Functional Niche Partitioning Occurs over Body Size but Not Nutrient Reserves nor Melanism in a Polar Carabid Beetle along an Altitudinal Gradient

• Published in: Insects
• Main Authors: Espel, Diane, Coux, Camille, Pertierra, Luis R, Eymar-Dauphin, Pauline, Lembrechts, Jonas J., Renault, D
• Other Authors: Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution Rennes (ECOBIO), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement - CNRS Ecologie et Environnement (INEE-CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d’Infection et d’Immunité de Lille - INSERM U 1019 - UMR 9017 - UMR 8204 (CIIL), Institut Pasteur de Lille, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Lille-Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire CHU Lille (CHRU Lille)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro Montpellier, Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Université de Montpellier (UM), University of Pretoria South Africa, Équipe 1 - Biodiversité et Adaptation dans les Hydrosystèmes (BAH), Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés (LEHNA), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Antwerp (UA), This research was funded by the ASICS project (ANR-20-EBI5-0004, BiodivERsA, BiodivClim call 2019–2020) and the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor (project 136-SUBANTECO). LPR co-author was funded through the ASICS BiodivERsa South Africa that was provided by the Department of Science and Innovation of the government of South Africa., ANR-20-EBI5-0004,ASICS,ASsessing and mitigating the effects of climate change and biological Invasions on the spatial redistribution of biodiversity in Cold environmentS(2020)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Amblystogenium pacificum; Carabidae; French sub-Antarctic islands; dimorphism; functional diversity; melanism; thermal tolerance; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Antarc*; Crozet Islands
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04013700; https://hal.science/hal-04013700/document; https://hal.science/hal-04013700/file/insects-14-00123.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14020123

International audience Phenotypic plasticity can favor the emergence of different morphotypes specialized in specific ranges of environmental conditions. The existence of intraspecific partitioning confers resilience at the species scale and can ultimately determine species survival in a context of global changes. Amblystogenium pacificum is a carabid beetle endemic to the sub-Antarctic Crozet Islands, and it has two distinctive morphotypes based on body coloration. For this study, A. pacificum specimens of functional niches were sampled along an altitudinal gradient (as a proxy for temperature), and some morphological and biochemical traits were measured. We used an FAMD multivariate analysis and linear mixed-effects models to test whether these traits were related to morphotype, altitude, and sexual dimorphism. We then calculated and compared the functional niches at different altitudes and tested for niche partitioning through a hypervolume approach. We found a positive hump-shaped correlation between altitude and body size as well as higher protein and sugar reserves in females than in males. Our functional hypervolume results suggest that the main driver of niche partitioning along the altitudinal gradient is body size rather than morphotype or sex, even though darker morphotypes tended to be more functionally constrained at higher altitudes and females showed limited trait variations at the highest altitude.