Geographical distribution of Discocyrtus prospicuus (Arachnida: Opiliones: Gonyleptidae): Is there a pattern?

The environmental constraints determining the distribution of the harvestman Discocyrtus prospicuus in Argentina andUruguay are addressed. Habitat observations across the entire range (Río de la Plata-Atlantic coast area; Córdoba sierras;northwestern Argentina) are provided. Previous published local...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Acosta, Luis Eduardo, Guerrero, Elián Leandro
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2011
País:Argentina
Recursos:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositório:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/229868
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/229868
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Neotropical Region
disjunction
habitat
ecological niche modeling
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descrição
Resumo:The environmental constraints determining the distribution of the harvestman Discocyrtus prospicuus in Argentina andUruguay are addressed. Habitat observations across the entire range (Río de la Plata-Atlantic coast area; Córdoba sierras;northwestern Argentina) are provided. Previous published localities (verified for accuracy), new records and bioclimaticpredictors were used to characterize the species bioclimatic profile and to build predictive distributional models with BIOCLIMand MAXENT algorithms. Relative importance of each bioclimatic variable in the final models is assessed. It wasdetermined that D. prospicuus is primarily a gallery forest dweller, with preferred climate temperate to temperate-cold;variables related to thermic uniformity rank among the most influential. Results consistently support the alleged yungas-Mesopotamian disjunction; but the link between the Río de la Plata and Córdoba sierras areas shows disagreement betweenmethods (predicted continuous with BIOCLIM, separate with MAXENT). It is suggested that the need for constant airhumidity (favored in the core area by its proximity to large rivers and the seacoast) and competitive exclusion with congenerD. testudineus may represent additional limiting factors. Some observations on the species tolerance to human activityare also given.