Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation
Aim: Higher-elevation areas on islands and continental mountains tend to be separated by longer distances, predicting higher endemism at higher elevations; our study is the first to test the generality of the predicted pattern. We also compare it empirically with contrasting expectations from hypoth...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34319/ |
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| author | Steinbauer, Manuel J. Field, Richard Grytnes, John Arvid Trigas, Panayiotis Ah-Peng, Claudine Attore, Fabio Birks, H. John B. Borges, Paulo A.V. Cardoso, Pedro Chou, Chang-Hung De Sanctis, Michele |
| author_facet | Steinbauer, Manuel J. Field, Richard Grytnes, John Arvid Trigas, Panayiotis Ah-Peng, Claudine Attore, Fabio Birks, H. John B. Borges, Paulo A.V. Cardoso, Pedro Chou, Chang-Hung De Sanctis, Michele |
| author_sort | Steinbauer, Manuel J. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Aim: Higher-elevation areas on islands and continental mountains tend to be separated by longer distances, predicting higher endemism at higher elevations; our study is the first to test the generality of the predicted pattern. We also compare it empirically with contrasting expectations from hypotheses invoking higher speciation with area, temperature and species richness.
Location: Thirty-two insular and 18 continental elevational gradients from around the world.
Methods: We compiled entire floras with elevation-specific occurrence information, and calculated the proportion of native species that are endemic (‘percent endemism’) in 100-m bands, for each of the 50 elevational gradients. Using generalized linear models, we tested the relationships between percent endemism and elevation, isolation, temperature, area and species richness.
Results: Percent endemism consistently increased monotonically with elevation, globally. This was independent of richness–elevation relationships, which had varying shapes but decreased with elevation at high elevations. The endemism–elevation relationships were consistent with isolation-related predictions, but inconsistent with hypotheses related to area, richness and temperature.
Main conclusions: Higher per-species speciation rates caused by increasing isolation with elevation are the most plausible and parsimonious explanation for the globally consistent pattern of higher endemism at higher elevations that we identify. We suggest that topography-driven isolation increases speciation rates in mountainous areas, across all elevations and increasingly towards the equator. If so, it represents a mechanism that may contribute to generating latitudinal diversity gradients in a way that is consistent with both present-day and palaeontological evidence. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34319 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:19Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-343192020-05-04T17:55:50Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34319/ Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation Steinbauer, Manuel J. Field, Richard Grytnes, John Arvid Trigas, Panayiotis Ah-Peng, Claudine Attore, Fabio Birks, H. John B. Borges, Paulo A.V. Cardoso, Pedro Chou, Chang-Hung De Sanctis, Michele Aim: Higher-elevation areas on islands and continental mountains tend to be separated by longer distances, predicting higher endemism at higher elevations; our study is the first to test the generality of the predicted pattern. We also compare it empirically with contrasting expectations from hypotheses invoking higher speciation with area, temperature and species richness. Location: Thirty-two insular and 18 continental elevational gradients from around the world. Methods: We compiled entire floras with elevation-specific occurrence information, and calculated the proportion of native species that are endemic (‘percent endemism’) in 100-m bands, for each of the 50 elevational gradients. Using generalized linear models, we tested the relationships between percent endemism and elevation, isolation, temperature, area and species richness. Results: Percent endemism consistently increased monotonically with elevation, globally. This was independent of richness–elevation relationships, which had varying shapes but decreased with elevation at high elevations. The endemism–elevation relationships were consistent with isolation-related predictions, but inconsistent with hypotheses related to area, richness and temperature. Main conclusions: Higher per-species speciation rates caused by increasing isolation with elevation are the most plausible and parsimonious explanation for the globally consistent pattern of higher endemism at higher elevations that we identify. We suggest that topography-driven isolation increases speciation rates in mountainous areas, across all elevations and increasingly towards the equator. If so, it represents a mechanism that may contribute to generating latitudinal diversity gradients in a way that is consistent with both present-day and palaeontological evidence. Wiley 2016-06-21 Article PeerReviewed Steinbauer, Manuel J., Field, Richard, Grytnes, John Arvid, Trigas, Panayiotis, Ah-Peng, Claudine, Attore, Fabio, Birks, H. John B., Borges, Paulo A.V., Cardoso, Pedro, Chou, Chang-Hung and De Sanctis, Michele (2016) Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation. Global Ecology and Biogeography . ISSN 1466-8238 Altitude; biogeographical processes; diversity; ecological mechanisms; endemism; global relationship; isolation; latitudinal gradient; mixed-effects models; sky islands http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12469/abstract doi:10.1111/geb.12469 doi:10.1111/geb.12469 |
| spellingShingle | Altitude; biogeographical processes; diversity; ecological mechanisms; endemism; global relationship; isolation; latitudinal gradient; mixed-effects models; sky islands Steinbauer, Manuel J. Field, Richard Grytnes, John Arvid Trigas, Panayiotis Ah-Peng, Claudine Attore, Fabio Birks, H. John B. Borges, Paulo A.V. Cardoso, Pedro Chou, Chang-Hung De Sanctis, Michele Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation |
| title | Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation |
| title_full | Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation |
| title_fullStr | Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation |
| title_short | Topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation |
| title_sort | topography-driven isolation, speciation and a global increase of endemism with elevation |
| topic | Altitude; biogeographical processes; diversity; ecological mechanisms; endemism; global relationship; isolation; latitudinal gradient; mixed-effects models; sky islands |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34319/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34319/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34319/ |