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Global elevational diversity and diversification of birds
Ignacio Quintero1, Walter Jetz1,2
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Nature
|February 22, 2018
Summary
Biodiversity peaks in mountains are often due to widespread species, not higher diversification. Higher elevations show linear declines in richness, with rapid diversification driving unique montane biodiversity.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Biodiversity Science
Background:
- Mountain ranges are biodiversity hotspots facing environmental threats.
- Global characterization of elevational biodiversity gradients has been limited by data and tools.
- Understanding montane community assembly and maintenance processes is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To globally characterize elevational biodiversity gradients and their evolutionary origins.
- To investigate the drivers of bird richness patterns in mountain ranges.
- To understand the role of diversification rates in shaping montane biodiversity.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of bird species richness across global mountain ranges.
- Subsampling procedures to account for species range size.
- Comparison of diversification rates across elevational gradients.
Main Results:
- A worldwide mid-elevation peak in bird richness is an artifact of wide-ranging species.
- Richness corrected for range size declines linearly with increasing elevation.
- Higher elevation, depauperate assemblages show higher diversification rates.
- Past temperature change rates correlate with diversification rates across elevations.
Conclusions:
- The apparent mid-elevation peak in bird richness is an artifact of species range size.
- Higher elevation biodiversity is shaped by ongoing, recent diversification processes.
- Climatic fluctuations are key drivers of evolutionary dynamics in mountain biodiversity.
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