Scrublands and the sunlit side support highly diverse harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) communities in two Iberian Mediterranean areas (Alicante, Spain)

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Merino-Sainz I, Prieto C, Hernández-Corral J, 2025. Scrublands and the sunlit side support highly diverse harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) communities in two Iberian Mediterranean areas (Alicante, Spain). Museu de Ciencies Naturals de Barcelona, checklist dataset: http://doi.

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The publisher and rights holder of this work is Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License.

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This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 733ad4a3-5893-4688-85e7-bc96eadc2d01.  Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Spain.

Keywords

Checklist; Sierra de Aitana; Parque Natural del Carrascal de la Font Roja; Iberian Peninsula; community ecology; spatial distribution; phenology

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

The study was carried out in the Sierra de Aitana (SA) and the Carrascal de la Font Roja Natural Park (CFRNP) in the province of Alicante (fig. 1A, 1B). The SA is a mountain massif located in the interior of the province of Alicante, within the municipality of Confrides, part of the Prebaetic Mountain range. It is the highest peak in Alicante (1,558 m a.s.l.) and one of the best examples of a high Mediterranean mountain ecosystem. It is particularly lush, retaining high humidity due to its north-facing orientation, in contrast to the drier southern slope. It has a subhumid Mediterranean climate, with an average annual rainfall of approximately 700 mm and a temperature range reaching 19°C. Snowfall is relatively common in winter, especially at higher elevations (Diputación Provincial de Alicante 1984). CFRNP is located in the outer areas of the Baetic Mountain Ranges, in the northwest of Alicante province, between the municipalities of Alcoi and Ibi. The highest point is the summit of the Sierra del Menejador (1,356 m a.s.l.). The Natural Park has a subhumid Mediterranean climate, with annual rainfall ranging from 750–850 mm and an average temperature of 4ºC in winter and 21ºC in summer. Owing to its altitude, snowfall and frost are frequent (Borreguero et al 1984). Due to its east-west orientation, there is a sunlit, south-facing side that is drier and more arid, and a shaded, north-facing side that is rainier and more humid (Riba et al 1980, Boronat et al 1989).

