The impact of geographic range, sampling, ecology, and time on extinction risk in the volatile clade Graptoloida

Paleobiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Boyle ◽  
H. David Sheets ◽  
Shuang-Ye Wu ◽  
Daniel Goldman ◽  
Michael J. Melchin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAlthough extinction risk has been found to have a consistent negative relationship with geographic range across wide temporal and taxonomic scales, the effect has been difficult to disentangle from factors such as sampling, ecological niche, or clade. In addition, studies of extinction risk have focused on benthic invertebrates with less work on planktic taxa. We employed a global set of 1114 planktic graptolite species from the Ordovician to lower Devonian to analyze the predictive power of species’ traits and abiotic factors on extinction risk, combining general linear models (GLMs), partial least-squares regression (PLSR), and permutation tests. Factors included measures of geographic range, sampling, and graptolite-specific factors such as clade, biofacies affiliation, shallow water tolerance, and age cohorts split at the base of the Katian and Rhuddanian stages.The percent variance in durations explained varied substantially between taxon subsets from 12% to 45%. Overall commonness, the correlated effects of geographic range and sampling, was the strongest, most consistent factor (12–30% variance explained), with clade and age cohort adding up to 18% and other factors <10%. Surprisingly, geographic range alone contributed little explanatory power (<5%). It is likely that this is a consequence of a nonlinear relationship between geographic range and extinction risk, wherein the largest reductions in extinction risk are gained from moderate expansion of small geographic ranges. Thus, even large differences in range size between graptolite species did not lead to a proportionate difference in extinction risk because of the large average ranges of these species. Finally, we emphasize that the common practice of determining the geographic range of taxa from the union of all occurrences over their duration poses a substantial risk of overestimating the geographic scope of the realized ecological niche and, thus, of further conflating sampling effects on observed duration with the biological effects of range size on extinction risk.

scholarly journals Biological and extrinsic correlates of extinction risk in Chinese lizards

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxi Zhong ◽  
Chuanwu Chen ◽  
Yanping Wang
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Habitat Specialization ◽  
Mean Annual Precipitation ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
Small Range ◽  
Extrinsic Factors

Abstract China is a country with one of the most species rich reptile faunas in the world. However, nearly a quarter of Chinese lizard species assessed by the China Biodiversity Red List are threatened. Nevertheless, to date, no study has explicitly examined the pattern and processes of extinction and threat in Chinese lizards. In this study, we conducted the first comparative phylogenetic analysis of extinction risk in Chinese lizards. We addressed the following three questions: 1) What is the pattern of extinction and threat in Chinese lizards? 2) Which species traits and extrinsic factors are related to their extinction risk? 3) How can we protect Chinese lizards based on our results? We collected data on ten species traits (body size, clutch size, geographic range size, activity time, reproductive mode, habitat specialization, habitat use, leg development, maximum elevation, and elevation range) and seven extrinsic factors (mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, mean annual solar insolation, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), human footprint, human population density, and human exploitation). After phylogenetic correction, these variables were used separately and in combination to assess their associations with extinction risk. We found that Chinese lizards with small geographic range, large body size, high habitat specialization, and living in high precipitation areas were vulnerable to extinction. Conservation priority should thus be given to species with the above extinction-prone traits so as to effectively protect Chinese lizards. Preventing future habitat destruction should also be a primary focus of management efforts because species with small range size and high habitat specialization are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss.

scholarly journals The effects of geographic range size and abundance on extinction during a time of “sluggish”’ evolution

Paleobiology ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Casey ◽  
Erin E. Saupe ◽  
Bruce S. Lieberman
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Late Paleozoic ◽  
The North ◽  
Geographic Range Size ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Habitat Tracking

Abstract Geographic range size and abundance are important determinants of extinction risk in fossil and extant taxa. However, the relationship between these variables and extinction risk has not been tested extensively during evolutionarily “quiescent” times of low extinction and speciation in the fossil record. Here we examine the influence of geographic range size and abundance on extinction risk during the late Paleozoic (Mississippian–Permian), a time of “sluggish” evolution when global rates of origination and extinction were roughly half those of other Paleozoic intervals. Analyses used spatiotemporal occurrences for 164 brachiopod species from the North American midcontinent. We found abundance to be a better predictor of extinction risk than measures of geographic range size. Moreover, species exhibited reductions in abundance before their extinction but did not display contractions in geographic range size. The weak relationship between geographic range size and extinction in this time and place may reflect the relative preponderance of larger-ranged taxa combined with the physiographic conditions of the region that allowed for easy habitat tracking that dampened both extinction and speciation. These conditions led to a prolonged period (19–25 Myr) during which standard macroevolutionary rules did not apply.

