Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun 5;10(6):e0129323.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129323. eCollection 2015.

Microclimatic Divergence in a Mediterranean Canyon Affects Richness, Composition, and Body Size in Saproxylic Beetle Assemblages

Jörn Buse  1 , Samuel Fassbender  1 , Martin H Entling  1 , Tomas Pavlicek  2
Affiliations

Microclimatic Divergence in a Mediterranean Canyon Affects Richness, Composition, and Body Size in Saproxylic Beetle Assemblages

Jörn Buse et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Large valleys with opposing slopes may act as a model system with which the effects of strong climatic gradients on biodiversity can be evaluated. The advantage of such comparisons is that the impact of a change of climate can be studied on the same species pool without the need to consider regional differences. The aim of this study was to compare the assemblage of saproxylic beetles on such opposing slopes at Lower Nahal Oren, Mt. Carmel, Israel (also known as "Evolution Canyon") with a 200-800% higher solar radiation on the south-facing (SFS) compared to the north-facing slope (NFS). We tested specific hypotheses of species richness patterns, assemblage structure, and body size resulting from interslope differences in microclimate. Fifteen flight-interception traps per slope were distributed over three elevation levels ranging from 50 to 100 m a.s.l. Richness of saproxylic beetles was on average 34% higher on the SFS compared with the NFS, with no detected influence of elevation levels. Both assemblage structure and average body size were determined by slope aspect, with more small-bodied beetles found on the SFS. Both the increase in species richness and the higher prevalence of small species on the SFS reflect ecological rules present on larger spatial grain (species-energy hypothesis and community body size shift hypothesis), and both can be explained by the metabolic theory of ecology. This is encouraging for the complementary use of micro- and macroclimatic gradients to study impacts of climate warming on biodiversity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Number of saproxylic species per trap on two contrasting slopes and at three elevation levels (a); and individual-based rarefaction curves with 95% confidence intervals for the estimated richness on both slopes (b) in lower Nahal Oren, Israel.
Boxplots are based on five traps per elevation level per slope. Pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences in number of species only between the two lowest elevations of the slope (see Table 1 for ANOVA, Tukey-HSD-test, p = 0.033). * p < 0.05.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Non-metric multidimensional scaling of beetle assemblages (species level) in lower Nahal Oren on two dimensions using Bray-Curtis distance between traps.
Symbols represent traps on the north-facing slope (NFS) and south-facing slope (SFS). Stress = 0.165, PERMANOVA slope effect p = 0.001, effect of elevation level p = 0.093. Ellipsoids represent 95% confidence regions of the sites of a given slope.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Body size of saproxylic beetles on a south-facing slope (SFS) and a north-facing slope (NFS).
Boxplots of mean body size are based on 15 traps per slope. Left-hand panels show median body size per trap based on presence-absence (a), and on abundance (c). The right-hand panels show the relationship between body size and affinity to SFS of each species based on presence-absence (b) and abundance (d). Body size decreased significantly with the preference for the south-facing slope only if abundances were considered (d) (ANOVA, F1,161 = 4.09, p = 0.045). * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Mean average body size per sampling date on a south-facing slope (SFS) and a north-facing slope (NFS).
Mean value of average body size per sampling date is based on 15 traps per slope. Calculation is based on presence-absence of species.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ruiz-Labourdette D, Nogues-Bravo D, Ollero HS, Schmitz MF, Pineda FD (2012) Forest composition in Mediterranean mountains is projected to shift along the entire elevational gradient under climate change. Journal of Biogeography 39: 162–176.
    1. Reitalu T, Seppa H, Sugita S, Kangur M, Koff T, Avel E, et al. (2013) Long-term drivers of forest composition in a boreonemoral region: the relative importance of climate and human impact. Journal of Biogeography 40: 1524–1534.
    1. Bonan GB (2008) Forests and climate change: Forcings, feedbacks, and the climate benefits of forests. Science 320: 1444–1449. 10.1126/science.1155121 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clark JS, Bell DM, Hersh MH, Nichols L (2011) Climate change vulnerability of forest biodiversity: climate and competition tracking of demographic rates. Global Change Biology 17: 1834–1849.
    1. Lindner M, Maroschek M, Netherer S, Kremer A, Barbati A, Garcia-Gonzalo J, et al. (2010) Climate change impacts, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of European forest ecosystems. Forest Ecology and Management 259: 698–709.

LinkOut - more resources