The latitudinal gradient in recent speciation and extinction rates of birds and mammals

Although the tropics harbor greater numbers of species than do temperate zones, it is not known whether the rates of speciation and extinction also follow a latitudinal gradient. By sampling birds and mammals, we found that the distribution of the evolutionary ages of sister species-pairs of species in which each is the other's closest relative-adheres to a latitudinal gradient. The time to divergence for sister species is shorter at high latitudes and longer in the tropics. Birth-death models fitting these data estimate that the highest recent speciation and extinction rates occur at high latitudes and decline toward the tropics. These results conflict with the prevailing view that links high tropical diversity to elevated tropical speciation rates. Instead, our findings suggest that faster turnover at high latitudes contributes to the latitudinal diversity gradient.     

Global warming, elevational range shifts, and lowland biotic attrition in the wet tropics

Many studies suggest that global warming is driving species ranges poleward and toward higher elevations at temperate latitudes, but evidence for range shifts is scarce for the tropics, where the shallow latitudinal temperature gradient makes upslope shifts more likely than poleward shifts. Based on new data for plants and insects on an elevational transect in Costa Rica, we assess the potential for lowland biotic attrition, range-shift gaps, and mountaintop extinctions under projected warming. We conclude that tropical lowland biotas may face a level of net lowland biotic attrition without parallel at higher latitudes (where range shifts may be compensated for by species from lower latitudes) and that a high proportion of tropical species soon faces gaps between current and projected elevational ranges.     

云南地区棕榈科植物多样性的空间分布格局

以大尺度的物种分布信息为基础,探讨了云南地区棕榈科植物多样性的地理分布格局。结果表明,云南地区的棕榈科植物大多数为狭域分布物种;在海拔梯度上,从低海拔到高海拔,棕榈科植物多样性呈递减趋势;在纬度梯度上,从南到北,该科植物多样性亦呈逐渐递减的分布格局。棕榈科植物的多样性分布格局与该科植物起源于热带地区以及由此决定的生态特性有关。     

Why are there so many species of herbivorous insects in tropical rainforests?

Despite recent progress in understanding mechanisms of tree species coexistence in tropical forests, a simple explanation for the even more extensive diversity of insects feeding on these plants has been missing. We compared folivorous insects from temperate and tropical trees to test the hypothesis that herbivore species coexistence in more diverse communities could reflect narrow host specificity relative to less diverse communities. Temperate and tropical tree species of comparable phylogenetic distribution supported similar numbers of folivorous insect species, 29.0 +/- 2.2 and 23.5 +/- 1.8 per 100 square meters of foliage, respectively. Host specificity did not differ significantly between community samples, indicating that food resources are not more finely partitioned among folivorous insects in tropical than in temperate forests. These findings suggest that the latitudinal gradient in insect species richness could be a direct function of plant diversity, which increased sevenfold from our temperate to tropical study sites.     

Disentangling the drivers of β diversity along latitudinal and elevational gradients

Understanding spatial variation in biodiversity along environmental gradients is a central theme in ecology. Differences in species compositional turnover among sites (β diversity) occurring along gradients are often used to infer variation in the processes structuring communities. Here, we show that sampling alone predicts changes in β diversity caused simply by changes in the sizes of species pools. For example, forest inventories sampled along latitudinal and elevational gradients show the well-documented pattern that β diversity is higher in the tropics and at low elevations. However, after correcting for variation in pooled species richness (γ diversity), these differences in β diversity disappear. Therefore, there is no need to invoke differences in the mechanisms of community assembly in temperate versus tropical systems to explain these global-scale patterns of β diversity.     

Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming

The distributions of many terrestrial organisms are currently shifting in latitude or elevation in response to changing climate. Using a meta-analysis, we estimated that the distributions of species have recently shifted to higher elevations at a median rate of 11.0 meters per decade, and to higher latitudes at a median rate of 16.9 kilometers per decade. These rates are approximately two and three times faster than previously reported. The distances moved by species are greatest in studies showing the highest levels of warming, with average latitudinal shifts being generally sufficient to track temperature changes. However, individual species vary greatly in their rates of change, suggesting that the range shift of each species depends on multiple internal species traits and external drivers of change. Rapid average shifts derive from a wide diversity of responses by individual species.     

