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81 results for “latitudinal diversity gradient”

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dryad36/100

Latitudinal gradient in the intensity of biotic interactions in terrestrial ecosystems: Sources of variation and differences from the diversity gradient revealed by meta-analysis

The Latitudinal Biotic Interaction Hypothesis (LBIH) states that the intensity of biotic interactions increases from high to low latitudes. This hypothesis, which may partly explain latitudinal gradients in biodiversity, remains hotly debated, largely due to variable outcomes of published studies. We used meta-analysis to identify the scope of the LBIH in terrestrial ecosystems. For this purpose, we explored the sources of variation in the strength of latitudinal changes in herbivory, carnivory, and parasitism (119 publications) and compared these gradients with gradients in the diversity of the respective groups of animals (102 publications). Overall, both herbivory and carnivory decreased towards the poles, while parasitism increased. The latitudinal gradient in herbivory and carnivory was threefold stronger above 50–60º than at lower latitudes and was significant due to interactions involving ectothermic consumers, studies using standardized prey (i.e. prey lacking local anti-predator adaptations) and studies aimed at testing LBIH. The poleward decrease in biodiversity did not differ between ectothermic and endothermic animals or among climate zones and was four-fold stronger than decrease in herbivory and carnivory. The discovered differences between the gradients in biotic interactions and biodiversity suggest that these two global macroecological patterns are likely shaped by different factors.

opencc-zeroJun 2021View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Temperature shapes opposing latitudinal gradients of plant taxonomic and phylogenetic β diversity

Latitudinal and elevational richness gradients have received much attention from ecologists but there is little consensus on underlying causes. One possible proximate cause is increased levels of species turnover, or β diversity, in the tropics compared to temperate regions. Here, we leverage a large botanical dataset to map taxonomic and phylogenetic β diversity, as mean turnover between neighboring 100 × 100 km cells, across the Americas and determine key climatic drivers. We find taxonomic and tip‐weighted phylogenetic β diversity is higher in the tropics, but that basal‐weighted phylogenetic β diversity is highest in temperate regions. Supporting Janzen's 'mountain passes' hypothesis, tropical mountainous regions had higher β diversity than temperate regions for taxonomic and tip‐weighted metrics. The strongest climatic predictors of turnover were average temperature and temperature seasonality. Taken together, these results suggest β diversity is coupled to latitudinal richness gradients and that temperature is a major driver of plant community composition and change.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Explaining global variation in the latitudinal diversity gradient: meta-analysis confirms known patterns and uncovers new ones

Aim: The pattern of increasing biological diversity from high latitudes to the equator [latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG)] has been recognized for > 200 years. Empirical studies have documented this pattern across many different organisms and locations. Our goal was to quantify the evidence for the global LDG and the associated spatial, taxonomic and environmental factors. We performed a meta-analysis on a large number of individual LDGs that have been published in the 14 years since Hillebrand's ground-breaking meta-analysis of the LDG, using meta-analysis and meta-regression approaches largely new to the fields of ecology and biogeography. Location: Global. Time period: January 2003–September 2015. Major taxa studied: Bacteria, protists, plants, fungi and animals. Methods: We synthesized the outcomes of 389 individual cases of LDGs from 199 papers published since 2003, using hierarchical mixed-effects meta-analysis and multiple meta-regression. Additionally, we re-analysed Hillebrand's original dataset using modern methods. Results: We confirmed the generality of the LDG, but found the pattern to be weaker than was found in Hillebrand's study. We identified previously unreported variation in LDG strength and slope across longitude, with evidence that the LDG is strongest in the Western Hemisphere. Locational characteristics, such as habitat and latitude range, contributed significantly to LDG strength, whereas organismal characteristics, including taxonomic group and trophic level, did not. Modern meta-analytical models that incorporate hierarchical structure led to more conservative and sometimes contrasting effect size estimates relative to Hillebrand's initial analysis, whereas meta-regression revealed underlying patterns in Hillebrand's dataset that were not apparent with a traditional analysis. Main conclusions: We present evidence of global latitudinal, longitudinal and habitat-based patterns in the LDG, which are apparent across both marine and terrestrial realms and over a broad taxonomic range of organisms, from bacteria to plants and vertebrates.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

dryad36/100

Patterns and determinants of lichen abundance and diversity across a subarctic to arctic latitudinal gradient

