Marine latitudinal diversity gradients, niche conservatism and out of the tropics and Arctic: Climatic sensitivity of small organisms

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 817-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing‐Tung Ruby Chiu ◽  
Moriaki Yasuhara ◽  
Thomas M. Cronin ◽  
Gene Hunt ◽  
Laura Gemery ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Diversity Gradients ◽  
Climatic Sensitivity ◽  
The Tropics

scholarly journals Latitudinal Diversity Gradients in New World Bats: Are They a Consequence of Niche Conservatism?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. e69245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria João Ramos Pereira ◽  
Jorge M. Palmeirim
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Diversity Gradients

scholarly journals Phylogenetic support for the Tropical Niche Conservatism Hypothesis despite the absence of a clear latitudinal species richness gradient in Yunnan's woody flora

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 7055-7077 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Tang ◽  
M. G. Zhang ◽  
C. Liu ◽  
Z. Zhou ◽  
W. Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Latitudinal Gradient ◽  
Extreme Temperature ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
The North ◽  
Related Plant ◽  
Species Richness Gradient ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. The Tropical Niche Conservatism Hypothesis (TCH) tries to explain the generally observed latitudinal gradient of increasing species diversity towards the tropics. To date, few studies have used phylogenetic approaches to assess its validity, even though such methods are especially suited to detect changes in niche structure. We test the TCH using modeled distributions of 1898 woody species in Yunnan Province (southwest China) in combination with a family level phylogeny. Unlike predicted, species richness and phylogenetic diversity did not show a latitudinal gradient, but identified two high diversity zones, one in Northwest and one in South Yunnan. Despite this, the underlying residual phylogenetic diversity showed a clear decline away from the tropics, while the species composition became progressingly more phylogenetically clustered towards the North. These latitudinal changes were strongly associated with more extreme temperature variability and declining precipitation and soil water availability, especially during the dry season. Our results suggests that the climatically more extreme conditions outside the tropics require adaptations for successful colonization, most likely related to the plant hydraulic system, that have been acquired by only a limited number of phylogenetically closely related plant lineages. We emphasize the importance of phylogenetic approaches for testing the TCH.

Evolution of taxonomic diversity gradients in the marine realm: a comparison of Late Jurassic and Recent bivalve faunas

Paleobiology ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Alistair Crame
Keyword(s):  
Food Supply ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Diversity Gradients ◽  
Macrobenthic Assemblages ◽  
Marine Realm ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Extreme Seasonality

We still have much to learn about the evolution of taxonomic diversity gradients through geologic time. For example, have latitudinal gradients always been as steep as they are now, or is this a phenomenon linked to some form of Cenozoic global climatic differentiation? The fossil record offers potential to address this sort of problem, and this study reconstructs latitudinal diversity gradients for the last (Tithonian) stage of the Jurassic period using marine bivalves. At this time of relative global warmth, bivalves were cosmopolitan in their distribution and the commonest element within macrobenthic assemblages.Analysis of 31 regional bivalve faunas demonstrates that Tithonian latitudinal gradients were present in both hemispheres, though on a much smaller magnitude than today. The record of the Northern Hemisphere gradient is more complete and shows a steep fall in values at the tropical/temperate boundary; the Southern Hemisphere gradient exhibits a more regular decline in diversity with increasing latitude.Tithonian latitudinal gradients were underpinned by a tropical bivalve fauna that comprises almost equal numbers of epifaunal and infaunal taxa. The epifaunal component was dominated by three pteriomorph families, the Pectinidae, Limidae and Ostreidae, that may be regarded as a long-term component of tropical bivalve diversity. Of the mixture of older and newer “heteroconch” families that formed the bulk of the infaunal component, the latter radiated spectacularly through the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic to dominate tropical bivalve faunas at the present day. This pulse of heteroconch diversification, which was a major cause of the steepening of the bivalve latitudinal gradient, provides important evidence that rates of speciation may be negatively correlated with latitude.Nevertheless, we cannot exclude the possibility that elevated extinction rates in the highest latitudes also contributed to the marked steepening of bivalve latitudinal gradients over the last 150 Myr. Rates of extinction within epifaunal bivalve taxa appear to have been higher in these regions through the Cretaceous period, but this was largely before any significant global climatic deterioration. Infaunal bivalve clades have had differential success over this time period in the polar regions. Whereas, in comparison with the Tropics, heteroconchs are very much reduced in numbers today, the anomalodesmatans are much better represented, and the protobranchs have positively thrived. We are beginning to appreciate that low temperature per se may not be a primary cause of elevated rates of extinction. Food supply may be an equally important control on both rates of speciation and extinction; those bivalves that have been able to adapt to the extreme seasonality of food supply have flourished in the polar regions.