小慈姑克隆多样性与居群分化

采用聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳和等位酶分析方法,测定了小慈姑4个自然居群的克隆多样性,结果表明小慈姑克隆多样性水平较高。在种群水平上的克隆大小(Ne)为1.670 3,基因型比率(PD)为0.598 7,克隆的基因型多样性Simpson指数(D)为0.990 1,克隆的基因型分布均匀性Fager指数(E)为0.781 1。不同居群之间在多态性位点的数目、分布以及等位基因的表现上具有较大的差异,并且居群间的遗传分化与地理因素有关。     

Paleontologic Technique for Defining Ancient Pole Positions

Taxonomnic diversity gradients appear to offer a quantitative paleontologic technique for obtaining ancient positions of the rotational pole of the earth. Statistical analysis of a model based on the taxonomic diversity of Recent planktonic foramninifera shows a close relationship to the latitudinal temperature gradient and, thus permits location of the pole. A similar analysis for Permian orthotetaceid brachiopods suggests a pole near the present position. A vailable data on diversity fit a present earth mizodel better than one based on Permian paleomagnetic results and thus suggest that it may be necesary to consider a model for the earth's magnetic field which does not require coincidence of the magnetic and rotational poles.     

Mercury concentrations in Pacific hake, Merluccius productus (Ayres), as a function of length and latitude

Mercury concentrations in Pacific hake increase with fish size and with the latitude of collection. While the mercury-size trend is consistent with data for other species, the latitudinal trend is opposite to that reported for other fishes over the same geographical area. Consequently, latitudinal trends of mercury concentrations in fishes do not necessarily indicate trends of mercury concentrations in water. Food habits and metabolism may cause the observed variations.     

A common scaling rule for abundance, energetics, and production of parasitic and free-living species

The metabolic theory of ecology uses the scaling of metabolism with body size and temperature to explain the causes and consequences of species abundance. However, the theory and its empirical tests have never simultaneously examined parasites alongside free-living species. This is unfortunate because parasites represent at least half of species diversity. We show that metabolic scaling theory could not account for the abundance of parasitic or free-living species in three estuarine food webs until accounting for trophic dynamics. Analyses then revealed that the abundance of all species uniformly scaled with body mass to the -¾ power. This result indicates "production equivalence," where biomass production within trophic levels is invariant of body size across all species and functional groups: invertebrate or vertebrate, ectothermic or endothermic, and free-living or parasitic.     

阿拉善高原植物区域物种丰富度格局及其环境解释

目的阿拉善高原境内分布着超过20万km2典型的温带荒漠生态系统,这些荒漠生态系统对全球气候与土地利用类型的变化极其敏感,然而水分、能量与生境异质性对该区植物区域物种丰富度的相对影响,以及这种影响在不同生活型植物间的差异还没有得到系统研究。方法本文利用阿拉善高原大尺度植物区域物种丰富度数据,并结合相关的气候与生境异质性数据,尝试系统地探讨阿拉善高原植物区域物种丰富度地理格局及其潜在的影响因素。结果（1）阿拉善高原植物区域物种丰富度存在显著的经纬度格局,全部物种、草本植物与木本植物区域物种丰富度均呈现出沿经度的升高而增加,沿纬度的升高而递减的变化趋势。（2）方差分解结果显示,水分与能量因子共同解释了全部物种、草本植物与木本植物区域物种丰富度60.7%、62.5%及42.6%的空间变异; 两者单独的解释率分别为15.2% ~ 19.6%与2.8% ~ 5.3%。生境异质性分别解释了3组植物区域物种丰富度17.2%、12.3%、29.3%的变异,其单独解释率分别为3.1%、1.0%和11.8%。气候因素与生境异质性对草本植物与木本植物区域物种丰富度的相对影响并不一致;草本植物物种丰富度主要由气候因素决定,而木本植物丰富度则受气候因素与生境异质性的共同控制。（3）气候与生境异质性三者共同解释了区域物种丰富度54.4% ~ 63.8%的变异,但仍然有36.2% ~ 45.6%的变异没有得到解释。结论阿拉善高原植物区域物种丰富度格局由水分与能量类气候因子共同决定,水资源可用性是阿拉善地区植物物种多样性维持最为关键的限制因子。生境异质性对阿拉善高原植物丰富度,尤其是木本植物丰富度有着不可忽略的作用,是干旱区植物多样性维持的重要影响因素。阿拉善高原不同生活型植物区域物种丰富度的影响因素可能并不一致,其他未知潜在因素对阿拉善植物区域物种丰富度亦存在着重要影响。      

