a gis model predicting potential distributions of a lineage a test case on hermit spiders (nephilidae nephilengys)gis模型预测潜在分布隐士家族一个测试用例的蜘蛛(nephilidae nephilengys).pdfVIP

A GIS Model Predicting Potential Distributions of a Lineage: A Test Case on Hermit Spiders (Nephilidae: Nephilengys) 1,2 ˇ 1,3,4 Magdalena Na˘pa˘rus¸ , Matjaz Kuntner * 1 Institute of Biology, Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2 Tular Cave Laboratory, Kranj, Slovenia, 3 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America, 4 College of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, China Abstract Background: Although numerous studies model species distributions, these models are almost exclusively on single species, while studies of evolutionary lineages are preferred as they by definition study closely related species with shared history and ecology. Hermit spiders, genus Nephilengys, represent an ecologically important but relatively species-poor lineage with a globally allopatric distribution. Here, we model Nephilengys global habitat suitability based on known localities and four ecological parameters. Methodology/Principal Findings: We geo-referenced 751 localities for the four most studied Nephilengys species: N. cruentata (Africa, New World), N. livida (Madagascar), N. malabarensis (S-SE Asia), and N. papuana (Australasia). For each locality we overlaid four ecological parameters: elevation, annual mean temperature, annual mean precipitation, and land cover. We used linear backward regression within ArcGIS to select two best fit parameters per species model, and ModelBuilder to map areas of high, moderate and low habitat suitability for each species within its directional distribution. For Nephilengys cruentata suitable habitats are mid elevation tropics within Afric