Biodiversity and microclimatic divergence of chrysomelid beetles at ‘Evolution Canyon’, Lower Nahal Oren, Mt Carmel, Israel

Abstract

Ninety species of leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae, Coleoptera, Insecta) were recorded from the ‘Evolution Canyon’ microsite (sample area 7000 m2), Lower Nahal Oren, Mt Carmel, Israel. Species richness was significantly (P=0.018) higher on the drier, climatically more fluctuating savanna-like, south-facing slope (SFS, 60 species, sample area 3000 m2) than on the cooler, wetter and climatically less variable north-facing slope (NFS, 44 species, sample area 3000 m2), as in other terrestrial taxa. More species were found common to the local xeric SFS at the Canyon and the regional southern desert areas (Judean and Negev Deserts), than to the NFS and Galilee Mountains, respectively, suggesting that local patterns mirror regional patterns. Interslope differences in microclimate variability range indicate that this factor might be determinant of interslope species richness differences. Most species were collected in the spring (April; 47%) and least in the autumn (September; 3%) over the collecting period from March 1995 to June 1997.