Elevational Distribution of Flightless Ground Beetles in the Tropical Rainforests of North-Eastern Australia.

Kyran M Staunton,Stephen E Williams,Simon K A Robson,Akihiro Nakamura,Chris J Burwell

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155826

Kyran M Staunton, Stephen E Williams + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155826

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Abstract

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.

Highlights

Understanding the links between assemblage structure and environmental factors is fundamental to predicting community responses to climate change impacts
One-third of the Wet Tropics is higher than 600 m a.s.l., where annual mean temperatures are below 22°C [44]
The current results indicate that this group prefers cool, stable environments and, the Wet Tropics region has been identified to contain refugia from climate change impacts [96], climatic niches suitable for flightless ground beetles may not exist in this area in the future [38]

Summary

Introduction

Understanding the links between assemblage structure and environmental factors is fundamental to predicting community responses to climate change impacts. Water availability increases with elevation due to greater precipitation and a process known as cloud stripping (water deposited from clouds due to the physical interception of clouds and forests), which occurs in the area described as the cloud cap [5, 6]. Changing environmental variables such as these are often associated with high turnover of species across tropical elevational gradients, and subsequently tropical montane habitats are often listed as hotspots of biodiversity [7,8,9]

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