Geographical patterns and partition of turnover and richness components of beta-diversity in faunas from Tocantins river valley

There has been a resurging interest in patterns of beta-diversity, especially by the mechanisms driving broad-scale, continental and global patterns, and how partitioning beta-diversity into richness (or nestedness) and turnover components can be linked with such mechanisms. Here we compared two recent methodologies to find richness and turnover components of beta-diversity, using a large regional scale dataset of mammal, bird, reptiles and amphibian species found in seven regions of Central, North and Northeastern Brazil. As well as a simple comparison of the metrics available, we analyzed spatial patterns (i.e., distance-decay similarity) and the effects of biome type in these components using raw and partial Mantel tests. Our analyses revealed that turnover estimated using Baselga's (2010) approach is slightly higher than the estimate using Carvalho's et al. (2012) approach, but all analyses show consistent spatial patterns in species turnover using both methods. Spatial patterns in beta-diversity revealed by Mantel tests are also consistent with expectations based on differential dispersal abilities. Our results also reinforce that spatial patterns in beta-diversity, mainly in the turnover components expressing faunal differentiation, are determined by a mix or broad scale environmental effects and short distance spatially-structured dispersal.