海南省3座城市的植物多样性水平对比研究

目的通过对海南省3座城市的植物组成进行分析,探讨了各城市植物多样性形成差异的驱动因素,为今后城市植物多样性保护和布局等研究工作提供参考。方法以海南省的海口、文昌和三亚为研究对象,在城市规划区域内进行随机抽样的调查方法,调查内容包括样方内的物种、胸径、冠幅、株高、数量、植被覆盖面积等信息,应用β相异性指数研究群落和物种的组成差异,对各城市植物多样性在物种、功能和谱系层面进行显著性差异分析,通过对比探讨影响城市植物多样性差异的因素。结果（1）海口市规划区共统计了227种植物,归属于71科184属;三亚市规划区共统计了244种植物,归属于76科204属;文昌市规划区共统计了230种植物,归属于72科181属。（2）3座城市的乡土物种β相异性均高于外来物种,乔木层的物种β相异性比灌木层和草本层低。（3）3座城市的乔木层物种多样性指数无显著差异;文昌的灌木层物种多样性指数显著低于海口和三亚2个城市（P < 0.05）;三亚和文昌草本层的Simpson指数和Shannon-Wiener指数均呈现显著差异（P < 0.05）,且文昌的各多样性指数值较高。（4）文昌和另外2座城市之间灌木层的功能均匀度指数（FEve）和功能离散度指数（FDis）均呈现了显著差异,文昌的灌木层功能多样性指数显著低于海口和三亚（分别为P < 0.01和P < 0.001）,与灌木层的物种多样性结果一致。（5）文昌乔木层的谱系多样性指数（PD）值显著高于海口,三亚灌木层的PD指数值显著高于文昌,文昌草本层的PD指数值显著高于海口和三亚（P < 0.01）。灌木层和草本层的谱系均匀度指数（PSE）结果与PD指数一致（分别为P < 0.001和P < 0.01）,但在乔木层没有呈现显著差异（P = 0.690）。结论海南省3座城市的乡土物种组成差异性比外来物种更为明显,但整体植被种类未呈现出明显的同质性的特征。3座城市物种多样性、功能多样性和谱系多样性水平的高低趋势基本保持一致。未来研究中,分析城市中多个层面的植物多样性差异,可以更全面地对多样性格局的保护和控制提供决策依据。      

新疆霍城蝴蝶群落多样性

目的 研究新疆霍城蝴蝶的群落结构,对霍城县5种不同生境进行蝴蝶群落组成与多样性分析。方法 2016~2017年5~8月采用样线法观测蝴蝶,α–多样性测度方法分析其物种丰富度指数、均匀度指数、优势度指数及科、属和种级分类下的多样性指数。结果 共记录蝴蝶1 993只, 隶属于7科29属39种。粉蝶科个体数占比54.9%,是该地区的优势类群;绢蝶科、凤蝶科和弄蝶科是稀有类群。蝴蝶群落呈现季节性变化,蝶类种类和数量的高峰期出现在6和7月。通过不同生境蝴蝶群落多样性和相似度比较,5种生境类型的多样性指数变化趋势为山地森林>山地草原>农田>亚高山草甸>荒漠,山地草原和亚高山草甸的相似性系数较高,达到0.458,荒漠和亚高山草甸的相似性系数最低,为0.2。结论 蝴蝶群落的多样性与生境类型密切相关,植物群落的组成、海拔高度、人为干扰程度和气候等因素对蝴蝶种类组成有较大的影响。     

长白山不同林型空间格局及树种多样性多尺度分析

物种空间分布如何影响群落多样性格局目前还不清楚。以长白山针阔混交林、椴树红松林和云冷杉林3 个 5.2 hm2 样地为基础,采用Ripley爷s K 函数分析了树种的空间分布,在种群水平上检验了不同树种对局域多样性格 局的影响。研究结果显示:1)针阔混交林、椴树红松林和云冷杉林样地中绝大多数树种在小尺度上呈聚集分布;针 阔混交林样地中簇毛槭、色木槭和蒙古栎在大尺度( 30 m)上呈现随机或均匀分布;椴树红松林和云冷杉林样地 中树种空间分布受研究尺度影响较小,在不同空间尺度上树种空间格局基本一致。2)在物种组织水平上,同一树 种对不同林分的多样性格局影响存在差异。但在群落组织水平,针阔混交林、椴树红松林和云冷杉林却具有一致 的多样性格局组建规律。多样性促进种比例随着空间尺度的增加而减少,中性种比例随着空间尺度的增加而增 大。中小尺度上多样性促进种在群落构建中起主导作用,而在大尺度上中性种决定了群落多样性格局。3)绝大多 数树种的空间分布与其多样性维持作用之间没有明显关联性。少数针叶树种臭松、红松和鱼鳞松在空间聚集分布 的尺度范围越大时,其对局域群落多样性呈非促进效应的尺度范围相对也越大。建议未来从物种聚集效应角度出 发进一步探讨群落多样性的形成和维持机制。      

