Staunton Kyran M, Nakamura Akihiro, Burwell Chris J, Robson Simon K A, Williams Stephen E
Centre for Tropical Biodiversity & Climate Change, College of Marine & Environmental Science, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, P.R. China.
PLoS One. 2016 May 18;11(5):e0155826. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155826. eCollection 2016.
Understanding how the environment influences patterns of diversity is vital for effective conservation management, especially in a changing global climate. While assemblage structure and species richness patterns are often correlated with current environmental factors, historical influences may also be considerable, especially for taxa with poor dispersal abilities. Mountain-top regions throughout tropical rainforests can act as important refugia for taxa characterised by low dispersal capacities such as flightless ground beetles (Carabidae), an ecologically significant predatory group. We surveyed flightless ground beetles along elevational gradients in five different subregions within the Australian Wet Tropics World Heritage Area to investigate (1) whether the diversity and composition of flightless ground beetles are elevationally stratified, and, if so, (2) what environmental factors (other than elevation per se) are associated with these patterns. Generalised linear models and model averaging techniques were used to relate patterns of diversity to environmental factors. Unlike most taxonomic groups, flightless ground beetles increased in species richness and abundance with elevation. Additionally, each subregion consisted of relatively distinct assemblages containing a high level of regional endemic species. Species richness was most strongly and positively associated with historical and current climatic stabilities and negatively associated with severity of recent disturbance (treefalls). Assemblage composition was associated with latitude and historical and current climatic conditions. Although the results need to be interpreted carefully due to inter-correlation between historical and current climatic variables, our study is in agreement with the hypothesis that upland refugia provided stable climatic conditions since the last glacial maximum, and supported a diverse fauna of flightless beetle species. These findings are important for conservation management as upland habitats become increasingly threatened by climate change.
了解环境如何影响生物多样性模式对于有效的保护管理至关重要，尤其是在全球气候不断变化的情况下。虽然群落结构和物种丰富度模式通常与当前环境因素相关，但历史影响也可能相当大，特别是对于扩散能力较差的分类群。热带雨林中的山顶区域可以作为扩散能力低的分类群的重要避难所，如不会飞的步甲科昆虫（步甲科），这是一个具有重要生态意义的捕食性类群。我们在澳大利亚湿热带世界遗产区的五个不同子区域沿着海拔梯度对不会飞的步甲科昆虫进行了调查，以研究：（1）不会飞的步甲科昆虫的多样性和组成是否在海拔上分层，如果是，（2）哪些环境因素（除海拔本身外）与这些模式相关。使用广义线性模型和模型平均技术将多样性模式与环境因素联系起来。与大多数分类群不同，不会飞的步甲科昆虫的物种丰富度和丰度随海拔升高而增加。此外，每个子区域都由相对不同的群落组成，包含大量区域特有物种。物种丰富度与历史和当前气候稳定性呈最强正相关，与近期干扰（树木倒伏）的严重程度呈负相关。群落组成与纬度以及历史和当前气候条件相关。尽管由于历史和当前气候变量之间的相互关联，结果需要谨慎解释，但我们的研究与以下假设一致：自末次盛冰期以来，高地避难所提供了稳定的气候条件，并支持了多种不会飞的甲虫物种的动物群。随着高地栖息地受到气候变化的威胁日益增加，这些发现对于保护管理具有重要意义。
