Temperature dissimilarity drives flower–visitor interaction turnover across elevation in the Mexican Transition Zone
- Pedro Luna1 | Fabricio Villalobos | Federico Escobar | Frederico Neves | Gonzalo Castillo-Campos | Ismael Hinojosa-Díaz | Luciano Cagnolo | Ek del-Val | Maurice Leponce | Wesley Dáttilo
- Journal of Biogeography. 2023;00:1–12.
Abstract
Aim: Most biodiversity studies have considered species to be isolated entities, neglecting
the fact that their biotic interactions and spatial variation are fundamental
to their persistence across elevational gradients. Here, using a standardized sampling
methodology, we evaluated how and why the composition of flower–visitor
interactions (i.e. beta diversity) varies over an extensive elevational gradient. Specifically,
we aimed to identify which biotic (species turnover) and abiotic factors (temperature,
precipitation and primary productivity) inherent to elevational gradients can explain
the distribution of floral visitor–plant interactions.
Location: Mexican Transition Zone. Taxon: Angiosperms, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera and Coleoptera. Methods: We sampled ecological interactions between floral visitors and flowering plants at 10 sites along an elevational gradient from 4 to 3425 m.a.s.l. We measured the additive partitioning of the beta diversity of species interactions and used generalized dissimilarity modelling to assess how spatial and environmental factors can
explain the observed dissimilarity….
