02936nas a2200349   4500008004500000020001400045245012900059210006900188260000800257300001200265490000700277520184500284653002902129653002902158653001402187653001302201653002102214653002102235653001102256653001102267653001002278653002102288653001802309653001402327653002002341653002302361653001402384653002202398653002102420100001802441856012702459       2009                        Engldsh    a0024-406600aDarkling beetle communities in two geologically contrasting biotopes: testing biodiversity patterns by microsite comparisons0 aDarkling beetle communities in two geologically contrasting biot  cDec  a787-7930 v983 aStudies at a microsite scale, where most of the environmental variation can be reduced to a few factors, may help to identify the actual contribution of a particular environmental factor to community organization. Climate is known to be an important factor for regulating animal diversity. However, for soil-dwelling animals, the role of soil characteristics can hardly be extracted out because of the inter-relationships between climate and soil. The community structure of soil-dwelling darkling beetles inhabiting the two geologically highly contrasting west- and east-facing slopes (WFS and EFS, respectively) of the Mediterranean island of Santorini (Greece) was investigated in a case study aiming to assess the separate influence of soil characteristics and climate. Eroded pumice soils of EFS allowed a higher abundance of darkling beetle individuals and biomass, hosting more productive vegetation and being more penetrable to fossorial larvae. Moreover, the two slopes differed significantly with respect to the abundance of certain species that are characterized by a peculiar morphological adaptation to different soil characteristics. Thus, local geological sharp divergence led to darkling beetle interslope community differences as a result of local selection towards certain species. However, the two communities are similar in terms of darkling beetle diversity, evenness, and species niche-breadth. This demonstrates that sites sharing the same climatic conditions tend to have similarly structured darkling beetle communities, even if there are marked differences in soil characteristics that promote differences in species composition, thus suggesting that climate is the major factor for regulating species diversity. (C) 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 98, 787-793.10aColeoptera Tenebrionidae10aCOLEOPTERA-TENEBRIONIDAE10adiversity10aevenness10aEVOLUTION CANYON10ageometric series10aisland10aIsrael10alocal10aLOWER NAHAL-OREN10aMediterranean10aMT-CARMEL10aNEGEV HIGHLANDS10aniche partitioning10aselection10aspecies abundance10aSpecies richness1 aFattorini, S.  uhttps://icgf.myspecies.info/content/darkling-beetle-communities-two-geologically-contrasting-biotopes-testing-biodiversity02765nas a2200301   4500008004100000245011300041210006900154260001200223300001200235490000700247520175100254653001602005653001702021653001102038653002302049653001602072653002102088653001102109653002402120653002202144653002502166653002402191653003602215653003102251653003502282100001802317856012802335       2005                        eng d00aA simple method to fit geometric series and broken stick models in community ecology and island biogeography0 asimple method to fit geometric series and broken stick models in  cNOV-DEC  a199-2050 v283 aSpecies abundance distributions are widely used in explaining natural communities. their natural evolution and the impacts of environmental disturbance. A commonly used approach is that of rank-abundance distributions. Favored, biologically founded models are the geometric series (GS) and the broken stick (BS) model. Comparing observed abundance distributions with those predicted by models is an extremely time-consuming task. Also, using goodness-of-fit tests for frequency distributions (like Chi-square or Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests) to compare observed with expected frequencies is problematic because the best way to calculate expected frequencies may be controversial. More important, the Chi-square test may prove if an observed distribution statistically differs from a model, but does not allow the investigator to choose among competing models from which the observed distribution does not differ. Both models can be easily tested by regression analysis. In GS, if a log scale is used for abundance, the species exactly fall along a straight line. The BS distribution shows tip as nearly linear when a log scale is used for the rank axis. Regression analysis is proposed here as a simpler and more efficient method to fit the GS and BS models. Also, regression analysis (1) does not suffer from assumptions related to Chi-square tests; (2) obviates the need to establish expected frequencies, and (3) offers the possibility to choose the best fit among competing models. A possible extension of abundance-rank analysis to species richness on islands is also proposed as a method to discriminate between relict and equilibrial models. Examples of application to field data are also presented. (c) 2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.10aassemblages10abroken stick10acurves10adiversity patterns10aexplanation10ageometric series10aGreece10aIsland Biogeography10aplant-communities10arank-abundance plots10aregression analysis10aspecies abundance distributions10aspecies abundance patterns10atenebrionid beetles Coleoptera1 aFattorini, S.  uhttps://icgf.myspecies.info/content/simple-method-fit-geometric-series-and-broken-stick-models-community-ecology-and-island