Bird Matthew S, Bilton David T, Mlambo Musa C, Perissinotto Renzo
Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa University of Johannesburg Johannesburg South Africa.
Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Marine Science and Engineering, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK Plymouth University Plymouth United Kingdom.
Zookeys. 2023 Oct 19;1182:237-258. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1182.102866. eCollection 2023.
Southern Afrotemperate Forest is concentrated in the southern Cape region of South Africa and whilst it is relatively well known botanically, the fauna, specifically the aquatic invertebrate fauna, is poorly documented. The majority of remaining intact forest habitat is contained within the Garden Route National Park (GRNP), which straddles the provincial boundary between the Western and Eastern Cape. This study undertakes a survey of the water beetle fauna inhabiting the GRNP. The aquatic ecosystems within temperate forests of the region are poorly researched from an ecological and biodiversity perspective, despite being known to harbour endemic invertebrate elements. We collected water beetles and in situ physico-chemical data from a total of 31 waterbodies across the park over two seasons (summer and late winter) in 2017. The waterbodies sampled were mostly small freshwater perennial streams and isolated forest ponds. A total of 61 beetle taxa was recorded (29 Adephaga, 32 Polyphaga) from these waterbodies. The water beetle fauna of these forests appears to be diverse and contains many species endemic to the fynbos-dominated Cape Floristic Region, but very few of the species appear to be forest specialists. This is in contrast to the fynbos heathland habitat of the region, which harbours a high number of water beetle species endemic to this habitat, often with Gondwanan affinity. Our study is the first to document the water beetles of Afrotemperate Forests in the southern Cape region and provides an important baseline for future work on such habitats in the region and in other parts of southern Africa.
南非温带森林集中在南非的开普省南部地区。虽然其植物群相对广为人知，但动物群，特别是水生无脊椎动物群，记录却很少。大部分现存的完整森林栖息地位于花园大道国家公园（GRNP）内，该公园横跨西开普省和东开普省的省界。本研究对GRNP内栖息的水甲虫动物群进行了调查。尽管已知该地区温带森林的水生生态系统中存在地方性无脊椎动物，但从生态和生物多样性角度对其研究较少。2017年，我们在两个季节（夏季和冬末）从公园内总共31个水体中收集了水甲虫和现场理化数据。采样的水体大多是小型常年性淡水溪流和孤立的森林池塘。从这些水体中总共记录了61个甲虫类群（29个肉食亚目，32个多食亚目）。这些森林的水甲虫动物群似乎种类多样，包含许多特有于以开普植物区系为主的芬博斯地区的物种，但似乎很少有物种是森林特有的。这与该地区的芬博斯石南丛生栖息地形成对比，后者拥有大量特有于该栖息地的水甲虫物种，这些物种通常具有冈瓦纳亲缘关系。我们的研究首次记录了开普省南部地区非洲温带森林的水甲虫，并为该地区及南部非洲其他地区此类栖息地的未来研究提供了重要基线。
