Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness
Although many taxa show a latitudinal gradient in richness, the relationship between latitude and species richness is often asymmetrical between the northern and southern hemispheres. Here we examine the latitudinal pattern of species richness across 1003 local ant assemblages. We find latitudinal a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Ecological Society of America
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43715 |
| _version_ | 1848756784583409664 |
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| author | Dunn, Robert Agosti, D. Andersen, A. Arnan, X. Bruhl, C. Cerda, X. Ellison, A. Fisher, B. Fitzpatrick, M. Gibb, H. Gotelli, N. Gove, Aaron Guenard, B. Janda, M. Kaspari, M. Laurent, E. Lessard, J. Longino, J. Majer, Jonathan Menke, S. McGlynn, T. Parr, C. Philpott, S. Pfeiffer, M. Retana, J. Suarez, A. Vasconcelos, H. Weiser, M. Sanders, N. |
| author_facet | Dunn, Robert Agosti, D. Andersen, A. Arnan, X. Bruhl, C. Cerda, X. Ellison, A. Fisher, B. Fitzpatrick, M. Gibb, H. Gotelli, N. Gove, Aaron Guenard, B. Janda, M. Kaspari, M. Laurent, E. Lessard, J. Longino, J. Majer, Jonathan Menke, S. McGlynn, T. Parr, C. Philpott, S. Pfeiffer, M. Retana, J. Suarez, A. Vasconcelos, H. Weiser, M. Sanders, N. |
| author_sort | Dunn, Robert |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Although many taxa show a latitudinal gradient in richness, the relationship between latitude and species richness is often asymmetrical between the northern and southern hemispheres. Here we examine the latitudinal pattern of species richness across 1003 local ant assemblages. We find latitudinal asymmetry, with southern hemisphere sites being more diverse than northern hemisphere sites. Most of this asymmetry could be explained statistically by differences in contemporary climate. Local ant species richness was positively associated with temperature, but negatively (although weakly) associated with temperature range and precipitation. After contemporary climate was accounted for, a modest difference in diversity between hemispheres persisted, suggesting that factors other than contemporary climate contributed to the hemispherical asymmetry. The most parsimonious explanation for this remaining asymmetry is that greater climate change since the Eocene in the northern than in the southern hemisphere has led to more extinctions in the northern hemisphere with consequent effects on local ant species richness. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:17:42Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-43715 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:17:42Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | Ecological Society of America |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-437152019-05-21T07:08:02Z Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness Dunn, Robert Agosti, D. Andersen, A. Arnan, X. Bruhl, C. Cerda, X. Ellison, A. Fisher, B. Fitzpatrick, M. Gibb, H. Gotelli, N. Gove, Aaron Guenard, B. Janda, M. Kaspari, M. Laurent, E. Lessard, J. Longino, J. Majer, Jonathan Menke, S. McGlynn, T. Parr, C. Philpott, S. Pfeiffer, M. Retana, J. Suarez, A. Vasconcelos, H. Weiser, M. Sanders, N. Although many taxa show a latitudinal gradient in richness, the relationship between latitude and species richness is often asymmetrical between the northern and southern hemispheres. Here we examine the latitudinal pattern of species richness across 1003 local ant assemblages. We find latitudinal asymmetry, with southern hemisphere sites being more diverse than northern hemisphere sites. Most of this asymmetry could be explained statistically by differences in contemporary climate. Local ant species richness was positively associated with temperature, but negatively (although weakly) associated with temperature range and precipitation. After contemporary climate was accounted for, a modest difference in diversity between hemispheres persisted, suggesting that factors other than contemporary climate contributed to the hemispherical asymmetry. The most parsimonious explanation for this remaining asymmetry is that greater climate change since the Eocene in the northern than in the southern hemisphere has led to more extinctions in the northern hemisphere with consequent effects on local ant species richness. 2009 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43715 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01291.x Ecological Society of America restricted |
| spellingShingle | Dunn, Robert Agosti, D. Andersen, A. Arnan, X. Bruhl, C. Cerda, X. Ellison, A. Fisher, B. Fitzpatrick, M. Gibb, H. Gotelli, N. Gove, Aaron Guenard, B. Janda, M. Kaspari, M. Laurent, E. Lessard, J. Longino, J. Majer, Jonathan Menke, S. McGlynn, T. Parr, C. Philpott, S. Pfeiffer, M. Retana, J. Suarez, A. Vasconcelos, H. Weiser, M. Sanders, N. Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness |
| title | Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness |
| title_full | Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness |
| title_fullStr | Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness |
| title_short | Climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness |
| title_sort | climatic drivers of hemispheric asymmetry in global patterns of ant species richness |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43715 |