Geographic and climatic control of primate diversity.

Abstract

Although the comparative ecology of primates has been relatively well studied and there have been a number of outstanding studies of individual primate communities, the factors determining primate species diversity on either a local or regional level are largely unexplored. Understanding the determinants of species abundance is an important aspect of biodiversity and is critical for interpreting the comparative ecology of these different communities and for designing effective strategies of conservation. Comparative analysis of species diversity in more than 70 primate communities from South America, Africa, Madagascar, and Asia shows that on major continental areas and large tropical islands, there is a high positive correlation between the number of primate species and the area of tropical forest. Within major continental areas, the species diversity at individual sites is highly correlated with mean annual rainfall for South America, Africa, and Madagascar, but not Asia.As relatively large, often brightly colored, diurnal mammals, primates are among the best studied mammals. In addition to numerous studies of autoecology, there have been outstanding studies of the comparative ecology of sympatric species in many different parts of the world that have contributed greatly to our understanding of the comparative ecology and com-

An exceptional role for flowering plant physiology in the expansion of tropical rainforests and biodiversity

“…Global temperatures were warm before and after their ecological spread, but climates differed dramatically. Direct modelling of the impact of angiosperms under Cretaceous conditions is needed, but it is notable that the fossil record indicates at least seasonal aridity was widespread in the Cretaceous at both tropical and temperate latitudes, while vegetation consistent with ever-wet conditions was well established at similar temperatures at both tropical and temperate latitudes after the rise of angiosperm ecological dominance ( Although patterns within subgroups can be complex (Punyasena et al 2008), the diversities of tropical plants, invertebrates and vertebrates are fostered by abundance of rainfall, evenness of rainfall and the broad geographical extent of rainforests (Reed & Fleagle 1995;Kleidon & Mooney 2000;Hawkins et al 2003;Leigh et al 2004;Jaramillo et al 2006;Kreft & Jetz 2007)-all shown here to be bolstered by the high transpiration rates of the angiosperms. For example, if the particularly strong correlation between tropical plant diversity and number of wet days (Kreft & Jetz 2007) is taken at face value-not including other important factors such as regional history, geography and nutrient dynamics in determining plant diversitythen 50 per cent reductions in local plant diversities would be expected to accompany the average loss of 86 wet days per year in the eastern part of the Amazon when angiosperm vegetation is replaced (figure 5).…”

Angiosperms Helped Put the Rain in the Rainforests: The Impact of Plant Physiological Evolution on Tropical Biodiversity1

“…Ocean temperatures as high as those of the PETM were also reached several million years later during the Eocene Thermal Optimum, but were reached gradually rather than as a discrete event, While temperature increases can be a positive stimulus for diversity in colder climates, the greatest correlates of plant diversity within the tropics are overall precipitation abundance and the evenness of precipitation as measured by the annual number of wet days (Kreft & Jetz, 2007). Beyond the precipitation at any one spot, the size of contiguous rainforest area has also been considered an important additional factor (Reed & Fleagle, 1995;Leigh et al, 2004;Jaramillo et al, 2006). Because these factors promoting biodiversity-precipitation abundance, evenness, and rainforest area-are all fostered by angiosperm transpiration, angiosperm diversity is largely a result of the ecosystem modifications initiated by the angiosperms themselves.…”

Primate species richness is determined by plant productivity: Implications for conservation

“…Previous studies from various tropical regions reported a monotonic increase in richness with rainfall (6)(7)(8)(9). However, these studies sampled very few sites with annual rainfall of over 2500 mm and͞or analyzed the relationship using linear regression and were therefore unable to test more complex hypotheses of relationship.…”