scholarly journals Global distribution of earthworm diversity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen R P Phillips ◽  
Carlos A Guerra ◽  
Marie L. C. Bartz ◽  
Maria J. I. Briones ◽  
George Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Soil Organisms ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Global Patterns ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
The Tropics

AbstractSoil organisms provide crucial ecosystem services that support human life. However, little is known about their diversity, distribution, and the threats affecting them. Here, we compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from over 7000 sites in 56 countries to predict patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We identify the environmental drivers shaping these patterns. Local species richness and abundance typically peaked at higher latitudes, while biomass peaked in the tropics, patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. Similar to many aboveground taxa, climate variables were more important in shaping earthworm communities than soil properties or habitat cover. These findings highlight that, while the environmental drivers are similar, conservation strategies to conserve aboveground biodiversity might not be appropriate for earthworm diversity, especially in a changing climate.One sentence summaryGlobal patterns of earthworm diversity, abundance and biomass are driven by climate but patterns differ from many aboveground taxa.

scholarly journals Global distribution of earthworm diversity

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (6464) ◽  
pp. 480-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen R. P. Phillips ◽  
Carlos A. Guerra ◽  
Marie L. C. Bartz ◽  
Maria J. I. Briones ◽  
George Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Global Distribution ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Soil Organisms ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
The Tropics

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 9212 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We found that local species richness and abundance typically peaked at mid-latitudes, displaying patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. However, high species dissimilarity across tropical locations may cause diversity across the entirety of the tropics to be higher than elsewhere. Climate variables and habitat cover were found to be more important in shaping earthworm communities than soil properties. These findings suggest that climate and habitat change may have serious implications for earthworm communities and for the functions they provide.

The bumblebees of Gansu, Northwest China (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2865 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIANDONG AN ◽  
PAUL H. WILLIAMS ◽  
BINGFENG ZHOU ◽  
ZHENGYING MIAO ◽  
WENZHONG QI
Keyword(s):  
North China ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Gansu Province ◽  
Food Plants ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
First Time

Bumblebees are important pollinators for agricultural and natural ecosystems. Gansu province, China, is located in part of the greatest hotspot of bumblebee diversity worldwide, a region of very varied geomorphology and vegetation. We report on a recent field survey of the bumblebees of Gansu made between 2007–2010. A sample of 5941 bumblebee specimens from Gansu are assigned to 49 species. Two older specimens held in London add two more species to this list. Together, these 51 species belong to 10 subgenera of the genus Bombus, and 10 species (nearly one fifth of the fauna) are recorded for the first time from Gansu: B. asiaticus, B. bicoloratus, B. chinensis, B. coreanus, B. deuteronymus, B. expolitus, B. festivus, B. grahami, B. hypocrita, and B. opulentus. None of the species is endemic to Gansu. We provide distribution maps and describe variation in local species richness and abundance and list the food plants used in Gansu. The highest bumblebee richness for the province is in the southeastern mountains and Qinghai-Tibetan plateau in the southwest. We describe how the fauna of Gansu is transitional between the fauna of North China and the fauna of the more southern Sichuan-Himalayan region.

Ecological limits to local species richness in Dusky Salamanders (genus Desmognathus)

2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos D. Camp ◽  
Jessica A. Wooten ◽  
Sean P. Graham ◽  
Thomas K. Pauley
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Biotic Factors ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Physiological Tolerances

Species richness commonly varies with elevation, but in many montane regions, the greatest number of species occurs at mid-elevations. A recent regional analysis showed this pattern in Appalachian salamanders of the genus Desmognathus Baird, 1850. The authors proposed that the phylogenetic niche conservatism of these salamanders causes species to accumulate at intermediate elevations, which are characterized by the ancestral climate for the genus. They further suggested that physiological tolerances limit dispersal into higher or lower elevations. We tested this hypothesis using geographic information systems (GIS) based analysis of 235 local Desmognathus communities. Consistent with the regional analysis, local species richness was greatest at mid-elevations. However, the number of species is not limited by physiological tolerances but appears to be restricted ecologically by climate variables favoring aridity, as well as by biotic factors. Whether such ecological limits on species richness at the local level influences richness across regions or evolutionary clades remains to be tested.

scholarly journals Globally invariant metabolism but density-diversity mismatch in springtails

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton M. Potapov ◽  
Carlos A. Guerra ◽  
Johan van den Hoogen ◽  
Anatoly Babenko ◽  
Bruno C. Bellini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Community Metabolism ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Temperature Responses ◽  
Record Peak

Soil life supports the functioning and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems1,2. Springtails (Collembola) are among the most abundant soil animals regulating soil fertility and flow of energy through above- and belowground food webs3-5. However, the global distribution of springtail diversity and density, and how these relate to energy fluxes remains unknown. Here, using a global dataset collected from 2,470 sites, we estimate total soil springtail biomass at 29 Mt carbon (threefold higher than wild terrestrial vertebrates6) and record peak densities up to 2 million individuals per m2 in the Arctic. Despite a 20-fold biomass difference between tundra and the tropics, springtail energy use (community metabolism) remains similar across the latitudinal gradient, owing to the increase in temperature. Neither springtail density nor community metabolism were predicted by local species richness, which was highest in the tropics, but comparably high in some temperate forests and even tundra. Changes in springtail activity may emerge from latitudinal gradients in temperature, predation7,8, and resource limitation7,9,10 in soil communities. Contrasting temperature responses of biomass, diversity and activity of springtail communities suggest that climate warming will alter fundamental soil biodiversity metrics in different directions, potentially restructuring terrestrial food webs and affecting major soil functions.