scholarly journals On the processes generating latitudinal richness gradients: identifying diagnostic patterns and predictions

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen H Hurlbert ◽  
James C Stegen
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Available Energy ◽  
Speciation Rates ◽  
Tropical Climates ◽  
The Tropics

Many processes have been put forward to explain the latitudinal gradient in species richness. Here, we use a simulation model to examine four of the most common hypotheses and identify patterns that might be diagnostic of those four hypotheses. The hypotheses examined include (1) tropical niche conservatism, or the idea that the tropics are more diverse because a tropical clade origin has allowed more time for diversification in the tropics and has resulted in few species adapted to extra-tropical climates. (2) The productivity, or energetic constraints, hypothesis suggests that species richness is limited by the amount of biologically available energy in a region. (3) The tropical stability hypothesis argues that major climatic fluctuations and glacial cycles in extratropical regions have led to greater extinction rates and less opportunity for specialization relative to the tropics. (4) Finally, the speciation rates hypothesis suggests that the latitudinal richness gradient arises from a parallel gradient in rates of speciation. We found that tropical niche conservatism can be distinguished from the other three scenarios by phylogenies which are more balanced than expected, no relationship between mean root distance and richness across regions, and a homogeneous rate of speciation across clades and through time. The energy gradient, speciation gradient, and disturbance gradient scenarios all exhibited phylogenies which were more imbalanced than expected, showed a negative relationship between mean root distance and richness, and diversity-dependence of speciation rate estimates through time. Using Bayesian Analysis of Macroevolutionary Mixtures on the simulated phylogenies, we found that the relationship between speciation rates and latitude could distinguish among these three scenarios. We emphasize the importance of considering multiple hypotheses and focusing on diagnostic predictions instead of predictions that are consistent with more than one hypothesis.

Global variation in thermal physiology of birds and mammals: evidence for phylogenetic niche conservatism only in the tropics

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 2187-2196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran Khaliq ◽  
Susanne A. Fritz ◽  
Roland Prinzinger ◽  
Markus Pfenninger ◽  
Katrin Böhning-Gaese ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Thermal Physiology ◽  
Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism ◽  
Global Variation ◽  
The Tropics

scholarly journals On the processes generating latitudinal richness gradients: identifying diagnostic patterns and predictions

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen H Hurlbert ◽  
James C Stegen
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Available Energy ◽  
Speciation Rates ◽  
Tropical Climates ◽  
The Tropics

Many processes have been put forward to explain the latitudinal gradient in species richness. Here, we use a simulation model to examine four of the most common hypotheses and identify patterns that might be diagnostic of those four hypotheses. The hypotheses examined include (1) tropical niche conservatism, or the idea that the tropics are more diverse because a tropical clade origin has allowed more time for diversification in the tropics and has resulted in few species adapted to extra-tropical climates. (2) The productivity, or energetic constraints, hypothesis suggests that species richness is limited by the amount of biologically available energy in a region. (3) The tropical stability hypothesis argues that major climatic fluctuations and glacial cycles in extratropical regions have led to greater extinction rates and less opportunity for specialization relative to the tropics. (4) Finally, the speciation rates hypothesis suggests that the latitudinal richness gradient arises from a parallel gradient in rates of speciation. We found that tropical niche conservatism can be distinguished from the other three scenarios by phylogenies which are more balanced than expected, no relationship between mean root distance and richness across regions, and a homogeneous rate of speciation across clades and through time. The energy gradient, speciation gradient, and disturbance gradient scenarios all exhibited phylogenies which were more imbalanced than expected, showed a negative relationship between mean root distance and richness, and diversity-dependence of speciation rate estimates through time. Using Bayesian Analysis of Macroevolutionary Mixtures on the simulated phylogenies, we found that the relationship between speciation rates and latitude could distinguish among these three scenarios. We emphasize the importance of considering multiple hypotheses and focusing on diagnostic predictions instead of predictions that are consistent with more than one hypothesis.

scholarly journals Relative effects of time for speciation and tropical niche conservatism on the latitudinal diversity gradient of phyllostomid bats

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1717) ◽  
pp. 2528-2536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Environmental Determinants ◽  
Environmental Characteristics ◽  
Latitudinal Diversity Gradient ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Diversity Gradients

