Disentangling the Effect of Climate and Human Influence on Distribution Patterns of the Darkling Beetle Scotobius pilularius Germar, 1823 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Scotobius pilularius Germar 1823 (Tenebrioninae: Scotobiini) is mainly distributed in natural temperate and mesic grasslands of the Pampean biogeographic province. However, it is also found in climatically extreme environments such as cold and dry grasslands within the Patagonian biogeographic provi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Carrara, Rodolfo, Silvestro, Violeta Ayelen, Cheli, German Horacio, Fernández Campón, María Florencia, Flores, Gustavo Ernesto
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/44960
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/44960
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Distribution Models
Species Occurrence
Climatic Variables
Human Activities
Asynanthropy
Eusynanthropy
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:Scotobius pilularius Germar 1823 (Tenebrioninae: Scotobiini) is mainly distributed in natural temperate and mesic grasslands of the Pampean biogeographic province. However, it is also found in climatically extreme environments such as cold and dry grasslands within the Patagonian biogeographic province. In these extreme environments, S. pilularius is found outside of natural habitats, in areas associated with human settlements. In the present paper, the role of climatic conditions and human settlements as determinants of the observed spatial distribution of S. pilularius in its natural distribution and outside that area is assessed. Three following hypotheses are tested: species occurrence is determined by i) climate; or ii) human settlements; or iii) both climate and human settlements. The results suggest that, while the climate and human settlements hypothesis is consistent with the data acquired within the S. pilularius natural distribution area, only the human influence hypothesis significantly explains its distribution outside of its natural area. This outcome suggests that S. pilularius moved from living in a complete disassociation to human settlements or asynanthropy before human settlements in its natural area, to living in close association with human settlements or synanthropy outside of its natural area.