Journal
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
Volume 34, Issue 3, Pages 211-223Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2018.11.009
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Funding
- sDiv, Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig [DFG FZT 118]
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- Czech Science Foundation [16-26369S]
- German Research Foundation [DFG FR 3246/2-1]
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The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most widely studied patterns in ecology, yet no consensus has been reached about its underlying causes. We argue that the reasons for this are the verbal nature of existing hypotheses, the failure to mechanistically link interacting ecological and evolutionary processes to the LDG, and the fact that empirical patterns are often consistent with multiple explanations. To address this issue, we synthesize current LDG hypotheses, uncovering their eco-evolutionary mechanisms, hidden assumptions, and commonalities. Furthermore, we propose mechanistic eco-evolutionary modeling and an inferential approach that makes use of geographic, phylogenetic, and trait-based patterns to assess the relative importance of different processes for generating the LDG.
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