title: Historical and contemporary factors generate unique butterfly communities on islands.
abstract: The mechanisms shaping island biotas are not yet well understood mostly because of a lack of studies comparing eco-evolutionary fingerprints over entire taxonomic groups. Here, we linked community structure (richness, frequency and nestedness) and genetic differentiation (based on mitochondrial DNA) in order to compare insular butterfly communities occurring over a key intercontinental area in the Mediterranean (Italy-Sicily-Maghreb). We found that community characteristics and genetic structure were influenced by a combination of contemporary and historical factors, and among the latter, connection during the Pleistocene had an important impact. We showed that species can be divided into two groups with radically different properties: widespread taxa had high dispersal capacity, a nested pattern of occurrence, and displayed little genetic structure, while rare species were mainly characterized by low dispersal, high turnover and genetically differentiated populations. These results offer an unprecedented view of the distinctive butterfly communities and of the main processes determining them on each studied island and highlight the importance of assessing the phylogeographic value of populations for conservation.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Raluca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vodă
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50019 Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dapporto
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.|Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Vlad
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dincă
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK.
authors.forename: Tim G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Shreeve
authors.affiliation: Département d'Agronomie, Université Mohamed Boudiaf de M'sila, 28000 M'sila, Algeria.
authors.forename: Mourad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khaldi
authors.affiliation: Département des sciences de la nature et de la vie, Université Mohamed Boudiaf de M'sila, 28000 M'sila, Algeria.
authors.forename: Ghania
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barech
authors.affiliation: Département des sciences de la nature et de la vie, Université Mohamed Boudiaf de M'sila, 28000 M'sila, Algeria.
authors.forename: Khellaf
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rebbas
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sammut
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria, Unità di Ricerca per la Selvicoltura in Ambiente Mediterraneo, c.da Li Rocchi, I-87036 Rende (CS), Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scalercio
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul D N
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Hebert
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vila
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002080:Butterflies / Q000235:genetics*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017344:Genes, Insect; D040961:Genetic Drift; D014644:Genetic Variation; D058974:Phylogeography; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012802:Sicily