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Evidence of a climatic niche shift following North American introductions of two crane flies (Diptera; genus Tipula )

Petersen, Matthew

In: Biological Invasions, 2013, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 885-897

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    Titre
    • Evidence of a climatic niche shift following North American introductions of two crane flies (Diptera; genus Tipula )
    Auteur
    • Petersen, Matthew. Department of Entomology, Cornell University, 630 W. North Street, 14456, Geneva, NY, USA
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:319892
    Summary
    Ecological niche models assume a species niche should be conserved over space and time. Increasingly, studies have determined that niche shifts may occur during biological invasion events. The aim of this study is to examine niche conservation for two invasive crane flies, Tipula oleracea Linnaeus and Tipula paludosa Meigen, after introductions into North America. These species have broadly sympatric invasive distributions but differ in time since introduction and dispersal abilities. As these factors may impact the area accessible to dispersal, I examined the impact of background area delineation on conclusions of niche conservation. Results indicated that alternative delineations of accessible area (i.e., background area) had no affect on measures of niche equivalence. Neither Tipula species was found to be occupying invasive niche space equivalent to that of their native ranges. Niche dissimilarity was found for both species, with results strongly impacted by the choice of background area. T. paludosa introductions displayed a niche shift across both invasive introductions when the model area drew climatic information from an area that buffered occurrences by 40km. The eastern T. oleracea introduction displayed a niche shift when background information was drawn from within a 400km buffered area. This study suggests that invasive populations may be displaying a niche shift when evaluated against one scale of background but conserved when evaluated against another scale. Dispersal limitations for T. oleracea in its eastern introduction and anthropogenic habitat associations for T. paludosa across both invasive introductions are indicated as causes for the observed niche shifts. The results of this study highlight the importance of carefully delineating the area accessible to invasive species in studies of niche conservation. Furthermore, it indicates that examining several spatial extents of background areas can be beneficial when examining niche conservation for species in non-equilibrium states