Macrolichen abundance at the species level in 42 sites across a subarctic (56°N) to arctic (62°N) latitudinal gradient in Nunavik (Québec, Canada). Data was collected in the dominant vegetation types of six regions sampled along this gradient.

opencc-zeroOct 2021View details →

dryad36/100

Genetic diversity and differentiation of populations of Anthyllis vulneraria along elevational and latitudinal gradients

The abundant centre model (ACM) predicts that the suitability of environmental conditions for a species decreases from the centre of its distribution towards its range periphery and consequently its populations will become scarcer, smaller and more isolated, resulting in lower genetic diversity and increased differentiation. However, little is known about whether genetic diversity shows similar patterns along elevational and latitudinal gradients with similar changes in important environmental conditions. Using microsatellite markers we studied the genetic diversity and structure of 20 populations each of Anthyllis vulneraria along elevational gradients in the Alps from the valleys to the elevational limit (2500 m), and along a latitudinal gradient (2500 km) from Central Europe to the range margin in northern Scandinavia. Both types of gradients corresponded to a 11.5 °C difference in mean annual temperature. Genetic diversity strongly declined and differentiation increased with latitude in line with the predictions of the ACM. However, as population size did not decline with latitude and genetic diversity was not related to population size in A. vulneraria, this pattern is not likely to be due to less favourable conditions in the North, but due to serial founder effects during the post-glacial recolonization process. Genetic diversity was not related to elevation, but we found significant isolation by distance along both gradients, although the elevational gradient was shorter by orders of magnitude. Subarctic populations differed genetically from alpine populations indicating that the northern populations did not originate from high elevational Alpine ones. Our results support the notion that postglacial latitudinal colonization over large distances resulted in a larger loss of genetic diversity than elevational range shifts. The lack of genetic diversity in subarctic populations may threaten their long-term persistence in the face of climate change, whereas alpine populations could benefit from gene flow from low-elevation populations.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

zenodo36/100

Conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories explain the latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies

Supplementary Tree 1.nex Nymphalidae backbone tree inferred with RAxML and time-calibrated using BEAST, with mean posterior node ages and 95% credibility intervals summarized. More information can be found in Chazot et al. (2021). Conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories explain the latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies. Nature Communications.   Supplementary Tree 2.nex Maximum clade credibility tree of all Nymphalidae included in "Chazot et al. (2021). Conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories explain the latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies. Nature Communications.", with mean posterior node ages and 95% credibility intervals estimated from the posterior distribution of 1000 grafted trees (1000 subclades posterior trees combined with 1000 backbone posterior trees).  More information can be found in Chazot et al. (2021). Conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories explain the latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies. Nature Communications.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2020View details →

dryad36/100

Departing from an ideal: An asymmetric, bimodal and non-Equatorial latitudinal gradient of marine diversity in Western Atlantic burrowing shrimps (Decapoda: Axiidea and Gebiidea)

Aim: Despite the generality of the latitudinal gradient of species diversity (LDG) phenomenon, there is growing evidence showing deviations from an idealized pattern, i.e., a single peak of species richness symmetrically centered in the Equator, but the underlying causes remains little studied. We here evaluate the existence of departures from the idealized LDG in a group of marine crustaceans and the explanatory role of environmental variables. Location: Coastal shelf (< 200 m depth) along the Western Atlantic coast (46ºN to 47ºS) Taxon: Burrowing shrimps (Decapoda: Axiidea and Gebiidea). Methods: We assessed the shape of the LDG in 100 burrowing shrimp species using the reported latitudinal ranges of distribution. Species richness was calculated in one degree-latitude bands using a range-through approach. The shape of the LDG was statistically evaluated in terms of latitudinal symmetry, number of modes and location. We evaluated the importance of 10 environmental variables (proxies of different hypotheses categories) predicting LDG using a random forest model. Results: Burrowing shrimps exhibit an increase in diversity towards the tropics, but departures to the idealized LDG were evident. The LDG is asymmetric between hemispheres and bimodal (two peaks within the tropics), and this trend cannot be explained in terms of sampling artifacts. A random forest model explains 92% of species richness, but the only significant variables were bottom seawater temperature, bottom seawater salinity, bottom seawater temperature range, and tidal range. These predictors were non-linearly related to species richness, and only bottom seawater temperature, bottom seawater salinity showed a significant phylogenetic signal. Main conclusions: The LDG of burrowing shrimps is driven ecophysiological restrictions of species, reflecting the role of evolutionary (i.e., 'time for species accumulation' and/or 'diversification dynamics') and ecological processes (i.e., 'ecological limits'). Departures from the idealized LDG could be explained by the non-linear responses of species richness to environmental conditions, the spatial structure of these environmental conditions, and a varying degree of phylogenetic conservatism of key ecophysiological constraints.

