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Related Experiment Video

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Field-Based Thermal Physiology Assay: Cold Shock Recovery under Ambient Conditions

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Published on: March 9, 2021

Ephemeral ecological speciation and the latitudinal biodiversity gradient.

Asher D Cutter¹, Jeremy C Gray²

¹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2, Canada. asher.cutter@utoronto.ca.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution

|August 10, 2016

Summary

Tropical biodiversity is richer than in high latitudes due to microevolutionary processes. Environmental harshness drives local adaptation and speciation, but high-latitude species are prone to extinction, explaining biodiversity patterns.

Keywords:

Adaptation biodiversity extinction latitude speciation

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Ecology
Population Genetics

Background:

Global biodiversity shows a conspicuous latitudinal gradient, with tropics being richer than high-latitude regions.
Existing hypotheses often lack explicit microevolutionary mechanisms to explain this pattern.
Population genetics, selection, adaptation, and environmental factors are key to understanding macroecological patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

To link microevolutionary processes (speciation, extinction) with macroecological patterns of biodiversity.
To investigate the role of environmental factors and selection in driving biodiversity gradients.
To propose a mechanistic explanation for latitudinal biodiversity patterns.

Main Methods:

Linking population genetic processes (selection, adaptation) to speciation and extinction.
Examining the interaction between environmental factors and eco-evolutionary drivers.
Conceptualizing "environmental harshness" as equivalent to "hard selection".

Main Results:

High-latitude regions act as both "cradles" and "graves" for species diversification.
"Environmental harshness" and "hard selection" are identified as drivers of local adaptation and ecological speciation.
Ecological speciation is proposed to occur more readily at high latitudes.

Conclusions:

Nascent high-latitude species are prone to extinction through fusion, supporting the "ephemeral ecological speciation hypothesis".
This hypothesis provides a mechanistic explanation for latitudinal gradients in species turnover and biodiversity accumulation.
The study integrates microevolutionary and macroecological perspectives to explain global biodiversity patterns.