Annual fires reduce local species richness but do not homogenize the composition of savanna woody species

Flora ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 151868
Author(s):  
Karlo G. Guidoni-Martins ◽  
Leandro Maracahipes ◽  
Adriano S. Melo ◽  
Marcus V. Cianciaruso
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species

scholarly journals Arthropod community structure in pastures of an island archipelago (Azores): looking for local–regional species richness patterns at fine-scales

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.A.V. Borges ◽  
V.K. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Arthropod Species ◽  
Α Diversity ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Richness Patterns

AbstractThe arthropod species richness of pastures in three Azorean islands was used to examine the relationship between local and regional species richness over two years. Two groups of arthropods, spiders and sucking insects, representing two functionally different but common groups of pasture invertebrates were investigated. The local–regional species richness relationship was assessed over relatively fine scales: quadrats (= local scale) and within pastures (= regional scale). Mean plot species richness was used as a measure of local species richness (= α diversity) and regional species richness was estimated at the pasture level (= γ diversity) with the ‘first-order-Jackknife’ estimator. Three related issues were addressed: (i) the role of estimated regional species richness and variables operating at the local scale (vegetation structure and diversity) in determining local species richness; (ii) quantification of the relative contributions of α and β diversity to regional diversity using additive partitioning; and (iii) the occurrence of consistent patterns in different years by analysing independently between-year data. Species assemblages of spiders were saturated at the local scale (similar local species richness and increasing β-diversity in richer regions) and were more dependent on vegetational structure than regional species richness. Sucking insect herbivores, by contrast, exhibited a linear relationship between local and regional species richness, consistent with the proportional sampling model. The patterns were consistent between years. These results imply that for spiders local processes are important, with assemblages in a particular patch being constrained by habitat structure. In contrast, for sucking insects, local processes may be insignificant in structuring communities.

Amphibians of the Kayan Mentarang National Park (East Kalimantan, Indonesia): estimating overall and local species richness

2004 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Veith ◽  
S. Wulffraat ◽  
J. Kosuch ◽  
G. Hallmann ◽  
H.-W. Henkel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
National Park ◽  
East Kalimantan ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species

Myrmecochory in the Zingiberaceae: seed removal of Globba franciscii and G. propinqua by ants (Hymenoptera – Formicidae) in rain forests on Borneo

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 705-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Pfeiffer ◽  
Jamili Nais ◽  
K. Eduard Linsenmair
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Ant Dispersal ◽  
Important Benefit ◽  
Plant Families ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Ant Diversity ◽  
Old World Tropics

The Old-World tropics encompass one of the floristically richest zones of the world and some of the hot spots of ant diversity. This results in a large variety of ecological interactions between both groups. One of them is the phenomenon of myrmecochory, seed dispersal by ants, which is also well known from temperate forests (Gorb & Gorb 2003, Ulbrich 1919), and which is most prominent in sclerophyll shrublands of Australia and southern Africa (Andersen 1988). Beattie (1983), who reviewed the distribution of ant-dispersed plants (at least 80 plant families worldwide) proposed that species richness and abundance of myrmecochores and diaspore-dispersing ants increases with decreasing latitude and thus predicted a greater variety of ant-dispersal systems in the tropics. However, up to now, few tropical myrmecochores have been described (Horvitz 1981, Horvitz & Schemske 1986), especially in the palaeotropics (Kaufmann et al. 2001). Here we report myrmecochory in two species of rain-forest herb of the Zingiberaceae, give the first evidence for seed dispersal by ants in this plant family and present a list of seed-dispersing ant species. An important benefit of myrmecochory is the dispersal distance of the ant-transported seeds (Andersen 1988), that has been found to be positively correlated with ant size (Gomez & Espadaler 1998a, Pudlo et al. 1980). In this study, we checked whether this correlation is also true for the conditions of the tropical rain forest, where Globba plants occur.

scholarly journals Characterization and comparison of poorly known moth communities through DNA barcoding in two Afrotropical environments in Gabon

Genome ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 96-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Delabye ◽  
Rodolphe Rougerie ◽  
Sandrine Bayendi ◽  
Myrianne Andeime-Eyene ◽  
Evgeny V. Zakharov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Barcoding ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Biodiversity Research ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Biodiversity Knowledge ◽  
Formidable Challenge ◽  
Entire Country ◽  
The Status ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Taxonomic Approach

Biodiversity research in tropical ecosystems—popularized as the most biodiverse habitats on Earth—often neglects invertebrates, yet invertebrates represent the bulk of local species richness. Insect communities in particular remain strongly impeded by both Linnaean and Wallacean shortfalls, and identifying species often remains a formidable challenge inhibiting the use of these organisms as indicators for ecological and conservation studies. Here we use DNA barcoding as an alternative to the traditional taxonomic approach for characterizing and comparing the diversity of moth communities in two different ecosystems in Gabon. Though sampling remains very incomplete, as evidenced by the high proportion (59%) of species represented by singletons, our results reveal an outstanding diversity. With about 3500 specimens sequenced and representing 1385 BINs (Barcode Index Numbers, used as a proxy to species) in 23 families, the diversity of moths in the two sites sampled is higher than the current number of species listed for the entire country, highlighting the huge gap in biodiversity knowledge for this country. Both seasonal and spatial turnovers are strikingly high (18.3% of BINs shared between seasons, and 13.3% between sites) and draw attention to the need to account for these when running regional surveys. Our results also highlight the richness and singularity of savannah environments and emphasize the status of Central African ecosystems as hotspots of biodiversity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document