Distribution and community structure of araneocoenoses (Araneae) along an altitudinal gradient on Kozuf Mountain (North
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Distribution and community structure of araneocoenoses (Araneae) along an altitudinal gradient on Kozuf Mountain (North Macedonia) Dragan Matevski 1,2 & Aleksandra Cvetkovska-Gjorgjievska 1 & Dana Prelić 1 & Slavco Hristovski 1 & Maria Naumova 3 & Christo Deltshev 3,4 Received: 21 October 2018 / Accepted: 26 March 2020 # Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2020
Abstract The aim of this paper is to perform a biocoenological analysis of spiders and to follow their distribution along an altitudinal gradient on Kozuf Mountain. The research area extends from the foothill to the highest parts of the mountain (89–2080 m a.s.l.), covering 17 localities, characterized by a broad spectrum of habitats. The material was collected monthly, in the period of June– November 2016, with the use of pitfall traps. A bimodal increase in species richness was recorded as a consequence of more favourable conditions at an intermediate altitude in mountain ecosystems. The lowest abundance (0.77 ind. trap−1) was noted in the arid locality at the lowest altitude (89 m a.s.l.), while the highest values were registered in open habitats above 1500 m a.s.l. This is a result of the higher abundance of epigeic invertebrates in open areas in comparison to forests. The araneofauna can be divided into six araneocoenoses: an araneocoenosis inhabiting arid localities, a mygalomorph/Mediterranean araneocoenosis, a montane beech forest araneocoenosis, an araneocoenosis inhabiting damp localities, an araneocoenosis inhabiting open highaltitude localities and an araneocoenosis inhabiting high altitude forest habitats. A low degree of similarity between the araneocoenoses was detected due to the heterogeneity of habitats and altitudes. Both altitude and habitat type had strong effects on community structure and distribution with the latter having a stronger impact. Keywords Araneofauna . Spiders . Elevation . Diversity . Species composition . Community structure
Introduction The effects of gradients on the structural and functional characteristics of communities is an important topic of research in ecology. According to Rapoport’s rule (Rapoport 1975), species diversity decreases with an increase in latitude (Stevens 1989) and altitude (Stevens 1992), because of a change in * Dragan Matevski [email protected] 1
Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Arhimedova 3, P.O. Box 162, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
2
Department of Forest Nature Conservation, Faculty of Forest Science and Ecology, University of Göttingen, Büsgenweg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
3
Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 100 Sofia, Bulgaria
4
National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
climate. More recent research shows that there are exceptions to this rule, where there is not any monotone decline in species richness, but a hump-shaped pattern with a peak
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