Life histories, ecological tolerance limits, and the evolution of geographic range size in Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae)

2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Mathews ◽  
Stephen P. Bonser
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Tolerance Limits ◽  
Physiological Tolerance ◽  
Australian Continent ◽  
The Impact

Current theories explaining variability in species geographic range sizes in plants tend to focus on how traits associated with either physiological tolerance limits or life histories are related to range size. In trees, aspects of both physiological tolerance (e.g. drought tolerance) and life history (e.g. life span and growth rate) are related to stem traits such as wood density and height relative to diameter. We examined how the evolution of stem traits is related to geographic range sizes in Eucalyptus at two spatial scales: across the Australian continent and within the wet forests near the east coast of Australia. Geographic range sizes were estimated from herbarium records. Stem trait data were collected from both natural populations and published sources. We used phylogenetically independent contrasts to test for evolutionary associations between stem traits and geographic range sizes. Across Australia, the evolution of stem traits conferring drought tolerance were not consistently associated greater range sizes. This was surprising since arid and semi-arid environments are geographically expansive. Within the eastern forests, the evolution of stem traits defining slow growing, competitively dominant life histories were associated with greater range sizes. These stem traits should confer both a capacity to disperse into previously unoccupied habitats and the ability to persist in habitats already occupied. Traits associated with physiological tolerance and life history had significant effects on the evolution of range sizes in Eucalyptus. However, we demonstrate that the impact of these traits on range size evolution depends on both environmental conditions and the scale at which these traits are examined.

scholarly journals Using GIS to examine biogeographic and macroevolutionary patterns in some late Paleozoic cephalopods from the North American Midcontinent Sea

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayla M. Kolis ◽  
Bruce S. Lieberman
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Late Paleozoic ◽  
Early Permian ◽  
Cephalopod Species ◽  
The North ◽  
Geographic Range Size

Geographic range is an important macroevolutionary parameter frequently considered in paleontological studies as species’ distributions and range sizes are determined by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors well known to affect the differential birth and death of species. Thus, considering how distributions and range sizes fluctuate over time can provide important insight into evolutionary dynamics. This study uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and analyses of evolutionary rates to examine how in some species within the Cephalopoda, an important pelagic clade, geographic range size and rates of speciation and extinction changed throughout the Pennsylvanian and early Permian in the North American Midcontinent Sea. This period is particularly interesting for biogeographic and evolutionary studies because it is characterized by repetitive interglacial-glacial cycles, a global transition from an icehouse to a greenhouse climate during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age, and decelerated macroevolutionary dynamics, i.e. low speciation and extinction rates. The analyses presented herein indicate that cephalopod species diversity was not completely static and actually fluctuated throughout the Pennsylvanian and early Permian, matching findings from other studies. However, contrary to some other studies, the mean geographic ranges of cephalopod species did not change significantly through time, despite numerous climate oscillations; further, geographic range size did not correlate with rates of speciation and extinction. These results suggest that pelagic organisms may have responded differently to late Paleozoic climate changes than benthic organisms, although additional consideration of this issue is needed. Finally, these results indicate that, at least in the case of cephalopods, macroevolution during the late Paleozoic was more dynamic than previously characterized, and patterns may have varied across different clades during this interval.

scholarly journals Drainage network position and historical connectivity explain global patterns in freshwater fishes’ range size

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (27) ◽  
pp. 13434-13439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Carvajal-Quintero ◽  
Fabricio Villalobos ◽  
Thierry Oberdorff ◽  
Gaël Grenouillet ◽  
Sébastien Brosse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Freshwater Fishes ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Freshwater Biodiversity ◽  
Geographic Range Size

Identifying the drivers and processes that determine globally the geographic range size of species is crucial to understanding the geographic distribution of biodiversity and further predicting the response of species to current global changes. However, these drivers and processes are still poorly understood, and no ecological explanation has emerged yet as preponderant in explaining the extent of species’ geographical range. Here, we identify the main drivers of the geographic range size variation in freshwater fishes at global and biogeographic scales and determine how these drivers affect range size both directly and indirectly. We tested the main hypotheses already proposed to explain range size variation, using geographic ranges of 8,147 strictly freshwater fish species (i.e., 63% of all known species). We found that, contrary to terrestrial organisms, for which climate and topography seem preponderant in determining species’ range size, the geographic range sizes of freshwater fishes are mostly explained by the species’ position within the river network, and by the historical connection among river basins during Quaternary low-sea-level periods. Large-ranged fish species inhabit preferentially lowland areas of river basins, where hydrological connectivity is the highest, and also are found in river basins that were historically connected. The disproportionately high explanatory power of these two drivers suggests that connectivity is the key component of riverine fish geographic range sizes, independent of any other potential driver, and indicates that the accelerated rates in river fragmentation might strongly affect fish species distribution and freshwater biodiversity.

scholarly journals Geographic range size and extinction risk assessment in nomadic species