祁连山大通河源区高寒植被物种多样性随冻土地温梯度的变化特征

采用样方法对祁连山大通河源区高寒植被生态系统进行了调查,计算了丰富度指数、多样性指数和均匀度指数等表征物种多样性的定量指标。根据已有的等效高程模型得到植被采样点的冻土地温,并基于冻土地温时空转换模式得到一个温度从低到高的温度梯度带,通过分析高寒植被物种多样性随冻土地温梯度的变化探讨了多年冻土环境变化对高寒植被的影响。结果表明:随着冻土地温的升高,物种丰富度、物种多样性、均匀度呈上升—降低—上升趋势,并在季节冻土区内达到最大值;植被类型由高山稀疏植被向高寒草甸演替,高寒草甸向高寒沼泽草甸演替,最终向高寒草甸演替。相同植被类型在不同地温带具有不同的物种多样性分布特征,高山稀疏植被和高寒灌丛随着地温的升高呈现先增加后降低的变化趋势;高寒沼泽草甸植物群落多样性指数、丰富度指数、均匀度具有先降低后上升的变化趋势;高寒草甸的3个多样性指数随地温的升高呈上升趋势;而且在较高冻土地温环境下,高寒草甸的3个多样性指数高于高寒沼泽草甸。      

Enigmatic biodiversity correlations: ant diversity responds to diverse resources

A pattern noted in ecology is that diversity at one level begets diversity at other levels. In the case of consumers competing for similar resources, the diversity of those resources is thought to provide some degree of niche diversification in which a diverse set of consumer species can coexist. If, however, the diverse resources are not sufficiently distinct from one another, from the standpoint of the consumer species, such niche diversification will not exist. We experimentally show that a diverse array of twigs attracted 80% more species of twig-nesting ants than a monospecific collection of twigs. The specific tree species from which the twigs were derived did not explain the pattern. It appears that diversity per se at one level (twigs) creates conditions that promote diversity at another level (nesting ants).     

广东八宝山常绿阔叶林物种多样性分析

研究了广东八宝山自然保护区常绿阔叶林２６个群丛的物种多样性，并对其生态学意义作了简要的分析。结果表明，处于中亚热带的八宝山常绿阔叶林物种多样性指数（Ｓｈａｎｎｏｎ－Ｗｉｅ－ｎｅｒ指数）在２．０２～４．４３之间；物种均匀度在０．５１～０．９６之间；生态优势度在０．０６～０．２４之间。八宝山的低山常绿阔叶林物种多样性指数与南亚热带常绿阔叶林的相近，其值为３．２２～４．４３。还分析了物种多样性与生境条件的关系。     

Hidden neotropical diversity: greater than the sum of its parts

The diversity of tropical herbivorous insects has been explained as a direct function of plant species diversity. Testing that explanation, we reared 2857 flies from flowers and seeds of 24 species of plants from 34 neotropical sites. Samples yielded 52 morphologically similar species of flies and documented highly conserved patterns of specificity to host taxa and host parts. Widespread species of plants can support 13 species of flies. Within single populations of plants, we typically found one or more fly species specific to female flowers and multiple specialists on male flowers. We suggest that neotropical herbivorous insect diversity is not simply a function of plant taxonomic and architectural diversity, but also reflects the geographic distribution of hosts and the age and area of the neotropics.     

Amazonia through time: Andean uplift, climate change, landscape evolution, and biodiversity

The Amazonian rainforest is arguably the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystem in the world, yet the timing of the origin and evolutionary causes of this diversity are a matter of debate. We review the geologic and phylogenetic evidence from Amazonia and compare it with uplift records from the Andes. This uplift and its effect on regional climate fundamentally changed the Amazonian landscape by reconfiguring drainage patterns and creating a vast influx of sediments into the basin. On this "Andean" substrate, a region-wide edaphic mosaic developed that became extremely rich in species, particularly in Western Amazonia. We show that Andean uplift was crucial for the evolution of Amazonian landscapes and ecosystems, and that current biodiversity patterns are rooted deep in the pre-Quaternary.     

长白山西南坡山楂海棠访花昆虫多样性及其行为研究

2009—2010年对长白山山楂海棠访花昆虫的访花频次、访花时间、访花行为及其多样性进行的初步研究显示:长白山山楂海棠访花昆虫共6目19科33属46种,主要来自鞘翅目、膜翅目、双翅目和鳞翅目;各访花昆虫单日访花频率存在一定规律,其中膜翅目访花活动集中在上午,双翅目、鳞翅目和鞘翅目访花活动持续时间长,其访花活动存在互补性;膜翅目访花频率明显高于双翅目、鳞翅目和鞘翅目,其中膜翅目到访频率较高并且体躯携带花粉较多;不同类访花昆虫滞留时间差异较大,鳞翅目停留时间较长,鞘翅目停留时间较短;多样性指数分析表明,山楂海棠的访花昆虫群落多样性为中上水平;一天之中访花昆虫数目随温度的增加呈先增加后减小规律,随大气湿度的增加呈递减规律,而后有回升趋势;回归分析发现,访花昆虫数目在温度和湿度等气候影响下,其分布大致符合正态分布。