Community and habitat analysis of predaceous diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) in central and western Mongolia

Abstract

Physicochemical variables of aquatic environments are the main factors that influence aquatic organism distributions. In the present study, we aimed to assess the relationship between environmental variables and dytiscid assemblages in different aquatic basins of Mongolia. In total, 4193 diving beetle specimens of 66 species belonging to 15 genera were collected from 146 sites under various environmental and ecological conditions. Clear differences were observed in species richness and community composition among surveyed basins, subbasins, and habitat types. Environmental variables, particularly altitude and dissolved oxygen, exerted a strong influence on dytiscid communities in subbasins of the country. This large-scale study is the first to examine the relationship between dytiscids and their natural habitats in Mongolia at a species level, and it provides useful baseline information for future studies that aim to understand the factors that affect dytiscid communities.