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Global patterns and predictors of primary freshwater crab richness across taxa and realms

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Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most important in the world and provide essential functions and services to humans. In this study, we examine the roles of environmental and historical factors in explaining contemporary patterns of species richness. We investigated spatial patterns of species richness of freshwater crabs by compiling geographic distribution maps for 1271 species. We employed six environmental variables slightly correlated and non-collinear to test environmental hypotheses. At a global scale, we identified three regions characterized by particularly high species richness: in northern South America (Neotropical biogeographic realm), in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka (Oriental), and southwestern China (Oriental). The best-fitting model that explained global richness variation included environmental hypotheses: Temperature-Speciation, Resource Availability, Habitat Heterogeneity and Anthropic Impact. We also observed a historical influence on the pattern of richness, with distinct sets of environmental predictors of richness across taxa and biogeographic realms. Our models suggest that freshwater crab richness is associated with by varying processes occurring within specific environmental and historical scenarios. In general, we documented a concentration of freshwater crab richness in areas heavily impacted by human activities. These findings hold implications for the conservation of this taxonomic group.

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Data used in the analyses are provided in Supplementary Material.

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Acknowledgements

DFRA thanks CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Process no. 88887.341624/2019-00) for research scholarships (Programa Nacional de Pós-Doutorado/CAPES [PNPD]) linked to the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Biodiversidade (University of Uberlândia) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia de Ecossistemas Aquáticos (LEEA), Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Av. Pará, 1720, Umuarama, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, CEP: 38405-320, Brazil

    Douglas Fernandes Rodrigues Alves & Ariádine Cristine de Almeida

  2. Laboratório de Pesquisas Integrativas em Biodiversidade (PIBi Lab), Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Sergipe, Brazil

    Pablo Ariel Martinez

  3. Laboratório de Bioecologia e Sistemática de Crustáceos (LBSC), Departamento de Biologia (DB), Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Célio Magalhães

  4. Laboratório de Ecologia e Zoologia, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias e Naturais (DECAN), Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Samara de Paiva Barros-Alves

  5. Biodiversity and Macroecology Lab (BioMa), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

    Talita Ferreira Amado

  6. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstr. 4, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Talita Ferreira Amado

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  1. Douglas Fernandes Rodrigues Alves
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DFRA was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, investigation, and resources; PAM contributed to the conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, and visualization; CM, SPBA and ACA assisted in writing—review and editing and visualization; TF was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, and visualization.

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Alves, D.F.R., Martinez, P.A., Magalhães, C. et al. Global patterns and predictors of primary freshwater crab richness across taxa and realms. Hydrobiologia (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05572-9

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