Frontiers of Biogeography

Beetles are the most diverse animal clade on the planet, and understanding the mechanisms underlying their diversity patterns is critical to understanding animal biodiversity in general. Using carrion beetles (Silphidae; Coleoptera), I test the more-individuals hypothesis (MIH), consisting of positive climatic impacts on food resources leading to increased abundance and then diversity. I also test competing mechanistic hypotheses, including interacting effects of climate, local vegetation, habitat diversity, habitat heterogeneity, soil diversity, and elevational area. Carrion beetle species richness and abundances were estimated using 40 standardized pitfall traps set for 90 days at 30 survey sites on two elevational gradients in the Front Range and San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA. Standardized measurements assessed 13 vegetative characteristics, food resources (mammal abundances), soil diversity, habitat diversity, elevational area, temperature, precipitation and net primary productivity at each site. Structural equation models were used to test competing diversity hypotheses and mechanisms. Species richness peaked at intermediate elevations on both gradients, whereas abundance was unimodal on one gradient and decreasing on the other. The MIH mechanism was rejected; all four potential SEM model constructions were unsupported and the majority of all SEM models did not support relationships between abundance and diversity or climate and food resources. The best SEM model included direct influences of temperature, vegetation biomass, and food resources but with separate effects on diversity and abundance. Carrion beetles were more diverse and abundant in sites with dense understory vegetation and warm temperatures, while higher abundances were also linked to more food resources. This climate-biotic relationship is likely due to a need for microclimates and microhabitats to mediate physiological tradeoffs of desiccation and thermoregulation with predation. This suggests a general hypothesis for beetle diversity and abundance, particularly on arid-based mountains globally.