Regional climate contributes more than geographic distance to beta diversity of copepods (Crustacea Copepoda) between caves of Italy.

ABSTRACT: Despite the study of subterranean biodiversity facing harsh sampling and mapping challenges, the huge diversity of taxa, ecological adaptations and evolutionary trajectories in subterranean environments is gaining increasing attention. Yet, the spatial and environmental factors driving the composition of groundwater communities are still poorly understood. To partially fill this knowledge gap, we collected copepod crustaceans from 12 caves along the Italian peninsula between 2019 and 2022, sampling each cave twice. The resulting presence-absence data were analysed to assess: (i) between-cave taxonomic beta diversity, also partitioning between turnover and nestedness-resultant dissimilarity; (ii) the relative weight of geographic distance and climatic differences in shaping observed beta di

SUBMITTER: Galmarini E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10692170 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature