Testing the species–genetic diversity correlation in the Aegean archipelago: towards a haplotype-based macroecology?

A positive correlation between species and genetic diversity (SGDC) has been proposed, consistent with neutral predictions in macroecology. We assessed the SGDC in tenebrionid beetle communities of the Aegean archipelago on fifteen islands of different sizes, distances to mainland, and ages of isolation. Alpha- and beta-diversity of species and haplotypes were assessed using sequences of >1000 individuals (mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I and nuclear Muscular Protein 20) to test the SGDC. We show that: (i) there is a strong species-area and haplotype-area relationship; (ii) species richness in island communities is correlated with intraspecific genetic diversity in the constituent species except when island size or distance to mainland are factored out in partial correlations; (iii) community similarity declines exponentially at an increasing rate when calculated based on species, nuclear and mtDNA haplotypes; and (iv) distance decay of community similarity is slower in dispersive ...