Cargando…

Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera)

Aquatic insects in the order Trichoptera are extremely diverse in number of species and their trophic roles. However, their distribution and diversity patterns are poorly known in the Neotropics, including the species restricted to tropical mountain ecosystems. Recent studies in tropical mountains h...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ríos-Touma, Blanca, Cuesta, Francisco, Rázuri-Gonzales, Ernesto, Holzenthal, Ralph, Tapia, Andrea, Calderón-Loor, Marco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9355261/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35930543
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272229
_version_ 1784763255928913920
author Ríos-Touma, Blanca
Cuesta, Francisco
Rázuri-Gonzales, Ernesto
Holzenthal, Ralph
Tapia, Andrea
Calderón-Loor, Marco
author_facet Ríos-Touma, Blanca
Cuesta, Francisco
Rázuri-Gonzales, Ernesto
Holzenthal, Ralph
Tapia, Andrea
Calderón-Loor, Marco
author_sort Ríos-Touma, Blanca
collection PubMed
description Aquatic insects in the order Trichoptera are extremely diverse in number of species and their trophic roles. However, their distribution and diversity patterns are poorly known in the Neotropics, including the species restricted to tropical mountain ecosystems. Recent studies in tropical mountains have shown high levels of endemism of aquatic insects and changes in the composition of communities over short distances. Still, the incidence of environmental filters that explain such patterns has not been addressed quantitatively. Given the relevance of understanding Trichoptera spatial diversity patterns to prioritize conservation areas for freshwaters, as well as to obtain baseline information to predict changes in aquatic communities facing global environmental changes, we assessed the species distribution and assemblages of caddisflies along an elevational gradient from 600 to 3,600 m a.s.l. on the equatorial Andes. In this area, we had long-term continuous climate data with hourly resolution. We collected adult caddisflies in seven localities along this gradient using light traps. We sampled each locality for two hours after sunset for three consecutive days. All specimens collected were identified to species or morphospecies. Our results showed an increase in species and genera numbers with decreasing altitude, albeit no significant. Minimum air temperature is the main environmental variable explaining Trichoptera community assemblages. β‐diversity (taxon turnover among sites), as opposed to species richness, increased with altitude and showed a bimodal distribution along the elevation gradient for both genera and species assemblages, which resulted in a significant shift in community composition of species and genera at 2,000 m a.s.l. Our null-models confirm the observed patterns of B-diversity are non-random and suggest a strong environmental filtering of tropical caddisflies community assemblies and turnover. Geographic distance coupled with changes in environmental conditions along the elevation gradient explained a high percentage of community variance, as documented for other taxa (e.g., vascular plants), suggesting the importance of securing habitat connectivity along the altitudinal gradient to protect aquatic insect diversity effectively.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9355261
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-93552612022-08-06 Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera) Ríos-Touma, Blanca Cuesta, Francisco Rázuri-Gonzales, Ernesto Holzenthal, Ralph Tapia, Andrea Calderón-Loor, Marco PLoS One Research Article Aquatic insects in the order Trichoptera are extremely diverse in number of species and their trophic roles. However, their distribution and diversity patterns are poorly known in the Neotropics, including the species restricted to tropical mountain ecosystems. Recent studies in tropical mountains have shown high levels of endemism of aquatic insects and changes in the composition of communities over short distances. Still, the incidence of environmental filters that explain such patterns has not been addressed quantitatively. Given the relevance of understanding Trichoptera spatial diversity patterns to prioritize conservation areas for freshwaters, as well as to obtain baseline information to predict changes in aquatic communities facing global environmental changes, we assessed the species distribution and assemblages of caddisflies along an elevational gradient from 600 to 3,600 m a.s.l. on the equatorial Andes. In this area, we had long-term continuous climate data with hourly resolution. We collected adult caddisflies in seven localities along this gradient using light traps. We sampled each locality for two hours after sunset for three consecutive days. All specimens collected were identified to species or morphospecies. Our results showed an increase in species and genera numbers with decreasing altitude, albeit no significant. Minimum air temperature is the main environmental variable explaining Trichoptera community assemblages. β‐diversity (taxon turnover among sites), as opposed to species richness, increased with altitude and showed a bimodal distribution along the elevation gradient for both genera and species assemblages, which resulted in a significant shift in community composition of species and genera at 2,000 m a.s.l. Our null-models confirm the observed patterns of B-diversity are non-random and suggest a strong environmental filtering of tropical caddisflies community assemblies and turnover. Geographic distance coupled with changes in environmental conditions along the elevation gradient explained a high percentage of community variance, as documented for other taxa (e.g., vascular plants), suggesting the importance of securing habitat connectivity along the altitudinal gradient to protect aquatic insect diversity effectively. Public Library of Science 2022-08-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9355261/ /pubmed/35930543 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272229 Text en © 2022 Ríos-Touma et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ríos-Touma, Blanca
Cuesta, Francisco
Rázuri-Gonzales, Ernesto
Holzenthal, Ralph
Tapia, Andrea
Calderón-Loor, Marco
Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera)
title Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera)
title_full Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera)
title_fullStr Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera)
title_full_unstemmed Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera)
title_short Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera)
title_sort elevational biodiversity gradients in the neotropics: perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (insecta: trichoptera)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9355261/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35930543
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272229
work_keys_str_mv AT riostoumablanca elevationalbiodiversitygradientsintheneotropicsperspectivesfromfreshwatercaddisfliesinsectatrichoptera
AT cuestafrancisco elevationalbiodiversitygradientsintheneotropicsperspectivesfromfreshwatercaddisfliesinsectatrichoptera
AT razurigonzalesernesto elevationalbiodiversitygradientsintheneotropicsperspectivesfromfreshwatercaddisfliesinsectatrichoptera
AT holzenthalralph elevationalbiodiversitygradientsintheneotropicsperspectivesfromfreshwatercaddisfliesinsectatrichoptera
AT tapiaandrea elevationalbiodiversitygradientsintheneotropicsperspectivesfromfreshwatercaddisfliesinsectatrichoptera
AT calderonloormarco elevationalbiodiversitygradientsintheneotropicsperspectivesfromfreshwatercaddisfliesinsectatrichoptera