Menéndez, Rosa and González-Megías, Adela and Collingham, Yvonne and Fox, Richard and Roy, David B. and Ohlemüller, Ralf and Thomas, Chris D. (2007) Direct and indirect effects of climate and habitat factors on butterfly diversity. Ecology, 88 (3). pp. 605-611. ISSN 0012-9658
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Many factors, including climate, resource availability, and habitat diversity, have been proposed as determinants of global diversity, but the links among them have rarely been studied. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we investigated direct and indirect effects of climate variables, host-plant richness, and habitat diversity on butterfly species richness across Britain, at 20-km grid resolution. These factors were all important determinants of butterfly diversity, but their relative contributions differed between habitat generalists and specialists, and whether the effects were direct or indirect. Climate variables had strong effects on habitat generalists, whereas host-plant richness and habitat diversity contributed relatively more for habitat specialists. Considering total effects (direct and indirect together), climate variables had the strongest link to butterfly species richness for all groups of species. The results suggest that different mechanistic hypotheses to explain species richness may be more appropriate for habitat generalists and specialists, with generalists hypothesized to show direct physiological limitations and specialists additionally being constrained by trophic interactions (climate affecting host-plant richness).
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Journal or Publication Title: | Ecology |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | butterfly species richness ; direct and indirect climate effects ; habitat diversity ; host-plant richness |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology |
| Departments: | Faculty of Science and Technology > Lancaster Environment Centre |
| ID Code: | 9604 |
| Deposited By: | Dr Rosa Menéndez |
| Deposited On: | 17 Jun 2008 10:29 |
| Refereed?: | Yes |
| Published?: | Published |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jul 2012 18:39 |
| Identification Number: | |
| URI: | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/9604 |
Actions (login required)
| View Item |
