Effects of interactive scale-dependent variables on beetle diversity patterns in a semi-arid agricultural landscape |
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Authors: | Gal Yaacobi Yaron Ziv Michael L Rosenzweig |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel;(2) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA |
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Abstract: | Understanding species-diversity patterns in heterogeneous landscapes invites comprehensive research on how scale-dependent
processes interact across scales. We used two common beetle families (Tenebrionidae, detrivores; Carabidae, predators) to
conduct such a study in the heterogeneous semi-arid landscape of the Southern Judean Lowland (SJL) of Israel, currently undergoing
intensive fragmentation. Beetles were censused in 25 different-sized patches (500–40,000 m2). We used Fisher’s α and non-parametric extrapolators to estimate species diversity from 11,125 individuals belonging to
56 species. Patch characteristics (plant species diversity and cover, soil cover and degree of stoniness) were measured by
field transects. Spatial variables (patch size, shape, physiognomy and connectivity) and landscape characteristics were analyzed
by GIS and remote-sensing applications. Both patch-scale and landscape-scale variables affected beetle species diversity.
Path-analysis models showed that landscape-scale variables had the strongest effect on carabid diversity in all patches. The
tenebrionids responded differently: both patch-scale and landscape-scale variables affected species diversity in small patches,
while mainly patch-scale variables affected species diversity in large patches. Most of the paths affected species diversity
both directly and indirectly, combining the effects of both patch-scale and landscape-scale variables. These results match
the biology of the two beetle families: Tenebrionidae, the less mobile and more site-attached family, responded to the environment
in a fine-grained manner, while the highly dispersed Carabidae responded to the environment in a coarse-grained manner. We
suggest that understanding abiotic and biotic variable interactions across scales has important consequences for our knowledge
of community structure and species diversity patterns at large spatial scales. |
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Keywords: | Carabidae Fragmentation GIS Habitat variability Landscape heterogeneity Patch size Path analysis Remote sensing Species diversity Tenebrionidae |
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