Multiple evidence of positive relationships between nice breadth and range size (NB–RS) suggested that this can be a general ecological pattern. However, correlations between niche breadth and range size can emerge as a by‐product of strong spatial structure of environmental variables. This can be problematic because niche breadth is often assessed using broad‐scale macroclimatic variables, which suffer heavy spatial autocorrelation. Microhabitat measurements provide accurate information on species tolerance, and show limited autocorrelation. The aim of this study was to combine macroclimate and microhabitat data to assess NB–RS relationships in European plethodontid salamanders (Hydromantes), and to test whether microhabitat variables with weak autocorrelation can provide less biased NB–RS estimates across species. To measure macroclimatic niche, we gathered comprehensive information on the distribution of all Hydromantes species, and combined them with broad‐scale climatic layers. To measure microhabitat, we recorded salamander occurrence across > 350 caves and measured microhabitat features influencing their distribution: humidity, temperature and light. We assessed NB–RS relationships through phylogenetic regression; spatial null‐models were used to test whether the observed relationships are a by‐product of autocorrelation. We observed positive relationships between niche breadth and range size at both the macro‐ and microhabitat scale. At the macroclimatic scale, strong autocorrelation heavily inflated the possibility to observe positive NB–RS. Spatial autocorrelation was weaker for microhabitat variables. At the microhabitat level, the observed NB–RS was not a by‐product of spatial structure of variables. Our study shows that heavy autocorrelation of variables artificially increases the possibility to detect positive relationships between bioclimatic niche and range size, while fine‐scale data of microhabitat provide more direct measure of conditions selected by ectotherms, and enable less biased measures of niche breadth. Combining analyses performed at multiple scales and datasets with different spatial structure provides more complete niche information and effectively tests the generality of niche breadth–range size relationships.

中文翻译：

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当空间自相关很强时，微生境分析支持生态位宽度和范围大小之间的关系

良好的宽度和范围大小 (NB-RS) 之间正相关的多项证据表明，这可能是一种普遍的生态模式。然而，生态位宽度和范围大小之间的相关性可以作为环境变量强空间结构的副产品出现。这可能是有问题的，因为生态位宽度通常使用广泛的宏观气候变量进行评估，这些变量具有严重的空间自相关性。微生境测量提供了关于物种耐受性的准确信息，并显示出有限的自相关性。本研究的目的是结合大气候和微生境数据来评估欧洲 plethodontid 蝾螈（Hydromantes）的 NB-RS 关系，并测试具有弱自相关性的微生境变量是否可以提供跨物种的较少偏差的 NB-RS 估计。为了衡量大气候生态位，我们收集了有关所有 Hydromantes 物种分布的综合信息，并将它们与大尺度气候层相结合。为了测量微生境，我们记录了超过 350 个洞穴中蝾螈的出现，并测量了影响其分布的微生境特征：湿度、温度和光线。我们通过系统发育回归评估了 NB-RS 关系；空间零模型用于测试观察到的关系是否是自相关的副产品。我们在宏观和微观栖息地尺度上观察到生态位宽度和范围大小之间的正相关关系。在大气候尺度上，强自相关极大地增加了观察到正 NB-RS 的可能性。微生境变量的空间自相关性较弱。在微生境层面，观察到的 NB-RS 不是变量空间结构的副产品。我们的研究表明，变量的严重自相关人为地增加了检测生物气候生态位和范围大小之间正相关关系的可能性，而微生境的精细数据提供了更直接的测量变温动物选择的条件，并减少了生态位宽度的偏差测量。结合在多个尺度和不同空间结构的数据集上进行的分析提供了更完整的生态位信息，并有效地测试了生态位宽度-范围大小关系的普遍性。而微生境的精细数据提供了对变温动物选择的条件的更直接的测量，并且能够减少对生态位宽度的偏差测量。结合在多个尺度和不同空间结构的数据集上进行的分析提供了更完整的生态位信息，并有效地测试了生态位宽度-范围大小关系的普遍性。而微生境的精细数据提供了对变温动物选择的条件的更直接的测量，并且能够减少对生态位宽度的偏差测量。结合在多个尺度和不同空间结构的数据集上进行的分析提供了更完整的生态位信息，并有效地测试了生态位宽度-范围大小关系的普遍性。