Chen Youhua, Srivastava Diane S
Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Blvd, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada,
Naturwissenschaften. 2015 Feb;102(1-2):1253. doi: 10.1007/s00114-014-1253-4. Epub 2014 Dec 12.
Latitudinal patterns in species richness may be affected by both continuous variations in macroecological factors as well as discrete change between biogeographic regions. We examined whether latitudinal reptilian richness and community structure in China were best explained by three macroecological patterns (mid-domain effects, Rapoport's rule effects, or environmental correlates) within or across the ranges of biogeographic realms. The results showed that (1) there was a weak mid-domain effect within the Oriental Realm. However, the mid-domain effect was detected neither at the overall regional scale nor in the Palaearctic Realm. (2) Rapoport's rule was only weakly supported for reptilian fauna in China at lower latitudinal areas. (3) Environmental variables were more strongly correlated with species' latitudinal community structure and richness patterns at the scale of biogeographic realms. Based on the faunal similarity of reptilian community across latitudinal bands, we proposed a latitudinal delineation scheme at 34° N for dividing East Asia into Oriental and Palaearctic biogeographic realms. At last, at the functional group level, we also evaluated the relevant ecological patterns for lizard and snake species across different latitudinal bins, showing that the distributions of lizards presented strong mid-domain effects at the latitudinal ranges within the Oriental Realm and over the whole range but did not support Rapoport's rule. In comparison, snake species supported Rapoport's rule at low latitudinal zones but did not present any remarkable mid-domain effects at any spatial extents. In conclusion, biogeographic realms are an appropriate scale for studying macroecological patterns. Reptilian latitudinal richness patterns of China were explained by a combination of environmental factors and geometric constraints, while the latitudinal community structure patterns were greatly affected by environmental gradients. Functional guilds present differentiated macroecological patterns along the latitudinal gradients.
物种丰富度的纬度格局可能受到宏观生态因素的连续变化以及生物地理区域之间离散变化的影响。我们研究了中国爬行动物的纬度丰富度和群落结构是否能最好地由生物地理界范围内或跨界的三种宏观生态格局（中域效应、拉波波特法则效应或环境相关性）来解释。结果表明：（1）东洋界内存在较弱的中域效应。然而，在整个区域尺度以及古北界均未检测到中域效应。（2）在中国低纬度地区，拉波波特法则仅得到爬行动物区系的微弱支持。（3）在生物地理界尺度上，环境变量与物种的纬度群落结构和丰富度格局的相关性更强。基于跨纬度带的爬行动物群落的区系相似性，我们提出了一个北纬34°的纬度划分方案，将东亚划分为东洋界和古北界生物地理区域。最后，在功能群水平上，我们还评估了不同纬度区间蜥蜴和蛇类物种的相关生态格局，结果表明，蜥蜴的分布在东洋界内的纬度范围内以及整个范围内呈现出强烈的中域效应，但不支持拉波波特法则。相比之下，蛇类物种在低纬度地区支持拉波波特法则，但在任何空间尺度上均未表现出显著的中域效应。总之，生物地理界是研究宏观生态格局的合适尺度。中国爬行动物的纬度丰富度格局是由环境因素和几何约束共同作用来解释的，而纬度群落结构格局则受到环境梯度的极大影响。功能类群沿纬度梯度呈现出不同的宏观生态格局。