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

The coastal areas of Alicante province have experienced significant habitat fragmentation due to urban pressure. However, the interior mountainous regions have remained largely unchanged, preserving spaces of high ecological value. The Sierra de Aitana and the Carrascal de la Font Roja Natural Park are good examples, both characterised by a subhumid Mediterranean climate. The Sierra de Aitana is north-facing, resulting in lusher vegetation and greater humidity. Patches of holm oak Quercus ilex and pine Pinus halepensis can be found, accompanied by shrubs such as Pistacia terebinthus, Rosa pouzini, Lonicera implexa, and Rubus ulmifolius, among others (Diputación Provincial de Alicante 1984). In the Carrascal de la Font Roja Natural Park, there is a clear contrast between the sunlit and the shaded side due to its east-west mountain orientation. The south-facing, sunnier side has a drier and more arid climate, with isolated specimens of holm oak Quercus rotundifolia alongside shrubby and herbaceous vegetation. In contrast, the north-facing, shadier side falls within a wetter and more humid climatic unit, where a dense forest dominated by holm oak Q. rotundifolia and gall oak Quercus faginea prevails, with some pines P. halepensi) interspersed (Riba et al 1980, Boronat et al 1989). Harvestmen constitute the fourth most diverse order of arachnids, following Acariformes, Parasitiformes, and Araneae, with 6,855 described species (Kury et al 2024) found across all major continents except Antarctica. They are a common component of terrestrial ecosystems, where they interact with other taxa and play important roles in terrestrial ecological networks as both predators and prey (Pinto-da-Rocha et al 2007). The structure and diversity of harvestmen communities are affected by multiple environmental factors, with microclimate, temperature, and humidity being among the most important (Todd 1949, Almeida-Neto et al 2006, Mitov 2007, Pinto-da-Rocha et al 2007). These factors, along with slope orientation —which influences temperature and humidity— and the physicochemical characteristics of the soil, are closely related to the type, structure, and composition of the vegetation (Proud et al 2011, Merino-Sainz and Anadón 2015, Colmenares et al 2016, Stašiov et al 2020, 2021). They are a suitable subject for various ecological and biogeographical studies, primarily because they are sensitive to environmental conditions, susceptible to habitat alteration and fragmentation, and have a limited dispersal capacity, which requires the geographical continuity of favourable environments (Boyer et al 2007, Bragagnolo et al 2007, Mitov 2007, Pinto-da-Rocha et al 2007, Proud et al 2011, Stašiov et al 2021). However, research on the Iberian Peninsula has been predominantly faunistic and taxonomic. In recent years, several studies on the structure and ecology of Iberian harvestmen communities have been published, such as Merino-Sainz and Anadón (2015) for the Muniellos Biosphere Reserve (MBR) in Asturias, Merino-Sainz and Anadón (2018) for Monte Naranco in Oviedo (MNO), and Merino-Sainz et al (2020) for Monte Pedroso in Santiago de Compostela (MP). Additionally, two ecological reanalyses have been conducted founded on previous faunistic studies: Merino-Sainz and Prieto (2021), based on the data published by Rambla (1985) for the Macizo de San Juan de la Peña (MSJP) in Huesca, and Merino-Sainz and Prieto (2022), based on the data published by Rambla and Perera (1989) for Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (OMPNP) in the Huesca Pyrenees. Until now, research has primarily focused on the northern regions of the Iberian Peninsula, while other areas have not received the same attention. Therefore, this is the first study conducted in a Peninsular Mediterranean region. So far, only two published studies involving annual sampling in the Iberian Peninsula —Rambla (1985) from Huesca (MSJP) and Merino-Sainz et al (2020) from Santiago de Compostela (MP) —have described the life cycles of Iberian harvestmen species This paper analyses the harvestmen community structure sampled in the Sierra de Aitana (SA) and the Font Roja Natural Park (FRNP) in Alicante, whose chorological information was previously published (Prieto et al 2024a). The objectives are: (1) to assess the reliability and quality of the inventory and calculate the expected gamma diversity at each sampling site; (2) to examine the observed richness (alpha diversity), abundance, species diversity, evenness, and dominance at each locality, along with the mean values for each vegetation group; (3) to analyse species distribution across different biotopes; (4) to characterise the spatial niches of the species and conduct an indicator species analysis for each vegetation type; and (5) to provide new ecological and phenological data on the collected species.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

Harvestmen from the SA were sampled by J. Hernández Corral between May 2021 and January 2022, primarily using pitfall traps, and occasionally through direct collection or entomological net sampling during trap collection dates. Two north-facing zones, A and B (fig. 1D), were sampled. In zone A, eight localities were sampled with 12 pitfall traps (fig. 2C, 2D, 2F), and in zone B, one locality with a single pitfall trap was sampled (fig. 2D, table 1). The pitfall traps were covered with stones and filled with a 50% propylene glycol solution, with a small amount of detergent to reduce surface tension. Harvestmen from CFRNP were sampled using pitfall traps by Juan P. García-Teba over a ten-month period between 2020 and 2021, during a sampling to study coprophagous beetles. The pitfall traps, 20 cm in diameter and spaced 20 m apart, were collected twice a month whenever possible (table I in Barrientos et al 2023). Four localities were sampled, each with two pitfall traps (fig. 1C, table 1). FP1 and FP2 were north-facing (shaded side, fig. 2A), FP3 was located on the summit with a sunlit orientation, and FP4 was south-facing (sunlit side) (fig. 2B). The pitfall traps were covered with mesh, with cow dung placed in the central part as bait, and filled with a 50% propylene glycol solution (Barrientos et al 2023). Collected specimens were preserved in 70% ethanol, with labels indicating their location, altitude, date, sampling method, habitat, and collector. The samples are housed in the private collection of J. Hernández-Corral.

