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From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot

BACKGROUND: Tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) are predatory insects usually occurring in various sandy habitats. In south-eastern Europe, especially in lowland areas located close to the sea coast, the diversity of Cicindelidae is one of the highest in the Palaearctic realm. Although previous...

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Autores principales: Jaskuła, Radomir, Płóciennik, Mateusz, Schwerk, Axel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6461030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30993037
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6676
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author Jaskuła, Radomir
Płóciennik, Mateusz
Schwerk, Axel
author_facet Jaskuła, Radomir
Płóciennik, Mateusz
Schwerk, Axel
author_sort Jaskuła, Radomir
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) are predatory insects usually occurring in various sandy habitats. In south-eastern Europe, especially in lowland areas located close to the sea coast, the diversity of Cicindelidae is one of the highest in the Palaearctic realm. Although previous studies conducted in different areas of the world show that many species are habitat specialists, unfortunately little is known about environmental factors affecting the diversity and distribution of tiger beetles in this region. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Habitat preferences for 12 tiger beetles taxa were analysed. Over 100 samples collected in eight countries located in coastal areas of the Black and Mediterranean Seas were studied, for which climate data, macrohabitat types, and soil parameters (soil humidity, salinity, pH, and structure) were investigated. RESULTS: Most studied Cicindelidae were characterised by narrow or very narrow habitat specialisation and did not co-occur with other ones, including 11 taxa found as habitat specialists occurring only in one or two types of macrohabitat. The most eurythopic species was Calomera littoralis nemoralis which occupied four macrohabitat types. The climatic zone, altitude, and humidity were found as the most important factors in the distribution of the studied tiger beetle species. Salt marshes and sandy sea beaches were noted as the most diverse macrohabitat types. DISCUSSION: Tiger beetle fauna of south-eastern Europe consists mainly of habitat specialists sensitive to environmental changes, which makes these beetles perfect bioindicators. Moreover, as a great number of studied Cicindelidae taxa occur in habitats which are under a significant human impact, we suggest that in the studied area the group can be successfully used as a flagship taxon for insect and nature conservation.
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spelling pubmed-64610302019-04-16 From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot Jaskuła, Radomir Płóciennik, Mateusz Schwerk, Axel PeerJ Biodiversity BACKGROUND: Tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) are predatory insects usually occurring in various sandy habitats. In south-eastern Europe, especially in lowland areas located close to the sea coast, the diversity of Cicindelidae is one of the highest in the Palaearctic realm. Although previous studies conducted in different areas of the world show that many species are habitat specialists, unfortunately little is known about environmental factors affecting the diversity and distribution of tiger beetles in this region. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Habitat preferences for 12 tiger beetles taxa were analysed. Over 100 samples collected in eight countries located in coastal areas of the Black and Mediterranean Seas were studied, for which climate data, macrohabitat types, and soil parameters (soil humidity, salinity, pH, and structure) were investigated. RESULTS: Most studied Cicindelidae were characterised by narrow or very narrow habitat specialisation and did not co-occur with other ones, including 11 taxa found as habitat specialists occurring only in one or two types of macrohabitat. The most eurythopic species was Calomera littoralis nemoralis which occupied four macrohabitat types. The climatic zone, altitude, and humidity were found as the most important factors in the distribution of the studied tiger beetle species. Salt marshes and sandy sea beaches were noted as the most diverse macrohabitat types. DISCUSSION: Tiger beetle fauna of south-eastern Europe consists mainly of habitat specialists sensitive to environmental changes, which makes these beetles perfect bioindicators. Moreover, as a great number of studied Cicindelidae taxa occur in habitats which are under a significant human impact, we suggest that in the studied area the group can be successfully used as a flagship taxon for insect and nature conservation. PeerJ Inc. 2019-04-09 /pmc/articles/PMC6461030/ /pubmed/30993037 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6676 Text en © 2019 Jaskuła et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Biodiversity
Jaskuła, Radomir
Płóciennik, Mateusz
Schwerk, Axel
From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot
title From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot
title_full From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot
title_fullStr From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot
title_full_unstemmed From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot
title_short From climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in the south-eastern European biodiversity hotspot
title_sort from climate zone to microhabitat—environmental factors affecting the coastal distribution of tiger beetles (coleoptera: cicindelidae) in the south-eastern european biodiversity hotspot
topic Biodiversity
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6461030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30993037
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6676
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