Microhabitat and Climatic Preferences of Protosteloid Amoebae in a Region with a Mediterranean Climate

Abstract

The role of microhabitat and climate variation in structuring protosteloid amoebae communities has been investigated for the first time in the Mediterranean Basin, a biodiversity hotspot for plants and animals and the largest of the world's five areas with a Mediterranean climate. Abundance data were obtained from natural substrates collected in 13 localities from central Spain, and a total of 1,504 colonies and 18 species were recorded. For this new area, it has been carried out an optimization of the culturing effort based on rarefaction analyses, thus making possible to adapt the protocol to the objectives in future research. Canonical correspondence analysis and generalized linear models showed that microhabitat type was the most important factor for differentiating the niches of the species studied, but climatic variables, especially minimum temperature of the coldest month, precipitation seasonality, and temperature range, had secondary but also important effects. Bark inhabitants tend to be more abundant in localities with high temperature range and low annual precipitation. Aerial litter was the microhabitat with the highest species richness, abundance, and evenness. Species typical of this microhabitat are more abundant when there is high precipitation, low temperature of the warmest month, and low minimum temperature of the coldest month.

Ecological distribution of protosteloid amoebae in New Zealand

“…These numbers are consistent with previous studies (Aguilar, Spiegel & Lado, 2011; Ndiritu, Stephenson & Spiegel, 2009; Stephenson, Landolt & Moore, 1999). While no studies have previously examined the protosteloid amoebae of New Zealand, the methods we used for collection and observation in the previous surveys were very similar.…”

“…Shadwick, Stephenson & Spiegel (2009) had results more consistent with the present study, recovering 26 species from 205 samples in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN. In the current study microhabitat was a significant predictor of presence/absence for several species (Table 1), but the extent of this effect was far less than was reported by Aguilar, Spiegel & Lado (2011) in which only 3 out of 18 species recovered from 100 samples did not display significant differences in presence/absence between microhabitats.…”

“…While not traditionally grouped together with the now defunct “Protostelids” (Shadwick et al, 2009), the small fruiting bodies of E. bisporum display a protosteloid growth form and are commonly encountered using the current methods, so it has been included in this study. Species were grouped into abundance categories consistent with similar studies (Aguilar, Spiegel & Lado, 2011; Ndiritu, Stephenson & Spiegel, 2009) such that species recovered from: >10% of samples = abundant; 5–10% = common; 1–5% = occasional; <1% = rare. Seven species were found to be abundant across all study site locations while ten were considered commonly occurring (Table 1).…”

Check-list of microscopic protosteloid amoebae from the Southwest of Europe

“…More than 800 primary isolation culture plates were prepared using a modification of the technique described by Olive (1975) and Spiegel & al. (2004), see also , and Aguilar & al. (2011).…”

“…Some records have been previously published in Aguilar & al. (2007) and Aguilar & al. (2011); the remainder have not been previously published.…”