Method step description:

1. For the statistical analysis, individuals sampled using pitfall traps in the SA were included, along with ten specimens of Odiellus levantinus—eight captured by hand and two through vegetation sweeping with an entomological net. These specimens were collected on the same dates and within the sampled localities (BP11 and AP7) as the pitfall trap specimens. Nevertheless, eight individuals caught by hand from different localities than those sampled were excluded from the statistical analysis. Additionally, in CFRNP, one O. levantinus specimen trapped using a pitfall trap but lacking a label was also excluded. These individuals did not provide any novel data, as they belonged to the most abundant and frequently recorded species. However, they were included in the phenological study. The localities were grouped based on vegetation structure in the two study areas. In the SA, three groups were established: Group 1 included two pine forest localities (BP11 and AP2); Group 2 comprised three scrubland localities (AP1, AP5, and AP6); and Group 3 consisted of three abandoned terraces invaded by herbaceous species (AP3, AP4, and AP7). In CFRNP, two groups were defined: Group 1 included two localities with pine and holm oak forests on the shaded side (FP1 and FP2), while Group 2 comprised two localities with holm oak forests on the sunlit side (FP3 and FP4) (table 1). To address the first objective, accumulation curves, a parametric estimator, and four non-parametric estimators were used to assess the reliability and quality of the inventory, as well as to estimate the expected total species richness (gamma diversity). The smoothed accumulation curve for the dataset was obtained using sampling dates as the unit of sampling effort and randomized 999 times in PRIMER® (Clarke and Gorley 2006). The Clench function was fitted to the smoothed curves to estimate the asymptote using the Simplex and Quasi-Newton methods (Jiménez-Valverde and Hortal 2003) in STATISTICA® (StatSoft 2011). Three non-parametric estimators based on incidence (Chao2, Jacknife 1, and 2) and one based on abundance (Chao1) were applied, all implemented in PRIMER®. To achieve the second objective, the observed species richness (alpha diversity) and abundance at both locality and group levels were analysed. In addition, the diversity of the community was characterized using Hill numbers of order q=0 to q=3, where 0D represents species richness, 1D corresponds to Shannon diversity (exp H′), 2D is the inverse of Simpson’s index (1/D), and 3D is the inverse of the Berger–Parker index (1/d) (Hill, 1973). Calculations were performed in R (v. 4.0.3) (R Development Core Team 2012) using custom functions and the “ggplot2” package to visualize diversity profiles. To accomplish the third objective, an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) was conducted to test the null hypothesis of the absence of significant differences in harvestmen assemblages between localities, using abundance data and the Sørensen similarity index in PRIMER®. The percentage of dissimilarity between localities, the internal similarity within each locality group, the dissimilarity between groups, and the contribution of each species to that dissimilarity were determined using similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER), based on abundance data and using the Bray-Curtis similarity index in PRIMER®. Additionally, a non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis (NMDS) was performed using Bray-Curtis as the dissimilarity measure, implemented in the “vegan” package in R. For the fourth objective, the species spatial niche breadth was estimated using the Hill index (N2) in PRIMER® and Indicator Species analyses were conducted with the “indicspecies” package in R (De Cáceres et al 2012). For the final objective, the phenology of species with more than 19 specimens was studied. Phenological graphs were created in EXCEL®, representing a full year from January to December and displaying the abundance of males, females, and immatures per month. For the phenological study, all individuals were included, even those excluded from the statistical analysis. The graphs also distinguished between the absence of specimens (value = 0) and months that were not sampled.

Bibliographic Citations

1. Merino-Sainz I, Prieto C, Hernández-Corral J, 2025. Scrublands and the sunlit side support highly diverse harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) communities in two Iberian Mediterranean areas (Alicante, Spain). Arxius de Miscel·lània Zooloògica 23, 117-xx. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32800/amz.2025.23.0117 https://doi.org/10.32800/amz.2025.23.0117

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