Determinants of contemporary patterns of diversity, particularly those spanning extensive latitudinal gradients, are some of the most intensely debated issues in ecology. Recently, focus has shifted from a contemporary environmental perspective to a historical one in an attempt to better understand the construction of latitudinal gradients. Although the vast majority of research on historical mechanisms has focused on tropical niche conservatism (TNC), other historical scenarios could produce similar latitudinal gradients. Herein, I formalize predictions to distinguish between two such historical processes—namely time for speciation (TFS) and TNC—and test relative support based on diversity gradients of New World bats. TFS and TNC are distinctly spatial and environmental mechanisms, respectively. Nonetheless, because of the way that environmental characteristics vary spatially, these two mechanisms are hard to distinguish. Evidence provided herein suggests that TNC has had a more important effect than TFS in determining diversity gradients of New World bats. Indeed, relative effects of different historical mechanisms, as well as relative effects of historical and contemporary environmental determinants, are probably context-dependent. Future research should move away from attempting to identify the mechanism with primacy and instead attempt to understand the particular contexts in which different mechanisms have greater influence on diversity gradients.

scholarly journals Into the tropics: phylogenomics and evolutionary dynamics of a contrarian clade of ants

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Branstetter ◽  
John T. Longino ◽  
Joaquín Reyes-López ◽  
Ted R. Schultz ◽  
Seán G. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Temperate Zone ◽  
Diversification Rate ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Diversity Pattern ◽  
Latitudinal Diversity Gradient ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Climatic Optimum ◽  
The Tropics

Aim.The standard latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), in which species richness decreases from equator to pole, is a pervasive pattern observed in most groups of organisms. Despite its commonness, an increasing number of non-conforming lineages have been identified, presenting a challenge for general explanations of the standard LDG. Although problematic, documenting and studying these contrarian groups can help us to better understand LDGs generally. To that end we identify the ant tribe Stenammini, a diverse lineage with over 400 species, as a contrarian clade, and we attempt to explain the group's atypical diversity pattern using a historical approach. We evaluate the following alternative hypotheses: time-for-speciation/center-of-origin (TFS/COO), niche conservatism, and differences in diversification rate.Location.Global.Methods.We examine the shape of the LDG in Stenammini by plotting latitudinal midpoints for all extant species. We then infer a robust phylogeny using a phylogenomic approach that employs ultraconserved element loci and we use the phylogeny to estimate divergence dates, biogeographic history, and ancestral habitats. We also test for diversification rate heterogeneity across the tree and among lineages within the tribe.Results.Stenammini has a skewed inverse latitudinal diversity gradient with an extratropical richness peak in the northern temperate zone. Our phylogenomic approach resulted in a robust phylogeny revealing five major clades and several instances of non-monophyly among genera (Goniomma,Aphaenogaster). The tribe and most major lineages originated in the temperate zone and inhabited temperate niches. Crown Stenammini dates to 52 Ma (Eocene Climatic Optimum) and most major lineages appeared soon after during a period of global cooling. Despite its temperate origin, the group invaded the tropics at least six times, but failed to diversify greatly there. Across the tree diversification increased from 17.2-1.9 Ma following the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum, and among lineages there was a rate increase in HolarcticAphaenogaster+Messorjust prior to 17.2 Ma.Main Conclusions.Our results suggest that time, niche conservatism, and increased diversification have all contributed to the inverse latitudinal gradient in Stenammini. Among these processes, niche conservatism may be less important given that the tribe has dispersed to the tropics multiple times.

scholarly journals Climatic niche conservatism in a clade of disease vectors (Diptera: Phlebotominae)

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel R. R. D'Agostino ◽  
Rafael Vivero ◽  
Luis Romero ◽  
Eduar Bejarano ◽  
Allen H Hurlbert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climatic Niche ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Disease Vector ◽  
Climate Niche ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Latitudinal Range

Sandflies of the family Psychodidae show notable diversity in both disease vector status and climatic niche. Some species (in the subfamily Phlebotominae) transmit Leishmania parasites, responsible for the disease leishmaniasis. Other Psychodidae species do not. Psychodid species ranges can be solely tropical, confined to the temperate zones, or span both. Studying the relationship between the evolution of disease vector status and that of climatic niche affords an understanding not only of the climate conditions associated with the presence and species richness of Leishmania vectors, but also allows the study of the extent to which the climatic niches of psychodid flies are conserved, in a context with implications for global human health. We obtained observation site data, and associated climate data, for 223 psychodid species to understand which aspects of climate most closely predict distribution. Temperature and seasonality are strong determinants of species occurrence within the clade. We built a mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of Psychodidae, and found a positive relationship between pairwise genetic distance and climate niche differentiation, which indicates strong niche conservatism. This result is also supported by strong phylogenetic signals of metrics of climate differentiation. Finally, we used ancestral trait reconstruction to infer the tropicality (i.e., proportion of latitudinal range in the tropics minus the proportion of the latitudinal range in temperate areas) of ancestral species, and counted transitions to and from tropicality states, finding that tropical and temperate species respectively produced almost entirely tropical and temperate descendant species, a result consistent for vector and non-vector species. Taken together, these results imply that while vectors of Leishmania can survive in a variety of climates, their climate niches are strongly predicted by phylogeny.

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