Unraveling climatic niche evolution: Insights into the geographical distribution of the neotropical social wasp genus Synoeca (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini)

Niche evolution refers to the process by which species undergo changes in ecological interactions, as well as their ability to disperse over time. Our study focuses on the widely distributed neotropical genus of social wasps, Synoeca (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini). We use ecological niche modeli...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-06, Vol.19 (6), p.e0306204
Main Authors: Viana, Matheus Cavalcante, Duran, Andressa, Menezes, Rodolpho Santos Telles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animals
Biological Evolution
Climate
Climate change
Climate prediction
Climatic evolution
Ecological niches
Ecosystem
Epiponini
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Geographical distribution
Geography
Hymenoptera
Insects
Museums
Natural history
Niche (Ecology)
Niches
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Precipitation
Social organization
Species
Synoeca
Temperature tolerance
Variables
Vespidae
Wasps - physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Niche evolution refers to the process by which species undergo changes in ecological interactions, as well as their ability to disperse over time. Our study focuses on the widely distributed neotropical genus of social wasps, Synoeca (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini). We use ecological niche modeling to investigate the niche evolution of this insects, to explore how species have evolved within and across distinct environmental boundaries, as well as to explore the overlap, equivalence, and similarity between their niches. Our analysis of Predicted Niche Occupancy reveals that species occupy heterogeneous niches in relation to temperature, precipitation, and altitude, similar to the patterns observed in the analysis of the evolutionary history of climate tolerances, which shows that species have evolved to occupy distinct niche ranges. In addition, our niche comparisons indicate that the species do not share similar niches with each other. All these results suggest that Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism may be playing a significant role as a process contributing to the allopatric pattern observed in this genus. This study represents the first investigation of niche evolution in Vespidae, providing valuable insights for future research into the evolutionary dynamics of insects.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0306204