opencc-zeroOct 2021View details →

dryad36/100

The latitudinal gradient of functional diversity of miocene marine mollusks from Chile

Understanding latitudinal variations in biodiversity is central for biogeography. Along the coasts of the Southeast Pacific, several taxa show inverse latitudinal patterns of biodiversity, i.e., increasing species numbers from lower to higher latitudes. A plausible explanation for these patterns is that fjords, formed during the Pleistocene glaciations, increased the diversity of available biotopes that allowed for higher diversity in high latitudes. Assessing this hypothesis requires us to analyze latitudinal patterns of functional diversity (which is intimately related to niche use) in the absence of fjords, i.e., earlier than their formation. Here we test if the fossil record before the generation of fjords shows higher functional diversity at lower than at higher latitudes (a "regular" functional diversity gradient). We analyzed four components of functional diversity (functional richness, functional divergence, functional dispersion and functional evenness) for a fossil marine mollusk fauna from the lower Miocene (~18 million years ago) across four regions spanning more than 10 latitudinal degrees of the Chilean coast (between ~34°S and 45°S). The functional richness of gastropods and bivalves decreased non-linearly from low to high latitudes. Contrarily, the functional evenness of gastropods remained relatively constant across the region and that of bivalves peaked at 45°S. Both taxonomic groups' functional divergence and functional dispersion did not exhibit clear patterns of latitudinal variation. The multivariate analysis uncovered non-linear latitudinal patterns in the abundance of functional groups (gastropods and bivalves), with the largest abundances towards lower latitudes. These results suggest that the niche breadth of mollusk assemblages might have decreased with latitude in the lower Miocene. This work can shed light on the mechanisms underlying the latitudinal variation of diversity observed today, offering a better understanding of how these patterns changed over time.

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Global biogeography of ant social parasites: Exploring patterns and mechanisms of an inverse latitudinal diversity gradient

Aim: One of the most consistent global biogeographic patterns is the latitudinal diversity gradient where species richness peaks within the equatorial tropics and decreases towards the poles. Here, we explore the global biogeography of socially parasitic ants, which comprises the most diverse group of social parasites in the Hymenoptera. We test the biogeographic hypothesis that ant social parasites are distributed along an inverse latitudinal diversity gradient by peaking in diversity outside of the equatorial tropics. Location: Global Taxon: Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Methods: We assembled a comprehensive biogeographic dataset for all 371 taxonomically described socially parasitic ant species. We used phylogenetic and taxonomic studies to compare species richness with the number of species representing independent evolutionary origins of social parasitism across a latitudinal gradient. In addition, we compared ant social parasite diversity across biogeographic regions using rarefaction to account for different sampling efforts. Finally, we tested for a correlation between latitude and the proportion of ant social parasite species within regional ant faunae. Results: The geographic distribution records and the inferred 91 origins of socially parasitic life histories show that both species richness and the number of species representing independent evolutionary origins of social parasitism peak in the northern hemisphere outside of the equatorial tropics. Based on rarefaction curves, northern latitude regions harbour the most ant social parasite species, but the diversity of independent evolutionary origins is not significantly different between northern and southern hemispheres. The proportion of ant social parasite species within regional faunae is correlated with latitude only in the northern hemisphere. Main conclusions: The inverse latitudinal diversity gradient of ant social parasites contrasts with the biogeographic pattern observed in free-living, non-parasitic ant species and appears to be driven by large species radiations as well as by the presence of specialized life histories exclusive to the northern hemisphere.

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

zenodo36/100

Fig. 4 in Latitudinal Diversity Gradients in Free-living Microorganisms - Hoogenraadia a Key Genus in Testate Amoebae Biogeography

Fig. 4. Map showing biogeographically distribution of each species in genus Hoogenraadia.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2015View details →

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