Spatial Variability in Species Composition in Birds and Insects

If spatial patterns of change within a habitat were similar for both vertebrates and insects, then vertebrates would provide useful surrogates for designing reserves for the conservation of invertebrates. Data from two eucalypt habitats were analysed to determine levels of habitat richness, site richness and species turnover in birds and insects. For birds the relatively low species richness and turnover indicated that sites within the habitat were similar in composition. In wet eucalypt forests Diptera were very speciose with over 1,000 morphospecies sorted. Species turnover was slightly higher than for birds, indicating a large number of species change from site to site. In dry eucalypt woodland, insects trapped through the winter months were not speciose but turnover between sites was very large. This suggests reserves designed to conserve insects may need to be larger than for birds in order to include the high site variability and richness of insect communities.Spatial patterns of birds and insects were investigated further, to determine if sites that were closer together were more similar for both birds and insects. No patterns were found for birds in either habitat suggesting birds are not responding to changes in the environment at this scale. Diptera in wet eucalypt forest showed higher similarity between close sites than distant sites, while for winter insects in dry eucalypt woodland the relationship was significant when two outlier points were removed. Overall, birds are not good surrogates for insects in either habitat as no relationship between birds and insects in site-to-site similarity was found.     

Does plant richness influence animal richness?: the mammals of Catalonia (NE Spain)

Although it has long been held that plant diversity must influence animal diversity, the nature of this relationship remains poorly understood at large spatial scales. We compare the species richness patterns of vascular plants and mammals in north‐eastern Spain using a 100‐km² grain size to examine patterns of covariation. We found that the total mammal richness pattern, as well as those of herbivores and carnivores considered separately, only weakly corresponded to the pattern of plants. Rather, mammal richness was best described by climatic variables incorporating water inputs, and after adding these variables to multiple regression models, plant and mammal richness were virtually independent. We conclude that the observed association, although weak, is explained by shared responses of both groups to climate, and thus, plant richness has no influence on the richness pattern of Catalan mammals.     

别拉洪河流域湿地鸟类丰富度的空间自相关分析

人类的开垦和开发活动使湿地生物多样性遭到严重的干扰和破坏,随着人们对湿地功能和价值的正确认识,湿地生物多样性保护越来越被广泛关注,湿地生物多样性空间分布格局及其影响因素是湿地生物多样性保护要解决的关键问题。利用空间自相关与空间滞后模型,对三江平原别拉洪河流域湿地鸟类丰富度的空间自相关性及其驱动因子进行了研究,结果表明:别拉洪河流域湿地鸟类丰富度及其驱动因子都具有明显的空间自相关性;影响别拉洪河流域湿地鸟类丰富度空间分布的主要因子是干扰度、生境类型数、到道路的距离、到沟渠的距离、到湖泊的距离、到居民点的距离、海拔高度、坡度和人口密度;由于受空间自相关的影响,空间自回归模型优于传统的回归模型。研究有助于人们更好地理解湿地生物多样性保护的热点地区及其形成机制,对人们更好地保护和利用湿地生物多样性具有重要价值,同时也为研究湿地鸟类分布与环境因子的关系,建立预测物种分布模型提供科学依据。     

中国大陆鸟类和兽类物种多样性的空间变异

生物多样性科学的研究重心之一是大尺度生物多样性空间分布规律及其形成机制。中国是世界上物种特丰富国家之一,了解我国物种多样性在空间上的变异情况,对于进一步认识大尺度上的生物多样性有重要意义。我们收集了全国205个自然保护区的鸟类和兽类物种分布信息,以G-F指数作为物种多样性的测度指标,利用地统计学方法分析了大陆鸟类和兽类物种多样性的空间变异特征。G-F指数是一种基于香农-威纳指数的信息测度,测度了研究地区环境分化程度和实际利用这种生态环境分化的生物类群多样性, 是一种对共同起源,相似生境需求的物种类群多样性的标准化多样性测度。结果发现,在东部季风区、西北干旱区和青藏高寒区内我国大陆鸟类多样性变异大部分都是由随机因素所引起的。兽类多样性的分布,在东部季风区和西北干旱区内是由随机因素所产生的,而在青藏高寒区,兽类多样性的总变异中99.9%是由空间依赖性所引起的,主要表现在71,492~1,020,000m空间尺度上,其分布表现出了强空间相关性。据此,大尺度上的物种多样性空间分布具有特定的规律,在生物多样性的保护行动中应加以考虑。