Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps

Abstract To understand how diversity is distributed in space is a fundamental aim for optimizing future species and community conservation. We examined in parallel species richness and beta diversity components of nine taxonomic groups along a finite space, represented by pastured grasslands along a...

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Autores principales:	Veronika Fontana, Elia Guariento, Andreas Hilpold, Georg Niedrist, Michael Steinwandter, Daniel Spitale, Juri Nascimbene, Ulrike Tappeiner, Julia Seeber
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/cca47df2b58849cabd16fb07b7eb3b3e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:cca47df2b58849cabd16fb07b7eb3b3e2021-12-02T16:06:40ZSpecies richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps10.1038/s41598-020-69569-92045-2322https://doaj.org/article/cca47df2b58849cabd16fb07b7eb3b3e2020-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69569-9https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract To understand how diversity is distributed in space is a fundamental aim for optimizing future species and community conservation. We examined in parallel species richness and beta diversity components of nine taxonomic groups along a finite space, represented by pastured grasslands along an elevational gradient. Beta diversity, which is assumed to bridge local alpha diversity to regional gamma diversity was partitioned into the two components turnover and nestedness and analyzed at two levels: from the lowest elevation to all other elevations, and between neighboring elevations. Species richness of vascular plants, butterflies, beetles, spiders and earthworms showed a hump-shaped relationship with increasing elevation, while it decreased linearly for grasshoppers and ants, but increased for lichens and bryophytes. For most of the groups, turnover increased with increasing elevational distance along the gradient while nestedness decreased. With regard to step-wise beta diversity, rates of turnover or nestedness did not change notably between neighboring steps for the majority of groups. Our results support the assumption that species communities occupying the same habitat significantly change along elevation, however transition seems to happen continuously and is not detectable between neighboring steps. Our findings, rather than delineating levels of major diversity losses, indicate that conservation actions targeting at a preventive protection for species and their environment in mountainous regions require the consideration of entire spatial settings.Veronika FontanaElia GuarientoAndreas HilpoldGeorg NiedristMichael SteinwandterDaniel SpitaleJuri NascimbeneUlrike TappeinerJulia SeeberNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Veronika Fontana Elia Guariento Andreas Hilpold Georg Niedrist Michael Steinwandter Daniel Spitale Juri Nascimbene Ulrike Tappeiner Julia Seeber Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps
description	Abstract To understand how diversity is distributed in space is a fundamental aim for optimizing future species and community conservation. We examined in parallel species richness and beta diversity components of nine taxonomic groups along a finite space, represented by pastured grasslands along an elevational gradient. Beta diversity, which is assumed to bridge local alpha diversity to regional gamma diversity was partitioned into the two components turnover and nestedness and analyzed at two levels: from the lowest elevation to all other elevations, and between neighboring elevations. Species richness of vascular plants, butterflies, beetles, spiders and earthworms showed a hump-shaped relationship with increasing elevation, while it decreased linearly for grasshoppers and ants, but increased for lichens and bryophytes. For most of the groups, turnover increased with increasing elevational distance along the gradient while nestedness decreased. With regard to step-wise beta diversity, rates of turnover or nestedness did not change notably between neighboring steps for the majority of groups. Our results support the assumption that species communities occupying the same habitat significantly change along elevation, however transition seems to happen continuously and is not detectable between neighboring steps. Our findings, rather than delineating levels of major diversity losses, indicate that conservation actions targeting at a preventive protection for species and their environment in mountainous regions require the consideration of entire spatial settings.
format	article
author	Veronika Fontana Elia Guariento Andreas Hilpold Georg Niedrist Michael Steinwandter Daniel Spitale Juri Nascimbene Ulrike Tappeiner Julia Seeber
author_facet	Veronika Fontana Elia Guariento Andreas Hilpold Georg Niedrist Michael Steinwandter Daniel Spitale Juri Nascimbene Ulrike Tappeiner Julia Seeber
author_sort	Veronika Fontana
title	Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps
title_short	Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps
title_full	Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps
title_fullStr	Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps
title_full_unstemmed	Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps
title_sort	species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the european alps
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/cca47df2b58849cabd16fb07b7eb3b3e
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Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps

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