Local- versus broad-scale environmental drivers of continental β -diversity patterns in subterranean spider communities across Europe

作者：Stefano Mammola, Pedro Cardoso, Dorottya Angyal, Gergely Balázs, Theo Blick, Hervé Brustel, Julian Carter, Srećko Ćurčić, Samuel Danflous, László Dányi, Sylvain Déjean, Christo Deltshev, Mert Elverici, Jon Fernández, Fulvio Gasparo, Marjan Komnenov, Christian Komposch, Ľubomír Kováč, Kadir Boğaç Kunt, Andrej Mock, Oana Teodora Moldovan, Maria Naumova, Martina Pavlek, Carlos E. Prieto, Carles Ribera, Robert Rozwałka, Vlastimil Růžička, Robert S. Vargovitsh, Stefan Zaenker, Marco Isaia · 发表于：Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1098/rspb.2019.1579 · 被引用次数：28 · 研究领域：Subterranean biodiversity and taxonomy、Species Distribution and Climate Change、Marine Biology and Ecology Research

Macroecologists seek to identify drivers of community turnover ( β -diversity) through broad spatial scales. However, the influence of local habitat features in driving broad-scale β -diversity patterns remains largely untested, owing to the objective challenges of associating local-scale variables to continental-framed datasets. We examined the relative contribution of local- versus broad-scale drivers of continental β -diversity patterns, using a uniquely suited dataset of cave-dwelling spider communities across Europe (35–70° latitude). Generalized dissimilarity modelling showed that geographical distance, mean annual temperature and size of the karst area in which caves occurred drove most of β -diversity, with differential contributions of each factor according to the level of subterranean specialization. Highly specialized communities were mostly influenced by geographical distance, while less specialized communities were mostly driven by mean annual temperature. Conversely, local-scale habitat features turned out to be meaningless predictors of community change, which emphasizes the idea of caves as the human accessible fraction of the extended network of fissures that more properly represents the elective habitat of the subterranean fauna. To the extent that the effect of local features turned to be inconspicuous, caves emerge as experimental model systems in which to study broad biological patterns without the confounding effect of local habitat features.