Changes in diversity and body size of Onychiurinae (Collembola: Onychiuridae) along an altitudinal gradient in Changbai

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-020-0040-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Changes in diversity and body size of Onychiurinae (Collembola: Onychiuridae) along an altitudinal gradient in Changbai Mountain, China Xin Sun1,2, Louis Deharveng3 ,*, Anne Bedos3, Liang Chang2, Stefan Scheu1,4, Donghui Wu2 ,* 1 J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany 2 Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130012, China 3 Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), UMR7205, CNRS, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France 4 Center for Sustainable Land Use, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history:

Collembola are among the most abundant and diverse soil animals contributing significantly to

Received March 4, 2020

major ecosystem processes. Global climate changes in temperature and precipitation are

Revised April 22, 2020 Accepted May 11, 2020

likely to affect their community structure and functioning and this is likely to differ along altitudinal gradients. In this study, changes in richness, abundance, and body size of

Keywords:

onychiurin Collembola with altitude have been investigated in the Changbai Mountain range of northeast China. Sampling was carried out on a 30 km long transect along forested slopes of

Collembola

the Changbai Mountains. Standardized samples were taken from 800 to 1700 m at seven

Elevation

altitudinal levels. More than 5000 specimens of Onychiurinae representing 13 species were

Species richness

collected, making Onychiuridae (with the sole subfamily Onychiurinae in Changbai) the most

Body size

abundant Collembolan family in the area. The number of species of Onychiurinae slightly increased along the altitudinal gradient. The average number of species per sample, but not the total abundance, changed significantly but not monotonically with altitude. Body size of Onychiurinae species decreased significantly with increasing altitude contradicting Bergmann’s rule. Furthermore, the abundance of the three body-size groups differentially responded to increasing altitude, with the abundance of the large body-size group decreasing and the abundance of the small body-size group increasing. Our results suggest that the distribution patterns of Collembola along the altitudinal gradient are complicated and may be linked to taxonomic groups and bioclimatic zones. © Higher Education Press 2020

1 Introduction

* Corresponding authors E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Deharveng); [email protected] (D. Wu)

Biodiversity distribution patterns are not uniform and understanding why such patterns exist is challenging ecologists and biogeographers for long (Gaston, 2000). Mountains are hotspots of research on biodiversity patterns along environ-

2

Changes of Onychiurinae along altitude

mental gradients, as natural experimental fields with gra