Biogeography of grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera: Caelifera, Ensifera) of the Adriatic area

Jadransko i dinarsko područje predstavljaju žilu kucavicu, jedan od centara bioraznolikosti Europe. Fauna ravnokrilaca zapadnog Balkana, iako najbogatija na europskom kontinentu, nedovoljno je istražena. Ovaj rad istražuje obrasce rasprostranjenosti skakavaca i zrikavaca jadranskog i dinarskog područja i uspoređuje ga sa zoogeografijom ravnokrilaca Grčke. Pretražena je sva literatura na skakavcima i zrikavcima Hrvatske, Italije i Grčke, terenski dnevnici, muzejske zbirke i mrežne baze. Kodirana je binarna matrica koja sadrži podatke o prisutnosti i odsutnosti vrsta ravnokrilaca te su podaci analizirani i vizualizirani analizom principalnih komponenti (PCA) i toplinskom mapom u mrežnom programu ClustVis. Jadranski i grčki otoci podijeljeni su u pet skupina, od kojih su neke biogeografske jedinice, a neke artefakti uzrokovani malim brojem vrsta. Jadranski otoci i dinarske planine mogu se podijeliti u dvije velike regije s obzirom na veličinu i između njih postoji preklapanje. Dinarske planine podijeljene su u četiri skupine, jednu kontinentalnu i tri jadranske, među kojima postoje preklapanja. Grčke planine analiza je također razdijelila u četiri skupine s tek neznatnim preklapanjima. Jadransko područje pokazuje specifičnost i jasno se može odvojiti od panonskog područja, ali i od drugih primorskih područja, poput grčkog primorja. Otok Krf koji se nalazi u Jonskom moru grčke obale biogeografski je sličniji jadranskim nego egejskim otocima. Veliki jadranski otoci imaju više vrsta od malih otoka. Mali otoci zbog veličine i malog broja mikrostaništa nisu pogodni za ovakve biogeografske analize jer ih je zbog ograničenog broja vrsta teško programski grupirati s većim otocima.Region of the Adriatic Sea and the Dinaric Alpes is one of the hotspots and the centre of European biodiversity. The Orthopteran fauna of the Western Balkans, depite being among the richest in Europe continent, remains understudied. This thesis investigates grasshoppers’ and crickets’ distribution patterns in the Adriatic and the Dinaric basins and compares the area with the zoogeography of Greece. Literature, field data, museum collections data and online databases containing data on Croatian, Italian and Greek Orthoptera were studied. For each data-set, a binary matrix was coded. Data were analysed and visualized by principal component analysis (PCA) and the heatmap, in the ClustVis online program. Both, the Adriatic and the Greek islands are divided into five groups, some of which really represent biogeographical units, others being artefacts caused by the small number of the species. The Adriatic islands and the Dinaric Alps can be divided into two main regions. The main factor for the diversity is (island or mountain) size. There are overlaps in the biogeographical characters of some areas. The Dinaric Alps are divided into four groups, one continental and three Adriatic, among which there are overlaps. The analysis divided Greek mountains into four groups, among which there are almost no overlappings. The Adriatic area shows its uniqueness and can be clearly separated from the Pannonian area and from other coastal areas, e.g. the Aegean islands. The island of Corfu, located in the Ionian Sea next to the Greek coast, shows more biogeographical similarity to the Adriatic island, than to the Aegean. Large Adriatic islands have more species than small islands. Small islands are hence not suitable for the biogeographic analyses, as this one. They are, to software, difficult to calculate and to group with larger islands due to the limited number of random species