Habitat heterogeneity shapes and shifts scorpion assemblages in a Brazilian seasonal dry tropical forest

Living in a desert: examining scorpion beta diversity in Egyptian drylands from a macroecological perspective

“…Moreover, in the case of Egyptian drylands, these areas are known for their high geological, environmental, and climatic heterogeneity (Boulos 2009; Zahran and Willis 2009). Therefore, such environmental heterogeneity is expected to affect the maintenance of scorpion assemblages, as already observed in a seasonally dry tropical forest in Brazil (Foerster et al 2020; Lira et al 2021a). By analogy, the landscape heterogeneity observed in Egypt may allow the maintenance of a diverse scorpion fauna.…”

“…Again, the scarcity of information about the ecology of scorpions inhabiting desert ecosystems in northern Africa is a strong limiting factor that prevents us from providing a clearer description of how and to what extent the climate affects the distribution of scorpion species in the area. However, a few examples of how vegetation structure plays a vital role in defining community parameters (notably species richness) in scorpion assemblages have been reported elsewhere: species richness is positively related to shrub cover in a North American desert (Polis and McCormick 1987); species abundance and composition covary with vegetation density in some Neotropical semi-arid regions (Foerster et al 2020; Lira et al 2021a).…”

“…We adopted a cell resolution of 0.18° × 0.18° to minimise the number of missing values and enable capturing the potential responses of scorpion assemblages to the selected environmental variables at the local scale. This approach is justified based on previous studies that have demonstrated that species composition among scorpion assemblages may be affected by environmental conditions on a local scale (Foord et al 2015; Foerster et al 2020; Lira et al 2021b).…”

“…As a result of species-specific niche requirements, scorpions' assemblages are influenced by the non-random spatial distribution of suitable microhabitats throughout the landscape (Polis 1990). For example, in a Brazilian semi-arid region, the spatial distribution of these arachnids is often related to vegetation structure (Foerster et al 2020; Lira et al 2021a). According to Mekahlia et al (2021), the distribution and diversity of scorpions in Algeria were influenced by the gradient of aridity, with scorpion abundance being higher in arid and semi-arid climates than in desert climates.…”

Disentangling diversity patterns in Cuban scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones)

“…For example, Lira et al (2021a) detected that vegetation cover (biotic variable) is a key factor to scorpion diversity in a Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. In addition, vegetation structure also plays a role to maintenance of scorpion assemblage on Seasonal Dry Tropical Forest (Foerster et al, 2020;Lira et al, 2021b). At the regional scale, Lira et al (2019a) investigated the effect of the bioclimatic gradient between wet and dry forests on scorpion assemblages in Brazil and found that temperature and precipitation (abiotic variables) were the major explanatory factors of scorpion richness and dβ, which increased toward the dry forest gradient.…”