Exceptions to the rule: relative roles of time, diversification rates and regional energy in shaping the inverse latitudinal diversity gradient
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2021
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Aim: Inverse latitudinal diversity gradients (i-LDGs), whereby regional richness peaks
outside the tropics, have rarely been investigated, and their causes remain unclear.
Here, we investigate three prominent explanations, postulating that species-rich re gions have had: (1) longer time to accumulate species; (2) faster diversification; and
(3) more energy to support species-rich communities. These mechanisms have been
shown to explain the tropical megadiversity, and we examine whether they can also
explain i-LDG.
Location: Global.
Time period: Contemporary.
Major taxa studied: Amphibians, birds and mammals.
Methods: We estimated the time for species accumulation, regional diversification
rates and regional energy for six tetrapod taxa (c. 800 species). We quantified the rel ative effects and interactions among these three classes of variables, using variance
partitioning, and confirmed the results across alternative metrics for time (community
phylometrics and BioGeoBEARS), diversification rates (BAMM and DR) and regional
energy (past and current temperature, and productivity).
Results: Although regional richness across each of the six taxa peaked in the temper ate region, it varied markedly across hemispheres and continents. The effects of time,
diversification rates and regional energy varied greatly from one taxon to another,
but high diversification rates generally emerged as the best predictor of high regional
richness. The effects of time and regional energy were limited, with the exception of
salamanders and cetaceans.
Main conclusions: Together, our results indicate that the causes of i-LDG are highly
taxon specific. Consequently, large-scale richness gradients might not have a univer sal explanation, and different causal pathways might converge on similar gradients.
Moreover, regional diversification rates might vary dramatically between similar envi ronments and, depending on the taxon, regional richness might or might not depend on the time for species accumulation. Collectively, these results underscore the com plexity behind the formation of richness gradients, which might involve a symphony
of variations on the interplay of time, diversification rates and regional energy.
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Macroecology, Macroevolution, Marine diversity, Species richness, Temperate, Terrestrial diversity, Tetrapods, Tropics
Citação
CEREZER, Felipe O. et al. Exceptions to the rule: Relative roles of time, diversification rates and regional energy in shaping the inverse latitudinal diversity gradient. Global Ecology and Biogeography, Hoboken, v. 31, n. 9, p. 1794-1809, 2022. DOI: 10.1111/geb.13559. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/geb.13559. Acesso em: 31 ago. 2023.