of variation in animal assemblages across the studied regions, an effect that outperforms the effect of climate and their shared contribution with pure spatial variation. Our results at the country level suggest that vegetation diversity, as estimated from broad‐scale classifications of plant communities, may contribute to our understanding of animal richness and may be disentangled, at least to a degree, from climate–energy and abiotic habitat heterogeneity.