Factors shaping community assemblages and species co-occurrence of different trophic levels.

ABSTRACT: Species assemblages are the results of various processes, including dispersion and habitat filtering. Disentangling the effects of these different processes is challenging for statistical analysis, especially when biotic interactions should be considered. In this study, we used plants (producers) and leafhoppers (phytophagous) as model organisms, and we investigated the relative importance of abiotic versus biotic factors that shape community assemblages, and we infer on their biotic interactions by applying three-step statistical analysis. We applied a novel statistical analysis, that is, multiblock Redundancy Analysis (mbRA, step 1) and showed that 51.8% and 54.1% of the overall variation in plant and leafhopper assemblages are, respectively, explained by the two multiblock models. The m

SUBMITTER: Trivellone V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5496552 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature