Response of Tenebrionid beetle community diversity to environmental factors across different habitats in the Tengger Desert

Abstract:As a typical arid ecosystem, the Tengger Desert harbors Tenebrionid beetle communities that are highly sensitive to habitat heterogeneity. To reveal the composition characteristics, diversity differences, and responses to environmental factors of these communities across different habitats, this study systematically investigated them using active collection methods across three representative habitats—Grassland, Gobi, and Desert—in the Tengger Desert region from April to May 2025. Methods including α-diversity analysis, non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), Mantel tests, Redundancy analysis (RDA), and variation partitioning analysis (VPA) were employed to systematically analyze the community α-diversity and its relationship with environmental variables.The results showed that a total of 8,112 Tenebrionidae individuals, belonging to 11 genera and 45 species, were captured. Mantichorula and Platyope were identified as the dominant genera across the three habitats. The α-diversity analysis indicated that the Gobi habitat exhibited the highest Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Simpson dominance index, and Margalef richness index, which were significantly higher than those in the desert habitat (P<0.05). The desert habitat displayed the lowest values across these indices. The Pielou evenness index showed no significant difference among the three habitats (P>0.05). NMDS ordination combined with ANOSIM analysis (R=0.3938,P=0.001) confirmed a significant differentiation in community composition among the three habitats, with the Gobi habitat displaying transitional characteristics.Furthermore, Mantel tests and RDA indicated that the distribution patterns of Tenebrionid beetles were driven by habitat-specific environmental heterogeneity. The grassland habitat was primarily governed by vegetation density (VD, contributing 40.0%); the Gobi habitat was mainly driven by BIO2 (29.4%) and soil total phosphorus (TP, 24.3%); and the desert habitat was significantly influenced by six factors, with BIO2 contributing the most (30.9%). The overall RDA revealed that vegetation density (VD, 24.1%) was the primary driving factor, with the first axis explaining 48.94% and a cumulative explanation of 83.76%. VPA demonstrated that meteorological factors had the highest independent explanatory rate (12.04%), while vegetation, soil, and topographical factors accounted for 2.29%, 4.13%, and 1.62%, respectively. Together, these four categories of environmental factors explained 22.13% of the total community variation.摘要:腾格里沙漠是典型的干旱生态系统,拥有对生境异质性高度敏感的拟甲类群落。为了揭示不同生境下这些群落的组成特征、多样性差异及其对环境因子的响应,本研究于2025年4 - 5月在腾格里沙漠地区3个代表性生境(草地、戈壁和荒漠)采用主动采集方法对其进行了系统调查。采用α -多样性分析、非度量多维标度(NMDS)、Mantel检验、冗余分析(RDA)和变异划分分析(VPA)等方法,系统分析了群落α -多样性及其与环境变量的关系。结果表明:共捕获拟甲科11属45种8112只;mantichorula和platyopa被确定为三个栖息地的优势属。α -多样性分析表明,戈壁生境的Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、Simpson优势度指数和Margalef丰富度指数最高,均显著高于荒漠生境(P<0.05)。荒漠生境在各指数中值最低。3种生境的Pielou均匀度指数差异不显著(P>0.05)。NMDS排序结合ANOSIM分析(R=0.3938,P=0.001)证实3种生境间群落组成存在显著差异,戈壁生境表现出过渡性特征。此外,Mantel试验和RDA结果表明,拟甲类甲虫的分布格局受生境环境异质性的驱动。草地生境主要受植被密度(VD)控制,占40.0%;戈壁生境主要受BIO2(29.4%)和土壤全磷(TP, 24.3%)驱动;荒漠生境受6个因子的显著影响,其中BIO2的贡献率最大(30.9%)。总体RDA显示,植被密度(VD, 24.1%)是主要驱动因子,第一轴解释48.94%,累积解释83.76%。VPA结果表明,气象因子的独立解释率最高(12.04%),植被因子、土壤因子和地形因子分别占2.29%、4.13%和1.62%。这四类环境因子对群落总变异的贡献率为22.13%。