Macroecological approach for scorpions (Arachnida, Scorpiones): β-diversity in Brazilian montane forests

The montane forests of northeastern Brazil are patches of rainforests, surrounded by xeric vegetation, that originated during the expansion of rainforests in the Pleistocene epoch. Their historical processes make these areas ideal for biogeographical investigations of organisms, particularly in groups with low dispersion and habitat specificity, such as scorpions. We perform a macroecological investigation of the community assembly process of scorpions, disentangling the pattern of β-diversity to test the hypothesis that the similarity in the composition of scorpion fauna in areas of montane forests and coastal rainforests is greater when these localities are geographically close. We also investigated if larger patches of montane forests exhibit a positive species–area relationship. Our results state that species replacement accounts for 71% of the total scorpion β-diversity in montane forest remnants. Additionally, scorpion assemblages were influenced by the spatial arrangement, with a higher similarity between the fauna of montane forests and coastal forests when these areas were geographically close. We did not find a species–area relationship in montane forest patches. The expressive contribution of species replacement to the overall β-diversity may reflect both the high environmental heterogeneity and the historical and independent colonization events that took place in these areas.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author