Evolution and the latitudinal diversity gradient: speciation, extinction and biogeography

doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01020.x

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Wiley InterScience

Ecology Letters

Volume 10 Issue 4, Pages 315 - 331

Published Online: 20 Feb 2007

Published on behalf of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS

Evolution and the latitudinal diversity gradient: speciation, extinction and biogeography

Gary G. Mittelbach ¹*, Douglas W. Schemske ² , Howard V. Cornell ³ , Andrew P. Allen ⁴ , Jonathan M. Brown ⁵ , Mark B. Bush ⁶ , Susan P. Harrison ³ , Allen H. Hurlbert ⁴ , Nancy Knowlton ⁷ , Harilaos A. Lessios ⁸ , Christy M. McCain ⁴ , Amy R. McCune ⁹ , Lucinda A. McDade ¹⁰ , Mark A. McPeek ¹¹ , Thomas J. Near ¹² , Trevor D. Price ¹³ , Robert E. Ricklefs ¹⁴ , Kaustuv Roy ¹⁵ , Dov F. Sax ¹⁶ , Dolph Schluter ¹⁷ , James M. Sobel ² and Michael Turelli ¹⁸

¹ W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI 49060, USA
² Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
³ Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
⁴ National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA
⁵ Biology Department, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112, USA
⁶ Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
⁷ Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
⁸ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Panama
⁹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
¹⁰ Department of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA
¹¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
¹² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
¹³ Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
¹⁴ Department of Biology, University of Missouri, St Louis, MO 63121, USA
¹⁵ Section of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
¹⁶ Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
¹⁷ Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
¹⁸ Section on Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Correspondence to * E-mail: mittelbach@kbs.msu.edu

KEYWORDS

Biodiversity • biotic interactions • diversification • evolutionary speed • extinction • geographical isolation • latitudinal diversity gradient • speciation • tropics

ABSTRACT

A latitudinal gradient in biodiversity has existed since before the time of the dinosaurs, yet how and why this gradient arose remains unresolved. Here we review two major hypotheses for the origin of the latitudinal diversity gradient. The time and area hypothesis holds that tropical climates are older and historically larger, allowing more opportunity for diversification. This hypothesis is supported by observations that temperate taxa are often younger than, and nested within, tropical taxa, and that diversity is positively correlated with the age and area of geographical regions. The diversification rate hypothesis holds that tropical regions diversify faster due to higher rates of speciation (caused by increased opportunities for the evolution of reproductive isolation, or faster molecular evolution, or the increased importance of biotic interactions), or due to lower extinction rates. There is phylogenetic evidence for higher rates of diversification in tropical clades, and palaeontological data demonstrate higher rates of origination for tropical taxa, but mixed evidence for latitudinal differences in extinction rates. Studies of latitudinal variation in incipient speciation also suggest faster speciation in the tropics. Distinguishing the roles of history, speciation and extinction in the origin of the latitudinal gradient represents a major challenge to future research.

Editor, Jonathan Chase Manuscript received 31 July 2006 First decision made 5 September 2006 Second decision made 30 December 2006 Manuscript accepted 13 January 2007

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01020.x About DOI