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Evolution and the latitudinal diversity gradient: speciation, extinction and biogeography

  1. Gary G. Mittelbach1,*,
  2. Douglas W. Schemske2,
  3. Howard V. Cornell3,
  4. Andrew P. Allen4,
  5. Jonathan M. Brown5,
  6. Mark B. Bush6,
  7. Susan P. Harrison3,
  8. Allen H. Hurlbert4,
  9. Nancy Knowlton7,
  10. Harilaos A. Lessios8,
  11. Christy M. McCain4,
  12. Amy R. McCune9,
  13. Lucinda A. McDade10,
  14. Mark A. McPeek11,
  15. Thomas J. Near12,
  16. Trevor D. Price13,
  17. Robert E. Ricklefs14,
  18. Kaustuv Roy15,
  19. Dov F. Sax16,
  20. Dolph Schluter17,
  21. James M. Sobel2,
  22. Michael Turelli18

Article first published online: 20 FEB 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01020.x

Issue

Ecology Letters

Ecology Letters

Volume 10, Issue 4, pages 315–331, April 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Mittelbach, G. G., Schemske, D. W., Cornell, H. V., Allen, A. P., Brown, J. M., Bush, M. B., Harrison, S. P., Hurlbert, A. H., Knowlton, N., Lessios, H. A., McCain, C. M., McCune, A. R., McDade, L. A., McPeek, M. A., Near, T. J., Price, T. D., Ricklefs, R. E., Roy, K., Sax, D. F., Schluter, D., Sobel, J. M. and Turelli, M. (2007), Evolution and the latitudinal diversity gradient: speciation, extinction and biogeography. Ecology Letters, 10: 315–331. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01020.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI 49060, USA

  2. 2

    Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

  3. 3

    Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

  4. 4

    National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA

  5. 5

    Biology Department, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112, USA

  6. 6

    Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA

  7. 7

    Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

  8. 8

    Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Panama

  9. 9

    Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

  10. 10

    Department of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA

  11. 11

    Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA

  12. 12

    Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA

  13. 13

    Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

  14. 14

    Department of Biology, University of Missouri, St Louis, MO 63121, USA

  15. 15

    Section of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

  16. 16

    Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

  17. 17

    Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada

  18. 18

    Section on Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

* * E-mail: mittelbach@kbs.msu.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 FEB 2007
  2. Article first published online: 20 FEB 2007
  3. Editor, Jonathan Chase Manuscript received 31 July 2006 First decision made 5 September 2006 Second decision made 30 December 2006 Manuscript accepted 13 January 2007

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Keywords:

  • Biodiversity;
  • biotic interactions;
  • diversification;
  • evolutionary speed;
  • extinction;
  • geographical isolation;
  • latitudinal diversity gradient;
  • speciation;
  • tropics

Abstract

A latitudinal gradient in biodiversity has existed since before the time of the dinosaurs, yet how and why this gradient arose remains unresolved. Here we review two major hypotheses for the origin of the latitudinal diversity gradient. The time and area hypothesis holds that tropical climates are older and historically larger, allowing more opportunity for diversification. This hypothesis is supported by observations that temperate taxa are often younger than, and nested within, tropical taxa, and that diversity is positively correlated with the age and area of geographical regions. The diversification rate hypothesis holds that tropical regions diversify faster due to higher rates of speciation (caused by increased opportunities for the evolution of reproductive isolation, or faster molecular evolution, or the increased importance of biotic interactions), or due to lower extinction rates. There is phylogenetic evidence for higher rates of diversification in tropical clades, and palaeontological data demonstrate higher rates of origination for tropical taxa, but mixed evidence for latitudinal differences in extinction rates. Studies of latitudinal variation in incipient speciation also suggest faster speciation in the tropics. Distinguishing the roles of history, speciation and extinction in the origin of the latitudinal gradient represents a major challenge to future research.

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