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 865-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire A. Runge ◽  
Ayesha Tulloch ◽  
Edd Hammill ◽  
Hugh P. Possingham ◽  
Richard A. Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Geographic Range Size ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment

scholarly journals THE EFFECTS OF WEATHER AND REED MANAGEMENT ON NESTING PARAMETERS OF THE GREAT REED WARBLER, ACROCEPHALUS ARUNDINACEUS (AVES: SYLVIIDAE)

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 305-312
Author(s):  
Thomas Oliver Mérő ◽  
Antun Žuljević
Keyword(s):  
Clutch Size ◽  
Water Depth ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Nesting Success ◽  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Nest Density ◽  
Hatching Rate ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
The Impact

Nesting parameters such as clutch size, hatching rate or nesting success have been extensively studied in birds in relation to biotic and abiotic factors. In this study we aimed to investigate the effects of air temperature, amount of precipitation, reed burning, and water depth (independent variables) on nest density, clutch size, hatching rate, and nesting success (dependent variables) of the Great Reed Warbler during a nine-year period. We found that neither the clutch size nor the hatching rate was influenced by any of the predictor variables. Nest density was positively influenced by the water depth, while the nesting success was negatively related to the amount of precipitation. Reed burning had no effect on any of the nesting parameters. Similarly, to our results, short-term studies reported a positive relationship between nest density and water depth, and a negative relationship between the nesting success and amount of precipitation, indicating that these two environmental variables generally influence the two nesting parameters. However, the impact of various reed management practices, such as harvesting or removal, on the nesting variables of the Great Reed Warbler needs further clarification.

scholarly journals Why do bugs perish? Range size and local vulnerability traits as surrogates of Odonata extinction risk

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1924) ◽  
pp. 20192645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Rocha-Ortega ◽  
Pilar Rodríguez ◽  
Jason Bried ◽  
John Abbott ◽  
Alex Córdoba-Aguilar
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Volcanic System ◽  
Thermal Limits ◽  
Geographic Range Size ◽  
Insect Decline ◽  
Local Extirpation

Despite claims of an insect decline worldwide, our understanding of extinction risk in insects is incomplete. Using bionomic data of all odonate (603 dragonflies and damselflies) North American species, we assessed (i) regional extinction risk and whether this is related to local extirpation; (ii) whether these two patterns are similar altitudinally and latitudinally; and (iii) the areas of conservation concern. We used geographic range size as a predictor of regional extinction risk and body size, thermal limits and habitat association as predictors of local extirpation. We found that (i) greater regional extinction risk is related to narrow thermal limits, lotic habitat use and large body size (this in damselflies but not dragonflies); (ii) southern species are more climate tolerant but with more limited geographic range size than northern species; and (iii) two priority areas for odonate conservation are the cold temperate to sub-boreal northeastern USA and the transversal neo-volcanic system. Our approach can be used to estimate insect extinction risk as it compensates for the lack of abundance data.

scholarly journals The Red Queen revisited: reevaluating the age selectivity of Phanerozoic marine genus extinctions

Paleobiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 318-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Finnegan ◽  
Jonathan L. Payne ◽  
Steve C. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Extinction Rate ◽  
Biological Interactions ◽  
Red Queen ◽  
Apparent Contradiction ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Extinction Selectivity ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

Extinction risk is inversely related to genus age (time since first appearance) in most intervals of the Phanerozoic marine fossil record, in apparent contradiction to the macroevolutionary Red Queen's Hypothesis, which posits that extinction risk is independent of taxon age. Age-dependent increases in the mean species richness and geographic range of genera have been invoked to reconcile this genus-level observation with the presumed prevalence of Red Queen dynamics at the species level. Here we test these explanations with data from the Paleobiology Database. Multiple logistic regression demonstrates that the association of extinction risk with genus age is not adequately explained by species richness or geographic range: there is a residual association between age and extinction risk even when range and richness effects are accounted for. Throughout most of the Phanerozoic the age selectivity gradient is highest among the youngest age cohorts, whereas there is no association between age and extinction risk among older age cohorts. Some of the apparent age selectivity of extinction in the global fauna is attributable to differences in extinction rate among taxonomic groups, but extinction risk declines with genus age even within most taxonomic orders. Notable exceptions to this pattern include the Cambrian-Ordovician, latest Permian, Triassic, and Paleocene intervals. The association of age with extinction risk could reflect sampling heterogeneity or taxonomic practice more than biological reality, but at present it is difficult to evaluate or correct for such biases. Alternatively, the pattern may reflect consistent extinction selectivity on some as-yet unidentified covariate of genus age. Although this latter explanation is not compatible with a Red Queen model if most genus extinctions have resulted from biological interactions, it may be applicable if most genus extinctions have instead been caused by recurrent physical disturbances that repeatedly impose similar selective pressures.

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