Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 103, Issue 24, Pages 9130-9135Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0603587103
Keywords
allopatric speciation; biodiversity; macroevolution; metabolic theory of ecology; molecular clock
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Funding
- NIGMS NIH HHS [1 P50 GM68763-02, P50 GM068763] Funding Source: Medline
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Latitudinal gradients of biodiversity and macroevolutionary dynamics are prominent yet poorly understood. We derive a model that quantifies the role of kinetic energy in generating biodiversity. The model predicts that rates of genetic divergence and speciation are both governed by metabolic rate and therefore show the same exponential temperature dependence (activation energy of approximate to 0.65 eV; 1 eV = 1.602 x 10(-19) J). Predictions are supported by global datasets from planktonic foraminifera for rates of DNA evolution and speciation spanning 30 million years. As predicted by the model, rates of speciation increase toward the tropics even after controlling for the greater ocean coverage at tropical latitudes. Our model and results indicate that individual metabolic rate is a primary determinant of evolutionary rates: approximate to 10(13) J of energy flux per gram of tissue generates one substitution per nucleotide in the nuclear genome, and approximate to 10(23) J of energy flux per population generates a new species of foraminifera.
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