INVESTIGADORES
MARTINEZ fernando Joaquin
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Spatial distribution of tenebrionid beetles in relation to environmental variability in Península Valdés, Patagonia
Autor/es:
CHELI, G. H.; CARRARA, R.; BANDIERI, L.; MARTÍNEZ, F. J.; FLORES, G. E.
Lugar:
Praga
Reunión:
Simposio; 5th International Tenebrionoidea Symposium; 2018
Resumen:
Deserts provide atmospheric-climatic regulation and other several important ecosystemservices that many human activities, through habitat degradation and species lost, couldseverely impact. A sustainable management of arid ecosystems is needed to prevent theseundesirable consequences, and knowledge of biodiversity spatial patterns as well asunderstanding of their spatial distribution in relation to environmental and climatic factors areessential for this. The Natural Protected Area Península Valdés (PV) exhibits an importantenvironmental variation which allows it to host a considerable biodiversity. Recently theknowledge of the terrestrial arthropods in PV have greatly increased, showing that tenebrionidbeetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) are among the most abundant groups and species diverseinsect. At the same time, it is known that these beetles are important for the functioning ofdesert ecosystems (eg. litter fragmentation processes and soil biogeochemical cycles). In thiswork we study for the first time the spatial distribution of darkling beetles in relation toenvironmental variability in PV, identifying the most important species assemblages and themain environmental variables that determine them. Tenebrionid species records werecompiled from own entomological collection trips, bibliography and from revision of nationalentomological collections. Habitat information was collected from bibliography and satelliteimages. Multivariate statistics evidenced that environmental variability within PV determinesdifferent assemblages of tenebrionid species into the region. Most important species thatdifferentiate these assemblages were Nyctelia picipes, Epipedonota cristallisata, Blaptinuspunctulatus, Mitragenius araneiformis and Emmallodera hirtipes. Main environmentaldeterminants of their distributions were temperature, rainfall, slope, soil type, geomorphologyand percentage of vegetation cover. Our findings contribute to the sustainable use of aridPatagonia and improve both future environmental classifications and predictions ofbiodiversity changes into the region.