Data from: 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 sand-dwelling lineages compared to less dispersive lineages that are not sand-obligate. Taken together, these correlated patterns at the species and haplotype level are consistent with individual-based stochastic dispersal proposed by neutral theories of biodiversity. The results also demonstrate the utility of haplotype data for exploring macroecological patterns in poorly known biota and predicting large-scale biodiversity patterns based on genetic inventories of local samples.

物种与遗传多样性的正相关关系（SGDC）已被提出，该假说与宏观生态学中的中性理论预测相符。我们针对爱琴海群岛的15个岛屿上的拟步甲科甲虫群落开展了SGDC分析，这些岛屿在面积、与大陆的距离以及隔离时长上均存在差异。本研究依托超过1000个个体的序列数据（线粒体细胞色素氧化酶I（Cytochrome Oxidase I）与核肌肉蛋白20（Muscular Protein 20）基因），对物种与单倍型的α、β多样性进行评估，以此检验SGDC假说。研究结果表明：（1）存在显著的物种-面积关系与单倍型-面积关系；（2）岛屿群落的物种丰富度与群落内组成物种的种内遗传多样性呈显著相关，但若通过偏相关分析控制岛屿面积或与大陆的距离这两个变量，则该相关性不再显著；（3）以物种、核基因单倍型及线粒体DNA单倍型为指标计算群落相似性时，相似性以递增的速率呈指数下降；（4）相较于非专性沙生的低扩散支系，营沙生的高扩散支系的群落相似性距离衰减速率更慢。综上，物种与单倍型层面的这些相关格局与生物多样性中性理论提出的基于个体的随机扩散假说相符。本研究结果同时证实，单倍型数据可用于探索研究程度较低的生物类群的宏观生态学格局，且可依托局部样本的遗传普查数据预测大尺度生物多样性格局。