Congruence among taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of mangrove crabs in the Southwestern Atlantic
Teles, J.N.; Peres, P.A.; Jimenez, L.C.Z.; Mantelatto, F.L.; Quimbayo, J.P. (2024). Congruence among taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of mangrove crabs in the Southwestern Atlantic. Mar. Biol. (Berl.) 171(1): 25. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04326-w
In: Marine Biology: International Journal on Life in Oceans and Coastal Waters. Springer: Heidelberg; Berlin. ISSN 0025-3162; e-ISSN 1432-1793, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Teles, J.N.
- Peres, P.A.
- Jimenez, L.C.Z.
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- Mantelatto, F.L.
- Quimbayo, J.P.
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| Abstract |
Unraveling the spatial distribution and the factors that modulate biodiversity can help us better understand community dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Here, we tested the hypothesis that taxonomic diversity (TD), functional diversity (FD), and phylogenetic diversity (PD) follow a latitudinal trend driven by environmental factors, and investigated the associations among these metrics in mangrove crabs (11 species in the Ocypodidae family) of the Southwestern Atlantic (7,000 km along the Brazilian coast). Based on occurrence data, species traits, and phylogenetic information, we calculated diversity indices (TD, FD and PD) for 3° grid cells (latitude/longitude, approx. 333 km edge length) along the coast of Brazil. We built models to investigate whether latitude and nine environmental factors influence taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic indices of mangrove crabs in the Southwestern Atlantic. We also investigated the correlation among diversity indices TD × FD × PD. We observed a congruence in the latitudinal patterns of TD, FD, and PD of mangrove crabs along the Southwestern Atlantic. Specifically, we observed that all indices have higher values at intermediate latitudes, which are congruent to habitat transition zones along the Southwestern Atlantic coast. Our results also showed that air temperature, chlorophyll, and nitrate concentration are the main environmental factors that influence taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of mangrove crabs in this region. When analyzing the correlation between indices, our results suggest that targeting conservation efforts towards one specific diversity component can lead to preserving other types of diversity, at least considering our system and the set of species analyzed. This study highlights the usage of multiple metrics to unveil large-scale biodiversity patterns in one of the most abundant groups in mangrove forests, the crabs. |
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