SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.112 issue9-10Bacterial profiling of casing materials for white button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresisCobalt(II) removal from synthetic wastewater by adsorption on South African coal fly ash author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


South African Journal of Science

On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353

Abstract

BOTHA, Monique; SIEBERT, Stefan J.  and  VAN DEN BERG, Johnnie. Do arthropod assemblages fit the grassland and savanna biomes of South Africa?. S. Afr. j. sci. [online]. 2016, vol.112, n.9-10, pp.1-10. ISSN 1996-7489.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2016/20150424.

The long-standing tradition of classifying South Africa's biogeographical area into biomes is commonly linked to vegetation structure and climate. Because arthropod communities are often governed by both these factors, it can be expected that arthropod communities would fit the biomes. To test this hypothesis, we considered how well arthropod species assemblages fit South Africa's grassy biomes. Arthropod assemblages were sampled from six localities across the grassland and savanna biomes by means of suction sampling, to determine whether the two biomes have distinctive arthropod assemblages. Arthropod samples of these biomes clustered separately in multidimensional scaling analyses. Within biomes, arthropod assemblages were more distinctive for savanna localities than grassland. Arthropod samples of the two biomes clustered together when trophic groups were considered separately, suggesting some similarity in functional assemblages. Dissimilarity was greatest between biomes for phytophagous and predacious trophic groups, with most pronounced differentiation between biomes at sub-escarpment localities. Our results indicate that different arthropod assemblages do fit the grassy biomes to some extent, but the pattern is not as clear as it is for plant species. SIGNIFICANCE: • Provides the first comparison of arthropod composition between grassland and savanna biomes of South Africa. • Explores whether these two biomes show distinct arthropod assemblages. • Documents the characteristics of arthropod assemblages. • Confirms that plant assemblages of biomes are more distinguishable than arthropod assemblages.

Keywords : species distribution; arthropod trophic groups; cluster analysis; biome-specificity; arthropod species composition.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )

 

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License