Ecological niche models reveal the importance of climate variability for the biogeography of protosteloid amoebae.

ABSTRACT: Habitat availability and environmental preferences of species are among the most important factors in determining the success of dispersal processes and therefore in shaping the distribution of protists. We explored the differences in fundamental niches and potential distributions of an ecological guild of slime moulds-protosteloid amoebae-in the Iberian Peninsula. A large set of samples collected in a north-east to south-west transect of approximately 1000 km along the peninsula was used to test the hypothesis that, together with the existence of suitable microhabitats, climate conditions may determine the probability of survival of species. Although protosteloid amoebae share similar morphologies and life history strategies, canonical correspondence analyses showed that they have varied

SUBMITTER: Aguilar M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3400416 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature