Diversity Patterns and Assembly Mechanisms of Heteroptera Communities Under Environmental Change

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The species richness of Heteroptera communities is closely linked to the diversity of local arthropods, suggesting that they can serve as reliable indicators of local biodiversity levels. This study focused on heteropteran communities in the Daqing Mountain National Nature Reserve, elucidating the diversity patterns and assembly mechanisms of heteropteran, as well as the primary driving factors. A survey of the heteropteran communities was conducted from May to September 2022 using sweep‐net sampling. The results demonstrate that heteropteran species diversity increases along elevational gradients, and a few ecological variables serve as significant drivers of species richness. Ecological modeling revealed that deterministic processes predominantly govern heteropteran community assembly across the nature reserve, while stochastic processes play a contingent role in insect community assembly across elevational gradients. Based on these findings, we screened relevant ecological variables and constructed a random forest model to estimate the spatial distribution patterns of heteropteran species richness within the nature reserve, revealing a distinct east‐high‐west‐low spatial distribution pattern. Further analysis of community stability demonstrated that heteropteran species diversity serves as the primary determinant of community stability. Collectively, this study provides novel insights into the impacts of environmental change on heteropteran population stability and aggregation dynamics within the Daqing Mountain Nature Reserve, while also informing the development of biodiversity conservation measures and sustainable reserve management strategies.