Projected distributions and diversity of flightless ground beetles within the Australian Wet Tropics and their environmental correlates.

ABSTRACT: With the impending threat of climate change, greater understanding of patterns of species distributions and richness and the environmental factors driving them are required for effective conservation efforts. Species distribution models enable us to not only estimate geographic extents of species and subsequent patterns of species richness, but also generate hypotheses regarding environmental factors determining these spatial patterns. Projected changes in climate can then be used to predict future patterns of species distributions and richness. We created distribution models for most of the flightless ground beetles (Carabidae) within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of Australia, a major component of regionally endemic invertebrates. Forty-three species were modelled and the environme

SUBMITTER: Staunton KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3930578 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature