Drivers of compositional turnover are related to species' commonness in flea assemblages from four biogeographic realms: zeta diversity and Multi-Site Generalised Dissimilarity Modelling.

Drivers of compositional turnover are related to species' commonness in flea assemblages from four biogeographic realms: zeta diversity and Multi-Site Generalised Dissimilarity Modelling. Int J Parasitol. 2020 Mar 26;: Authors: Krasnov BR, Shenbrot GI, van der Mescht L, Khokhlova IS Abstract We investigated drivers of species turnover in fleas parasitic on small mammals in four biogeographic realms using novel methodology (zeta diversity, and Multi-Site Generalised Dissimilarity Modelling (MS-GDM)). We asked whether (i) flea turnover was better explained by host turnover or environmental variables; (ii) different factors drive the turnover of rare and widespread fleas; (iii) the factors affecting the turnover of rare or widespread fleas differ between realms; and (iv) environmental variables drive flea turnover directly or via their effects on hosts. Dissimilarity in host species composition was the most important factor affecting flea turnover in all realms. In the Afrotropics, the Nearctic, and the Neotropics, this was true mainly for rare species, whereas the zeta diversity of the Palearctic hosts exerted a strong effect on the turnover of both rare and widespread fleas. Dissimilarity in temperature contributed the most to the turnover of rare fleas in the Neotropics and the Palearctic, whereas the turnover of widespread species in these realms was strongly affected by dissimilarity in precipitation. In the Nearctic, dissimilarity...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Authors: Tags: Int J Parasitol Source Type: research