scholarly journals Latitudinal Diversity Gradients and Rapoport Effects in Chinese Endemic Woody Seed Plants

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1029
Author(s):  
Hua Liu ◽  
Ruoyun Yu ◽  
Jihong Huang ◽  
Yibo Liu ◽  
Runguo Zang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Seed Plants ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Diversity Gradients ◽  
Rapoport’S Rule ◽  
Latitudinal Patterns

The distribution of plant species diversity has long been a major focus on biogeography. Yet, the universality of the popular Rapoport’s rule remains controversial for endemic plants, as previous studies have focused more on broad-ranged species. Here, we collected data for 4418 endemic woody seed plant species across China, including trees, shrubs, and lianas, to explore the latitudinal patterns of species range size and richness, and test the relevant biogeographic law. The species range size distribution was examined for conformity with Rapoport’s rule using four methods (i.e., Steven’s, Pagel’s, the mid-point, and the across-species method). Spatial patterns of species richness along latitudinal gradient were also investigated by parabolic regression. Results showed that species range size increased with latitude for all species as well as by trees, shrubs and lianas, especially assessed by Pagel’s method. Species richness was highest at low latitude, where species range size was smallest, and decreased with increasing latitude. The species range size and richness of shrubs were maximum, followed by trees then lianas. These findings prove that Rapoport’s rule is strongly supported by latitudinal patterns of species distribution in Chinese endemic woody seed plants.

scholarly journals Rapoport's rule and determinants of species range size in snakes

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 1472-1481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Böhm ◽  
Rachael Kemp ◽  
Rhiannon Williams ◽  
Ana D. Davidson ◽  
Andrés Garcia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Range Size ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Rapoport’S Rule

scholarly journals Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil

Rodriguésia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 1085-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela C. Zappi ◽  
Fabiana L. Ranzato Filardi ◽  
Paula Leitman ◽  
Vinícius C. Souza ◽  
Bruno M.T. Walter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Amazon Rainforest ◽  
Atlantic Rainforest ◽  
Seed Plants ◽  
Seed Plant ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Brazilian Biodiversity

Abstract An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country's biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and 23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes: trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa, and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique and diverse flora.

scholarly journals Unifying latitudinal gradients in range size and richness across marine and terrestrial systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1830) ◽  
pp. 20153027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Tomašových ◽  
Jonathan D. Kennedy ◽  
Tristan J. Betzner ◽  
Nicole Bitler Kuehnle ◽  
Stewart Edie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Species Diversification ◽  
Marine Bivalves ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Genus Expansion

Many marine and terrestrial clades show similar latitudinal gradients in species richness, but opposite gradients in range size—on land, ranges are the smallest in the tropics, whereas in the sea, ranges are the largest in the tropics. Therefore, richness gradients in marine and terrestrial systems do not arise from a shared latitudinal arrangement of species range sizes. Comparing terrestrial birds and marine bivalves, we find that gradients in range size are concordant at the level of genera. Here, both groups show a nested pattern in which narrow-ranging genera are confined to the tropics and broad-ranging genera extend across much of the gradient. We find that (i) genus range size and its variation with latitude is closely associated with per-genus species richness and (ii) broad-ranging genera contain more species both within and outside of the tropics when compared with tropical- or temperate-only genera. Within-genus species diversification thus promotes genus expansion to novel latitudes. Despite underlying differences in the species range-size gradients, species-rich genera are more likely to produce a descendant that extends its range relative to the ancestor's range. These results unify species richness gradients with those of genera, implying that birds and bivalves share similar latitudinal dynamics in net species diversification.

scholarly journals The relationship between species elevational range size of breeding birds, temperature range, primary productivity, habitat heterogeneity, and species richness: an empirical test of related environmental hypotheses and rescue effect in the Eastern Himalayas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shutian Chen ◽  
Paras Singh ◽  
Huijian Hu ◽  
Zhifeng Ding ◽  
Zhixin Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Habitat Heterogeneity ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Rescue Effect ◽  
Temperature Range ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Elevational Range ◽  
The Relationship

Describing the pattern and variations in spatial pattern of biodiversity and revealing its underlying mechanisms remain a central focus in ecology. However, less attention was paid to the species range size, and few studies have explored the drivers of species range size and the relationship between species range size and species richness (rescue effect). Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of breeding birds collected from 2018 to 2019 along the elevational gradient in Lebu Valley, Eastern Himalayas of China to explore the a) species mean elevational range size pattern, b) drivers influencing species mean elevational range size, and c) rescue effect. We found that species mean elevational range size of birds in Lebu Valley was a hump-shaped pattern (species mean elevational range size was largest at middle elevations), and the annual temperature range and normalized vegetation index were the most important explanatory variables for the species mean elevational range size pattern. However, species mean elevational range size was negatively correlated with the annual temperature range and positively correlated with the normalized vegetation index, respectively. These results were contrary to the predictions of the climate variability hypothesis and the ambient energy hypothesis. In addition, the correlation between species mean elevational range size and habitat heterogeneity was weak, which indicated that the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis also failed to predict the breeding bird mean elevational range size pattern in Lebu Valley. Moreover, we found the hump-shaped species richness pattern, which could also be resulted from non-directional rescue effect. Given the uncertainty in mean elevational range size pattern and the fact that much of the previous research has rarely tested the relationship between species range size and richness patterns, hypotheses explaining the elevational range size and the underlying mechanisms should be tested in more studies of different taxa and regions.

scholarly journals Seed traits and phylogeny explain plant distribution at large geographic scale

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Chen ◽  
Kevin S. Burgess ◽  
Fangliang He ◽  
Xiang-Yun Yang ◽  
Lian-Ming Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Seed Plants ◽  
Seed Traits ◽  
Geographic Scale ◽  
Dispersal Mode ◽  
Joint Effects

Abstract. Understanding the mechanisms that shape the geographic distribution of plant species is a central theme of biogeography. Although seed mass, seed dispersal mode and phylogeny have long been suspected to affect species distribution, the link between the sources of variation of these attributes and their joint effects to the distribution of seed plants remain poorly documented. This study aims to quantify the joint effects of key seed traits and phylogeny on the species' distribution. We collected seed mass and seed dispersal mode from 1,616 species of seed plants representing 554 genera of 130 families. We used 5,639,009 specimens to calculate species range size through ArcGIS10.2. Phylogenetic generalized least squares regression modeling and variation partitioning were performed to estimate the joint effects of seed mass, seed dispersal mode and phylogeny on species distribution. We found that species range size was constrained by seed dispersal mode and phylogeny. Seed mass and its intraspecific variation were also important in limiting species distribution, but their effects were different among species with different dispersal modes. Variation partitioning revealed that seed mass, seed mass variability, seed dispersal mode and phylogeny together explained 40.44 % of the variance in species range size. Seed traits are not typically used to model the geographic distributions of seed plants. This study provides direct evidence that seed mass, seed dispersal modes and phylogeny explain species distribution variation on a large geographic scale. Our findings underscore the necessity to include seed traits and the phylogenetic history of species, together with existing climate-based niche models, in predicting the response of plant geographic distribution to climate change.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document