Journal
QUATERNARY RESEARCH
Volume 82, Issue 1, Pages 260-269Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.yqres.2014.02.003
Keywords
Late Quaternary extinctions; Quantile regression; Triangular-shaped envelopes; Species sorting; Body size; Range shift; Habitat tracking; Climate changes; Extinction risk; North America
Funding
- FAPEG [2012.1026.700.1086]
- Ramon y Cajal Fellowship from the Spanish State Secretary for Research, Development and Innovation
- European Science Foundation
- Czech Republic, from the Education for Competitiveness Operational Programme (ECOP) project 'Support of establishment, development and mobility of quality research teams at the Charles University' [CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0022]
- CNPq
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Quantitative analysis of macroecological patterns for late Pleistocene assemblages can be useful for disentangling the causes of late Quaternary extinctions (LQE). However, previous analyses have usually assumed linear relationships between macroecological traits, such as body size and range size/range shift, that may have led to erroneous interpretations. Here, we analyzed mammalian datasets to show how macroecological patterns support climate change as an important driver of the LQE, which is contrary to previous analyses that did not account for more complex relationships among traits. We employed quantile regression methods that allow a detailed and fine-tuned quantitative analysis of complex macroecological patterns revealed as polygonal relationships (i.e., constraint envelopes). We showed that these triangular-shaped envelopes that describe the macroecological relationship between body size and geographical range shift reflect nonrandom extinction processes under which the large-bodied species are more prone to extinction during events of severe habitat loss, such as glacial/interglacial transitions. Hence, we provide both a theoretical background and methodological framework to better understand how climate change induces body size-biased species sorting and shapes complex macroecological patterns. (C) 2014 University of Washington. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available