| Literature DB >> 32076536 |
Abstract
Mediterranean islands have complex reptile assemblages, but little is known about the factors that determine their organization. In this study, the structure of assemblages of Squamata was evaluated based on their species richness and two measures of phylogenetic diversity (variability and clustering). I evaluated the composition of the assemblages comparing distinct biogeographic subregions within the Mediterranean: Adriatic, Aegean, Balearic, Corsica-Sardinia, Crete, Gulf of Gabés, Ionian Sea, Ligurian Sea, Malta, Sicily, and Tyrrhenian Sea. The effect of island environments and geographical isolation on the diversity metrics was assessed using generalized linear models. The analyses indicated that species richness was mostly influenced by island area and geographical isolation. Assemblages on smaller islands were poorer in species and phylogenetically dispersed, possibly as an effect of interspecific competition. The species composition of the assemblages was determined by similar environmental drivers within the biogeographic subregions, including island area, island elevation, geographical isolation, and aridity. In several subregions, significant patterns of phylogenetic attraction were found in species co-occurrences, caused by the limits imposed by the island size on large predatory species.Entities:
Keywords: co‐occurrences; islet; lizard; phylogenetic dispersion; snake
Year: 2020 PMID: 32076536 PMCID: PMC7029066 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6013
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Ecol Evol ISSN: 2045-7758 Impact factor: 2.912
Figure 1Organism photograph: The endemic island lizard Podarcis waglerianus (Cefalù, Sicily). Credit: Daniel Escoriza
Figure 2Map of the study region showing the biogeographical subregions and the respective number of islands (in brackets). ALB, Alboran sea; BAL, Balearic sea; CAD, central Adriatic; CAE, central Aegean; COR, Corso‐Sardinian; CRE, Crete; CYP, Cyprus; GAB, Gulf of Gabès; IBE, mainland Spain; ION, Ionian sea; LEV, Levantine sea; LIG, Ligurian‐Provence; MAL, Malta‐Lampedusa; MAR, Marmara sea; NAD, northern Adriatic; NAE, northern Aegean; NMI, northern mainland Greece; SAE, southern Aegean; SIC, Sicily‐Aeolian; SMI, southern mainland Greece; TUN, Tunisia; TYR, Tyrrhenian sea (mainland Italy)
General patterns of diversity of Squamata in the Mediterranean islands, assessed by automated GLM selection
| Diversity metric | Best subset of predictors |
|
| IMP100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species richness | Island area | 27.13 | 2−16 | 1.00 |
| Distance to larger island | –3.89 | .0001 | 0.99 | |
| Distance to continent | –2.74 | .006 | 0.92 | |
| Mean sea depth 5 km | –2.47 | .014 | 0.80 | |
| Mean temperature | 2.08 | .038 | 0.61 | |
| Phylogenetic species variability | Aridity index | –6.08 | 3−9 | 1.00 |
| Island area | –5.16 | 4−6 | 0.99 | |
| Distance to continent | 4.02 | .00007 | 0.99 | |
| Mean sea depth 30 km | 1.89 | .06 | 0.77 | |
| Mean sea depth 5 km | 1.64 | .102 | 0.65 | |
| Phylogenetic species clustering | Island area | –15.13 | 2−16 | 1.00 |
| Distance to continent | 3.64 | .0003 | 0.99 | |
| Mean sea depth 5 km | 3.62 | .0003 | 0.98 | |
| Aridity index | –3.97 | .00009 | 0.96 | |
| Distance to larger island | 2.55 | .01 | 0.90 |
The statistics of the best candidate model and the model‐averaged importance (IMP100) for the variables in the 100 best models are shown.
