Ecological niche divergence between Darevskia rudis and D. bithynica (Lacertidae) in Turkey
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Ecological niche divergence between Darevskia rudis and D. bithynica (Lacertidae) in Turkey Muammer Kurnaz 1
&
Seyyed Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani 2
Received: 27 May 2019 / Accepted: 4 November 2019 # Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2019
Abstract Darevskia rudis (Bedriaga, 1886) and D. bithynica (Méhely, 1909) are morphologically different species, but they are phylogenetically same species in the D. rudis complex. These species are distributed in northern of Turkey. In the present study, we have evaluated taxonomic status of D. rudis and D. bithynica using ecological niche differentiation. All occurrence data of these species were used to predict and evaluate the suitable areas where they may be expected to be found in Turkey. In order to compare their ecological niches and explain ecological differentiation, niche similarity tests (niche identity and background tests) and point-based analyses were performed. According to results of ecological niche modeling, we found niche differentiation between D. rudis and D bithynica. Ecological niches for the two species differentiated along environmental variables, as precipitation of driest quarter for the two species were most important in determining habitat suitability. This factor is important in niche differentiation between the two species. Finally, our results confirmed the niche differentiation between D. rudis and D. bithynica and added new insights into the taxonomic distinction between D. rudis and D. bithynica that they are two species. Keywords Darevskia . Lacertidae . Turkey . Niche differentiation . Reptiles
Introduction The preservation of the niche is a phenomenon that conserves the general ancestral characteristics among different species (Wiens and Graham 2005). Therefore, ecological niche is very important to separate a species from another species, and according to the ecological species criterion, all the species have a special niche in their living area (Van Valen 1976). Geography has an important role to differentiate niche among the species, and isolation zones do not only distinguish between species but can also lead to differentiation of their ecological requirements (Kurnaz et al. 2019). Ecological niche Muammer Kurnaz and Seyyed Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani contributed equally to this work. * Muammer Kurnaz [email protected] * Seyyed Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani [email protected] 1
Department of Biology, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080 Trabzon, Turkey
2
Department of Animal Science, School of Biology, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran
modeling is a prime method trying to estimate the habitat suitability of species in other potential areas using locality records of species and bioclimatic layers (Graham et al. 2004; Hosseinian Yousefkhani et al. 2013). This method uses to examine the effects of environmental conditions on species distribution, and also there are many studies showing that bioclimatic variables are effective on the ecological niche modeling of species (Litvinchuk
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