Understanding biodiversity patterns of subterranean beetles in the Dinaric karstBregović, Petra (Avtor) Zagmajster, Maja (Mentor) biodiversitymacroecologyDinaridesWestern Balkanstroglobiotic beetlesCarabidaeLeiodidaeStaphylinidaeWe investigated biodiversity patterns of subterranean beetles in the Western Balkans. The study area extended over the Dinarides and Eastern parts of the Southern Calcareous Alps. We focused our research on the factors and processes that have shaped the biodiversity patterns. Besides environmental factors, we used also species traits (range size, body size) as predictor variables in understanding species richness patterns. The study group were troglobiotic beetles belonging to three families: Trechinae (Carabidae), Cholevinae (Leiodidae), and Pselaphinae (Staphylinidae). Most of the analyses were done on dataset of 431 species (156 Carabidae, 275 Leiodidae) from 2523 localities, with some that included also the dataset of 49 species of Pselaphinae from 128 localities. We covered the area with a grid of 20x20 km cells for mapping and analysing the patterns. Species richness patterns, discovered using two biggest subfamilies, were robust to adding new subfamily with seven newly described species. Among extrinsic factors, habitat heterogeneity had the biggest influence on species richness patterns, followed by historical climate stability, while productive energy had a neglecting effect. Even though there are many rare (small ranged) species, it is still common (large ranged) species that contribute most in forming overall richness patterns and species-richest cells. The ranges of species body sizes per 20x20 km cell were associated to species richness and distribution range sizes. Correlation analysis of subsets revealed that the largest species contributed most to the species richness patterns. Adding information on body sizes to environmental variables in the models greatly increased the explained variation of species richness pattern. With new approaches, we improved understanding of terrestrial subterranean biodiversity patterns.20202020-05-08 07:15:05Doktorsko delo/naloga116022VisID: 175805COBISS_ID: 22880771sl