Journal
ACTA OECOLOGICA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
Volume 39, Issue -, Pages 67-71Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.actao.2011.12.003
Keywords
beta-Diversity; Energy availability; Latitudinal diversity gradient; Species-energy relationship; Species turnover
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Patterns in beta diversity or species turnover, describing the change in species composition between places, have their wide implication for ecological and evolutionary issues. It is thought that beta diversity increases with increasing energy availability, but very few studies have directly tested this hypothesis. We examined the beta diversity-energy relationship for four classes of terrestrial vertebrates (mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians) in ecoregions across the world. The relationship was examined for each class in each of six biogeographic realms. We show that beta diversity is generally higher in areas with higher energy availability, measured as annual potential evapotranspiration. A higher level of beta diversity in areas with higher energy availability may have contributed to the well-known latitudinal diversity gradient (i.e., species richness increases towards the equator). (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
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