Abstract
Species richness patterns and endemism on the large-scale play a significant role in biogeography and biodiversity conservation. This study aimed to explore the diversity centers and endemic areas of a large cantharid genus Lycocerus, so as to test whether the hypothesis of montane and island systems biodiversity in previous studies was supported. In this study, a comprehensive species’ geographical database on the global scale consisting of 4,227 records for 324 Lycocerus species was compiled and analyzed. Species richness pattern was mapped into a grid-based map with a spatial resolution of 1° × 1° fishnet. An unbalanced pattern was identified, and it showed that the centers of species richness of Lycocerus were situated in Eastern Himalayas, Hengduan Mountains, Eastern Sichuan Mountains, Taiwan, and Japan. Further analyses based on two approaches, including parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) and endemicity analysis (EA), were applied to detect areas of endemism (AOEs) at three different grid sizes (1°, 1.5°, and 2°). Finally, a total of nine AOEs were detected, including five montane areas (Himalayan areas, Hengduan Mountains, South edge of China, Eastern China Mountains, and Eastern Sichuan Mountains), three islands (Taiwan Island, Japan, and Korean Peninsula), and one plateau (Shan Plateau), which were generally consistent with the species richness pattern. The results verify that montane and island systems have an essential role in promoting the formation of diversity centers and AOEs because of their complex topography, varied habitat and geological events.
Highlights
Recognizing the patterns of biodiversity is the basis of biogeography and conservation, especially the studies on species richness and endemism are of remarkable significance in biogeographic regionalization and defining biodiversity hotspots (Linder and Mann, 1998; Escalante et al, 2013; Morrone, 2014a).Diversity and Distribution of LycocerusSpecies richness is perhaps the simplest and most frequently used measure of biological diversity, and defined as the number of species per unit area (Huang et al, 2008; Gao et al, 2018)
The taxonomy of the genus Lycocerus is well studied and documented with rich geographical data, under-collecting remains a potential problem in biogeographical research
Most species are distributed in the Himalayas, southeastern China, Indo-Chinese region, and Japan, a few species spread to the Indo-Malaysian region and South India, and the northernmost reaches Russian Far East, easternmost in Kuril Island, southernmost to Java (Figure 2B)
Summary
Recognizing the patterns of biodiversity is the basis of biogeography and conservation, especially the studies on species richness and endemism are of remarkable significance in biogeographic regionalization and defining biodiversity hotspots (Linder and Mann, 1998; Escalante et al, 2013; Morrone, 2014a).Diversity and Distribution of LycocerusSpecies richness is perhaps the simplest and most frequently used measure of biological diversity, and defined as the number of species per unit area (Huang et al, 2008; Gao et al, 2018). A vast amount of ecological research has been undertaken using species richness as a measure to understand what affects, and what is affected by, biodiversity (Huang et al, 2006; Gao et al, 2018; Zhao et al, 2020; Li et al, 2021). It provides a useful means through which to examine how fundamental ecological processes affect local communities (Li et al, 2019, 2021). The richest sites do not necessarily contain the highest levels of endemism (Brown et al, 2007), which is used as indices in defining biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al, 2000; Mittermeier et al, 2005; Orme et al, 2005)
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