Carreon et al. Modeling the spatial distribution of dung beetle species with different nesting strategies and body sizes under climate change scenarios

Previous studies have used climate niche models (CNM) to predict shifts in the distribution of suitable habitats of dung beetles without considering whether the effects of climate change vary depending on their nesting strategy (telecoprids, paracoprids and endocoprids) and body size. In this study, we used CNM to estimate the future distribution of climatically suitable habitats for 15 of dung beetle species that differ in these features. We focused on the near-term climate change predictions (period 2041–2060) in the Americas, hypothesizing that climatically suitable will decrease for all species, but the magnitude of these negative effects will be greater for large-sized species than for small-sized ones. The resulting models are provided in a KMZ file "Climate Niche Models". For each species, we included a map whose pixels indicate a probability of occurrence under the current climate and four other maps indicating the probability of occurrence under four Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSP). In all maps, Highly Suitable Habitats (HSH) are indicated in green, Moderate Suitable Habitats (MSH) in yellow and Unsuitable Habitats (UH) as empty area.