TY - CHAP

T1 - Patterns and hotspots of carabid beetle diversity in the Palaearctic – insights from a hyperdiverse invertebrate taxon

AU - Schuldt, Andreas

AU - Aßmann, Thorsten

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - With the rapid loss of biodiversity worldwide, understanding diversity distributions is central to develop efficient conservation strategies. However, current efforts such as the identification of biodiversity hotspots focus primarily on plants and vertebrates. To assess the generality of diversity distributions and hotspots derived from these taxa, we examine species richness and endemism patterns of carabid beetles as a hyperdiverse invertebrate taxon across the Palaearctic. The diversity of carabid beetles shows clear latitudinal dependencies, and centres of carabid diversity are located in southern Europe, Japan and south-west China. Richness and endemism distributions show a high degree of congruence with those of plants and amphibians across large parts of the Palaearctic. They also strongly covary with patterns of other invertebrates. Our results indicate that plant and vertebrate hotspots can also include high invertebrate diversity, with especially China qualifying as an outstanding Palaearctic hotspot of collective diversity. Similar environmental dependencies and strong effects of historical processes (i.e., long-term environmental stability) are probably key drivers of these common patterns. Our study extends the limited knowledge on invertebrate diversity distributions and helps to better understand general patterns in the spatial distribution of biodiversity.

AB - With the rapid loss of biodiversity worldwide, understanding diversity distributions is central to develop efficient conservation strategies. However, current efforts such as the identification of biodiversity hotspots focus primarily on plants and vertebrates. To assess the generality of diversity distributions and hotspots derived from these taxa, we examine species richness and endemism patterns of carabid beetles as a hyperdiverse invertebrate taxon across the Palaearctic. The diversity of carabid beetles shows clear latitudinal dependencies, and centres of carabid diversity are located in southern Europe, Japan and south-west China. Richness and endemism distributions show a high degree of congruence with those of plants and amphibians across large parts of the Palaearctic. They also strongly covary with patterns of other invertebrates. Our results indicate that plant and vertebrate hotspots can also include high invertebrate diversity, with especially China qualifying as an outstanding Palaearctic hotspot of collective diversity. Similar environmental dependencies and strong effects of historical processes (i.e., long-term environmental stability) are probably key drivers of these common patterns. Our study extends the limited knowledge on invertebrate diversity distributions and helps to better understand general patterns in the spatial distribution of biodiversity.

KW - Biology

KW - Species Richness

KW - Coarse Scale

KW - Total Species Richness

KW - Carabid Beetle

KW - Invertebrate Taxon

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-20992-5_10

DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-20992-5_10

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 978-3-642-20991-8

SP - 175

EP - 188

BT - Biodiversity Hotspots

A2 - Zachos, Frank E.

A2 - Habel, Jan C.

PB - Springer

CY - Berlin, Heidelberg

ER -