Turnover patterns in bats related to areas of endemism in northwestern Argentina

L. IGNACIO FERRO; M. LEONOR SANDOVAL; MARCOS I. MOLLERACH; RUBÉN M. BARQUEZ

CLADISTICS (PRINT)

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2009 vol. 25 p. 12 - 12

0748-3007

The correspondence between edges of AEs obtained by an optimality criterion and the patterns of species’ turnover were evaluated. We analyze here the geographical distribution of 42 species of bats from northwestern Argentina. We used more than 1000 georeferenced records and square grids with cells of 0.5 and 0.25°. To measure the species turnover we used Whittaker’s index (WI) and the density of distributional range edges per cell (DDR). Both WI and DDR showed high values on the margins of the AE of the northern Yungas. In particular, DDR reached the highest values all along the western margin of the AE of the northern and southern Yungas. In the eastern border, however, the DDR was lower and the gradient of richness was less pronounced. In the eastern border the value of WI was high in both AEs of the northern and southern Yungas. The western edge of the AE of the Yungas is then characterized by an abrupt gradient of species richness, while the eastern edge is dominated by the high species turnover rates.