Results of the distance‐based redundancy analysis assessing the effect of island characteristics and the assemblage composition within subregions
| Subregion | Predictors |
| AIC |
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balearic | Distance to continent | 0.62 | 175.9 | 133.8 | .002 |
| Island area | 0.67 | 166.9 | 11.3 | .004 | |
| Mean sea depth 30 km | 0.68 | 164.6 | 4.3 | .044 | |
| Central Adriatic | Island area | 0.30 | 21.0 | 8.1 | .002 |
| Aridity index | 0.40 | 19.0 | 3.7 | .01 | |
| Central Aegean | Island area | 0.17 | 193.5 | 16.5 | .002 |
| Aridity index | 0.23 | 189.1 | 6.4 | .004 | |
| Mean sea depth 30 km | 0.26 | 187.1 | 3.9 | .002 | |
| Mean sea depth 5 km | 0.29 | 185.7 | 3.3 | .022 | |
| Corsica‐Sardinia | Island area | 0.40 | 61.7 | 33.2 | .002 |
| Annual temperature | 0.44 | 58.7 | 4.9 | .022 | |
| Ionian Sea | Mean sea depth 30 km | 0.14 | 24.6 | 3.6 | .006 |
| Aridity index | 0.29 | 22.1 | 4.2 | .004 | |
| Island area | 0.47 | 18.0 | 5.6 | .002 | |
| Ligurian Sea‐Provence | Island area | 0.18 | 12.7 | 5.0 | .008 |
| Aridity index | 0.33 | 9.7 | 4.9 | .006 | |
| Northern Adriatic | Island elevation | 0.29 | 61.0 | 15.2 | .002 |
| Northeastern Aegean | Island area | 0.28 | 51.3 | 12.2 | .002 |
| Island elevation | 0.32 | 50.4 | 2.8 | .046 | |
| Southeastern Aegean | Island area | 0.27 | 14.8 | 6.1 | .002 |
| Sicily | Island area | 0.17 | 28.6 | 5.9 | .002 |
| Mean sea depth 5 km | 0.36 | 23.0 | 7.9 | .002 | |
| South mainland Greece | Island area | 0.11 | 15.7 | 2.5 | .03 |
| Tyrrhenian Sea (Italian Peninsula) | Island area | 0.18 | 45.4 | 7.2 | .004 |
Some subregions are not shown because no statistically significant associations were found at α = 0.05.
Association between phylogenetic distance and the co‐occurrence metric Cij, evaluated by quantile regression
| Subregion |
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balearic | Slope | 0.0001 | 0.0002 | −0.0006 |
|
| 0.88 | 0.97 | 0.001 | |
| Central Adriatic | Slope | 0.0006 | 0.0001 | −0.0003 |
|
| 0.999 | 0.787 | 0.074 | |
| Central Aegean | Slope | 0.00 | 0.00007 | 0.0001 |
|
| 0.605 | 0.871 | 0.907 | |
| Corsica‐Sardinia | Slope | −0.0001 | 0.0004 | 0.0003 |
|
| 0.294 | 1.00 | 0.997 | |
| Crete | Slope | 0.00 | −0.0002 | −0.0005 |
|
| 0.380 | 0.164 | 0.066 | |
| Gulf of Gabès | Slope | 0.00006 | −0.0002 | 0.0005 |
|
| 0.751 | 0.255 | 0.954 | |
| Ionian Sea | Slope | −0.0002 | −0.0001 | 0.00 |
|
| 0.198 | 0.162 | 0.512 | |
| Ligurian Sea‐Provence | Slope | 0.000001 | 0.0001 | 0.00004 |
|
| 0.483 | 0.721 | 0.665 | |
| Malta | Slope | 0.001 | 0.001 | −0.001 |
|
| 0.781 | 0.968 | 0.001 | |
| Northern Adriatic | Slope | −0.0002 | −0.0002 | −0.0004 |
|
| 0.168 | 0.132 | 0.015 | |
| Northeastern Aegean | Slope | −0.0005 | −0.0008 | −0.0007 |
|
| 0.007 | 0.001 | 0.001 | |
| Southeastern Aegean | Slope | 0.0004 | 0.0001 | 0.00 |
|
| 0.997 | 0.763 | 0.495 | |
| Sicily | Slope | 0.0001 | 0.00 | −0.002 |
|
| 0.889 | 0.468 | 0.001 | |
| South mainland Greece | Slope | −0.0001 | −0.0003 | 0.00 |
|
| 0.184 | 0.018 | 0.469 | |
| Tyrrhenian Sea (Italian Peninsula) | Slope | 0.00004 | −0.002 | −0.001 |
|
| 0.683 | 0.001 | 0.001 |
The slope values and their statistical significance are shown for each of the measured quantiles (Q) of the distribution of Cij.
Figure 3Co‐occurrence matrices, based on the Schoener's Index, generated for each subregion with more than eight islands. The red star indicated the statistically significant positive associations and the blue star the statistically significant negative associations (α = 0.01) according to a probabilistic analysis
Species pairs of significant negative associations, as determined by probabilistic co‐occurrence analysis
| Subregion | Species 1 | Species 2 | AI | EI |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balearic |
|
| 0 | 16.0 | .00001 |
| Central Adriatic |
|
| 1 | 4.3 | .0007 |
| Central Aegean |
|
| 0 | 5.2 | .0001 |
| Northern Adriatic |
|
| 12 | 14.8 | .01 |
| Sicily |
|
| 1 | 3.4 | .0067 |
| Tyrrhenian Sea (Italian Peninsula) |
|
| 2 | 7.6 | .00001 |
Abbreviations: AI, actual number of islands with both species; EI, expected number of islands with both species, if the two species occurred randomly.