A network approach to identify bioregions in the distribution of Mediterranean amphipods associated with Posidonia oceanica meadows
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biogeography, Ecology, Marine Biology
- Keywords
- Amphipods, Posidonia oceanica, network ecology, endemisms, paleobiogeography, connectivity, diversity, modularity
- Copyright
- © 2019 Bellisario et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2019. A network approach to identify bioregions in the distribution of Mediterranean amphipods associated with Posidonia oceanica meadows. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27285v2 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27285v2
Abstract
Although amphipods are key components of the macro-fauna associated with Posidonia oceanica meadows, to date no studies focused on the structure and diversity of their assemblages across the whole Mediterranean Sea. Here, we applied a network approach based on modularity on a dataset mined from literature to identify biogeographic modules and to assess the biogeographic roles of associated localities. We also correlated the patterns evidenced with the biogeographic distribution of amphipod groups by means of a multivariate analysis. Modularity analysis highlighted four biogeographic modules bounded by the main Mediterranean biogeographic divides and evidenced a decrease in species diversity along a NW-SE gradient. Assemblages associated with Central-Western Mediterranean and, to a lesser extent, Tunisian modules showed the highest species richness and were identified as hubs, characterized by species with regional distributions that behave as source in a biogeographic context. The paleogeographic history of the host seagrass and the ecology of associated amphipods, both suggest the joint effect of species persistence and post-Last Glacial Maximum expansion in explaining the pattern of amphipod distribution in the Mediterranean Sea.
Author Comment
Major changes of the ms after a second step revision:
1. Title changed
2. Added the authority for each species mentioned in the text
3. New dataset and Supplemental Materials and Methods with references for each species included in the dataset
Minor changes throughout the text.
Supplemental Information
Supplemental Materials & Methods
Supplemental Materials & Methods