Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect
Abstract Species distributions are dependent on interactions with abiotic and biotic factors in the environment. Abiotic factors like temperature, moisture, and soil nutrients, along with biotic interactions within and between species, can all have strong influences on spatial distributions of plant...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9 2023-05-15T14:07:52+02:00 Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect Potts, Leslie J. Gantz, J. D. Kawarasaki, Yuta Philip, Benjamin N. Gonthier, David J. Law, Audrey D. Moe, Luke Unrine, Jason M. McCulley, Rebecca L. Lee, Richard E. Denlinger, David L. Teets, Nicholas M. U.S. Department of Agriculture National Science Foundation National Institute of Food and Agriculture 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Oecologia volume 194, issue 4, page 529-539 ISSN 0029-8549 1432-1939 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9 2022-01-04T07:10:09Z Abstract Species distributions are dependent on interactions with abiotic and biotic factors in the environment. Abiotic factors like temperature, moisture, and soil nutrients, along with biotic interactions within and between species, can all have strong influences on spatial distributions of plants and animals. Terrestrial Antarctic habitats are relatively simple and thus good systems to study ecological factors that drive species distributions and abundance. However, these environments are also sensitive to perturbation, and thus understanding the ecological drivers of species distribution is critical for predicting responses to environmental change. The Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica , is the only endemic insect on the continent and has a patchy distribution along the Antarctic Peninsula. While its life history and physiology are well studied, factors that underlie variation in population density within its range are unknown. Previous work on Antarctic microfauna indicates that distribution over broad scales is primarily regulated by soil moisture, nitrogen content, and the presence of suitable plant life, but whether these patterns are true over smaller spatial scales has not been investigated. Here we sampled midges across five islands on the Antarctic Peninsula and tested a series of hypotheses to determine the relative influences of abiotic and biotic factors on midge abundance. While historical literature suggests that Antarctic organisms are limited by the abiotic environment, our best-supported hypothesis indicated that abundance is predicted by a combination of abiotic and biotic conditions. Our results are consistent with a growing body of literature that biotic interactions are more important in Antarctic ecosystems than historically appreciated. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic midge Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Belgica antarctica Springer Nature (via Crossref) Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Five Islands ENVELOPE(-69.415,-69.415,60.184,60.184) Oecologia 194 4 529 539 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Potts, Leslie J. Gantz, J. D. Kawarasaki, Yuta Philip, Benjamin N. Gonthier, David J. Law, Audrey D. Moe, Luke Unrine, Jason M. McCulley, Rebecca L. Lee, Richard E. Denlinger, David L. Teets, Nicholas M. Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect |
topic_facet |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Species distributions are dependent on interactions with abiotic and biotic factors in the environment. Abiotic factors like temperature, moisture, and soil nutrients, along with biotic interactions within and between species, can all have strong influences on spatial distributions of plants and animals. Terrestrial Antarctic habitats are relatively simple and thus good systems to study ecological factors that drive species distributions and abundance. However, these environments are also sensitive to perturbation, and thus understanding the ecological drivers of species distribution is critical for predicting responses to environmental change. The Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica , is the only endemic insect on the continent and has a patchy distribution along the Antarctic Peninsula. While its life history and physiology are well studied, factors that underlie variation in population density within its range are unknown. Previous work on Antarctic microfauna indicates that distribution over broad scales is primarily regulated by soil moisture, nitrogen content, and the presence of suitable plant life, but whether these patterns are true over smaller spatial scales has not been investigated. Here we sampled midges across five islands on the Antarctic Peninsula and tested a series of hypotheses to determine the relative influences of abiotic and biotic factors on midge abundance. While historical literature suggests that Antarctic organisms are limited by the abiotic environment, our best-supported hypothesis indicated that abundance is predicted by a combination of abiotic and biotic conditions. Our results are consistent with a growing body of literature that biotic interactions are more important in Antarctic ecosystems than historically appreciated. |
author2 |
U.S. Department of Agriculture National Science Foundation National Institute of Food and Agriculture |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Potts, Leslie J. Gantz, J. D. Kawarasaki, Yuta Philip, Benjamin N. Gonthier, David J. Law, Audrey D. Moe, Luke Unrine, Jason M. McCulley, Rebecca L. Lee, Richard E. Denlinger, David L. Teets, Nicholas M. |
author_facet |
Potts, Leslie J. Gantz, J. D. Kawarasaki, Yuta Philip, Benjamin N. Gonthier, David J. Law, Audrey D. Moe, Luke Unrine, Jason M. McCulley, Rebecca L. Lee, Richard E. Denlinger, David L. Teets, Nicholas M. |
author_sort |
Potts, Leslie J. |
title |
Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect |
title_short |
Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect |
title_full |
Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect |
title_fullStr |
Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of Antarctica’s only endemic insect |
title_sort |
environmental factors influencing fine-scale distribution of antarctica’s only endemic insect |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9/fulltext.html |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-69.415,-69.415,60.184,60.184) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Five Islands |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Five Islands |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic midge Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Belgica antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic midge Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Belgica antarctica |
op_source |
Oecologia volume 194, issue 4, page 529-539 ISSN 0029-8549 1432-1939 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04714-9 |
container_title |
Oecologia |
container_volume |
194 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
529 |
op_container_end_page |
539 |
_version_ |
1766279908015734784 |