Eastern Pacific molluscan provinces and latitudinal diversity gradient: no evidence for "Rapoport's rule".

AUTOR(ES)

Roy, K

RESUMO

"Rapoport's rule," which has gained wide acceptance as a potential explanation for latitudinal and other diversity gradients, holds that mean latitudinal range of species decreases toward the equator. We analyzed latitudinal ranges of 2838 eastern Pacific marine molluscan species, a subset of which figured in the original formulation of Rapoport's rule, and failed to find the predicted trends. Instead, species diversity gradients and range magnitudes appear to vary independently, with the spatial distribution of major oceanographic barriers exerting a strong influence on latitudinal ranges. Biogeographic structure should, therefore, be an important element in the assessment of diversity patterns.

Documentos Relacionados

• The weighted gradient: a color image gradient applied to morphological segmentation
• Formation of the bicoid morphogen gradient: an mRNA gradient dictates the protein gradient
• Response of mangrove plant species to a saline gradient: Implications for ecological restoration
• Expanding diversity in the mantis shrimps: two new genera from the eastern and western Pacific (Crustacea: Stomatopoda: Squillidae)
• Molecular microbial diversity in soils from eastern Amazonia: evidence for unusual microorganisms and microbial population shifts associated with deforestation.