| Title | A trade-off between latitude and elevation contributes to explain range segregation of broadly distributed cave-dwelling spiders |
| Abstract | A fundamental goal in spatial ecology is to understand how the distribution of species varies along latitudinal and elevational gradients. This stems from the understanding that latitude and elevation are primary drivers affecting temperature variations on Earth's surface, and, in turn, that temperature plays a critical ecological role. These spatial gradients have been primarily documented using highly dispersive surface species--butterflies, birds, and plants--whereas studies on subterranean organisms remain scattered. The orb-web cave spiders Meta bourneti and M. menardi are ubiquitous inhabitants of European caves whose distributions stretches over a continental distance. They share a similar ecological niche, which should translate into competitive exclusion in co-occurring areas. Therefore, it can be predicted that there should be an effective spatial segregation between the two species along broadscale spatial gradients. Using a dataset of >3,000 georeferenced records, we show that the two species are primarily segregated along the latitudinal gradient, with M. menardi progressively becoming more frequent and M. bourneti rarer from south to north. In their overlapping range (36.5-53.4° latitude), the two species are secondarily separated along an elevational gradient, with M. menardi occupying, on average, sites at higher elevations than M. bourneti. However, in the northernmost part of its range and in the absence of its competitor, M. menardi inhabits caves at lower elevations. This clear pattern provides a textbook example of the trade-off between latitude and elevation in determining habitat segregation of broadly distributed competing species. |
| Source | Journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research 59 (2), pp. 370–375 |
| Keywords | altitudinal gradientbiogeographycompetitive exclusionniche partitioningspecies distribution modelingTetragnathidae |
| Journal | Journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research |
| Editor | Blackwell, Berlin, Germania |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1111/jzs.12432 |
| Authors | Mammola, Stefano; Hesselberg, Thomas; Lunghi, Enrico |
| Text | 435257 2021 10.1111/jzs.12432 Scopus 2 s2.0 85094183976 altitudinal gradient biogeography competitive exclusion niche partitioning species distribution modeling Tetragnathidae A trade off between latitude and elevation contributes to explain range segregation of broadly distributed cave dwelling spiders Mammola, Stefano; Hesselberg, Thomas; Lunghi, Enrico University of Oxford; Finnish Museum of Natural History; Universita degli Studi di Firenze; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Natural Oasis A fundamental goal in spatial ecology is to understand how the distribution of species varies along latitudinal and elevational gradients. This stems from the understanding that latitude and elevation are primary drivers affecting temperature variations on Earth s surface, and, in turn, that temperature plays a critical ecological role. These spatial gradients have been primarily documented using highly dispersive surface species butterflies, birds, and plants whereas studies on subterranean organisms remain scattered. The orb web cave spiders Meta bourneti and M. menardi are ubiquitous inhabitants of European caves whose distributions stretches over a continental distance. They share a similar ecological niche, which should translate into competitive exclusion in co occurring areas. Therefore, it can be predicted that there should be an effective spatial segregation between the two species along broadscale spatial gradients. Using a dataset of >3,000 georeferenced records, we show that the two species are primarily segregated along the latitudinal gradient, with M. menardi progressively becoming more frequent and M. bourneti rarer from south to north. In their overlapping range 36.5 53.4° latitude , the two species are secondarily separated along an elevational gradient, with M. menardi occupying, on average, sites at higher elevations than M. bourneti. However, in the northernmost part of its range and in the absence of its competitor, M. menardi inhabits caves at lower elevations. This clear pattern provides a textbook example of the trade off between latitude and elevation in determining habitat segregation of broadly distributed competing species. 59 Published version http //www.scopus.com/record/display.url eid=2 s2.0 85094183976 origin=inward Mammola et al., 2021 JSZER 2021_MAMMOLA ET AL JSZER.pdf Articolo in rivista Blackwell 0947 5745 Journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research Journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research J. zool. syst. evol. res. Journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research. Zeitschrift fur zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung 1994 Journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research Print stefano.mammola MAMMOLA STEFANO |
