Spatial and Phylogenetic Structure of DNA-species of Alpine Stoneflies Community Assemblages across Seven Habitats

摘要

Ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that govern species coexistence and drive community assembly is a long-lasting question in biology. However, little is known about how such mechanisms act in a habitats scale. Here, we estimated the spatial and phylogenetic structure of stoneflies community assemblies across seven habitats types among 20 sampling sites in Alpine rivers to be able to understand the pattern of community assembly. We used mitochondrial DNA, coxl, and nuclear DNA, ITS, genetic markers on 21 stoneflies morpho-species. We estimated putative DNA-species by General Mixed Yule Coalescent model for spatial structure analysis and obtained the phylogenetic signal by four phylogenetic diversity indices. We found that the spatial structure of stonefly community assembly were influenced by glide, riffle and deep-flow possible owed to the high species turnover observed. While, a phylogenetically clustered was found for deep-flow habitat, suggesting a strong habitat filtering. Long-term adaptation, dispersal limitations, low species competition, and colonization history could be possible mechanisms that induce co-occurring species to share niche requirements in deep-flow habitat. Our study shows the importance of different habitats on the spatial and phylogenetic structure of stoneflies community assemblies and sheds light on the mechanisms of habitat-specific diversity that may help improve conservation practices.