Alpha and beta diversity patterns of macro-moths reveal a breakpoint along a latitudinal gradient in Mongolia

Abstract

Little is known about the diversity and distribution patterns of moths along latitudinal gradients. We studied macro-moths in Mongolia along an 860 km latitudinal climatic gradient to gain knowledge on community composition, alpha, beta, and gamma diversity as well as underlying factors, which can be used as baseline information for further studies related to climate change. We identified 236 species of moths of ten families. Our study shows that the diversity of moths increased with the latitude, i.e., low species richness in the south and higher richness in the north. Moth community composition changed along the gradient, and we revealed a breakpoint of beta diversity that divided grassland and desert communities. In the desert, beta diversity was driven by species loss (i.e., nestedness), and few tolerant species existed with high abundance. In contrast, in the grassland, beta diversity was driven by species replacement with more unique species, (i.e., species which occurred only in one site). We found the lowest species diversity in the transitional zones dominated by few generalist species such as Agrotis ripae and Anarta trifolii. Low precipitation and an increasing number of grazing goats are drivers of species loss. We suggest different conservation strategies regarding the contrasting patterns of beta diversity in desert and grassland.

Patterns and Drivers of Aboveground Insect Diversity along Ecological Transect in Temperate Grazed Steppes of Eastern Eurasian

“…In this study, we assessed the α and β diversity of insect communities and their associated environmental variables, observing that there were significant spatial differences in species diversity in different types of steppes ( Figure 2 ). This is consistent with the recent findings of Enkhtur et al [ 39 ] on moth distributions and diversities along latitudinal gradients in the temperate grasslands of Mongolia between 2018 and 2019. Here, we observed two distinct insect community structures along the latitudinal gradient, with the shift occurring at 44° N between Sites 5 and 6.…”

Moderation and mediation of land use change! Interplay between β‐diversity and landscape structures in agri‐ and silvicultural modified grasslands of South America

“…However, turnover accounted predominately for the high variation in species diversity between our sites, and nestedness was almost absent (Table S1) and indicates the crucial role of environmental filtering and dispersal limitation on colonization or extinction of species across local ecosystems. Predominance of species turnover on grasslands has been shown for birds (Dias et al, 2017), moths (Enkhtur et al, 2021), plants, lichens, mosses, and insects (Fontana et al, 2020).…”

Biogeographic patterns and environmental drivers of species richness in the globally distributed Millettioid/Phaseoloid clade (Fabaceae, subfamily Papilionoideae)

“…Disparities among multiple biomes due to the replacement of species among biomes (e.g., biomes support unique species), species loss (e.g., one biome supports a subset of species present at another), or a combination of both processes have been reported (Baselga, 2010;Baselga, 2012) (Fontana et al, 2020;Enkhtur et al, 2021). Nestedness in the MP clade is largely linked to energy availability, resulting in lower species richness in colder biomes than in tropical biomes.…”