Large-scale patterns in morphological diversity and species assemblages in Neotropical Triatominae (Heteroptera: Reduviidae)

We analysed the spatial variation in morphological diversity (MDiv) and species richness (SR) for 91 species of Neotropical Triatominae to determine the ecological relationships between SR and MDiv and to explore the roles that climate, productivity, environmental heterogeneity and the presence of b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Main Authors: Paula Nilda Fergnani, Adriana Ruggiero, Soledad Ceccarelli, Frederic Menu, Jorge Rabinovich
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2013
Subjects:
kissing bugs
morphology
species richness
environmental filtering
assembly rules
functional diversity
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Microbiology
QR1-502
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/0074-0276130369
https://doaj.org/article/a3a621400df4490781672a34ea135233
Description
Summary:We analysed the spatial variation in morphological diversity (MDiv) and species richness (SR) for 91 species of Neotropical Triatominae to determine the ecological relationships between SR and MDiv and to explore the roles that climate, productivity, environmental heterogeneity and the presence of biomes and rivers may play in the structuring of species assemblages. For each 110 km x 110 km-cell on a grid map of America, we determined the number of species (SR) and estimated the mean Gower index (MDiv) based on 12 morphological attributes. We performed bootstrapping analyses of species assemblages to identify whether those assemblages were more similar or dissimilar in their morphology than expected by chance. We applied a multi-model selection procedure and spatial explicit analyses to account for the association of diversity-environment relationships. MDiv and SR both showed a latitudinal gradient, although each peaked at different locations and were thus not strictly spatially congruent. SR decreased with temperature variability and MDiv increased with mean temperature, suggesting a predominant role for ambient energy in determining Triatominae diversity. Species that were more similar than expected by chance co-occurred near the limits of the Triatominae distribution in association with changes in environmental variables. Environmental filtering may underlie the structuring of species assemblages near their distributional limits.

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