Midpoint attractors and species richness: Modelling the interaction between environmental drivers and geometric constraints

Colwell, Robert K.; Gotelli, Nicholas J.; Ashton, Louise A.; Beck, Jan; Brehm, Gunnar; Fayle, Tom M.; Fiedler, Konrad; Forister, Matthew L.; Kessler, Michael; Kitching, R. L.; Klimeš, Petr; Kluge, JÃ1⁄4rgen; Longino, John T.; Maunsell, Sarah C.; McCain, Christy M.; Moses, Jimmy; Noben, Sarah; Sam, Kateřina; Sam, Legi; Shapiro, Arthur M.; Wang, Xiangping; Novotný, Vojtěch

doi:10.1111/ele.12640

Cited by 73 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…However, even though the MDE has often been used to explain patterns of diversity on other mountains which do not extend to the sea level4546, its application to these systems is debated15. Moreover, recent studies proposed to refine the MDE models by including midpoint attractors, that is, peaks of favourable environmental conditions, in models to improve predictions of diversity gradients47. The area available to species populations is regarded as a major determinant of local and regional species richness1213.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of elevational biodiversity gradients change from single taxa to the multi-taxa community level

et al. 2016

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The factors determining gradients of biodiversity are a fundamental yet unresolved topic in ecology. While diversity gradients have been analysed for numerous single taxa, progress towards general explanatory models has been hampered by limitations in the phylogenetic coverage of past studies. By parallel sampling of 25 major plant and animal taxa along a 3.7 km elevational gradient on Mt. Kilimanjaro, we quantify cross-taxon consensus in diversity gradients and evaluate predictors of diversity from single taxa to a multi-taxa community level. While single taxa show complex distribution patterns and respond to different environmental factors, scaling up diversity to the community level leads to an unambiguous support for temperature as the main predictor of species richness in both plants and animals. Our findings illuminate the influence of taxonomic coverage for models of diversity gradients and point to the importance of temperature for diversification and species coexistence in plant and animal communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of elevational biodiversity gradients change from single taxa to the multi-taxa community level

et al. 2016

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“…Such reasoning then suggests that mammals would be assorting more strongly to contemporary climate (e.g. Francis & Currie, ) or climatically driven attractors (Colwell et al., ), but time‐calibrated phylogenetic analyses with reconstructed productivity for various time slices, and tests of niche conservatism are needed at a much finer elevational scale than currently available (e.g., Jetz & Fine, ; Price et al., ; Wiens et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small mammal species richness is directly linked to regional productivity, but decoupled from food resources, abundance, or habitat complexity

McCain

King

Szewczyk

et al. 2018

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Species richness is often strongly correlated with climate. The most commonly invoked mechanism for this climate‐richness relationship is the more‐individuals‐hypothesis (MIH), which predicts a cascading positive influence of climate on plant productivity, food resources, total number of individuals, and species richness. We test for a climate‐richness relationship and an underlying MIH mechanism, as well as testing competing hypotheses including positive effects of habitat diversity and heterogeneity, and the species‐area effect. Location Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA: two elevational gradients in the Front Range and San Juan Mountains. Methods We conducted standardized small mammal surveys at 32 sites to assess diversity and population sizes. We estimated vegetative and arthropod food resources as well as various aspects of habitat structure by sampling 20 vegetation plots and 40 pitfall traps per site. Temperature, precipitation and net primary productivity (NPP) were assessed along each gradient. Regressions and structural equation modelling were used to test competing diversity hypotheses and mechanistic links predicted by the MIH. Results We detected 3,922 individuals of 37 small mammal species. Mammal species richness peaked at intermediate elevations, as did productivity, whereas temperature decreased and precipitation increased with elevation. We detected strong support for a productivity‐richness relationship, but no support for the MIH mechanism. Food and mammal population sizes were unrelated to NPP or mammal species richness. Furthermore, mammal richness was unrelated to habitat diversity, habitat heterogeneity, or elevational area. Main conclusions Sites with high productivity contain high mammal species richness, but a mechanism other than a contemporary MIH underlies the productivity–diversity relationship. Possibly a mechanism based on evolutionary climatic affiliations. Protection of productive localities and mid‐elevations are the most critical for preserving small mammal richness, but may be decoupled from trends in population sizes, food resources, or habitat structure.

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“…This spans the rapid decline in ant species richness observed on many tropical mountains [26,27], including Mount Wilhelm [28]. We did not sample forests below 700 m.a.s.l., which were subject to human disturbance.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network reorganization and breakdown of an ant–plant protection mutualism with elevation

et al. 2017

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Both the abiotic environment and the composition of animal and plant communities change with elevation. For mutualistic species, these changes are expected to result in altered partner availability, and shifts in context-dependent benefits for partners. To test these predictions, we assessed the network structure of terrestrial ant-plant mutualists and how the benefits to plants of ant inhabitation changed with elevation in tropical forest in Papua New Guinea. At higher elevations, ant-plants were rarer, species richness of both ants and plants decreased, and the average ant or plant species interacted with fewer partners. However, networks became increasingly connected and less specialized, more than could be accounted for by reductions in ant-plant abundance. On the most common ant-plant, ants recruited less and spent less time attacking a surrogate herbivore at higher elevations, and herbivory damage increased. These changes were driven by turnover of ant species rather than by within-species shifts in protective behaviour. We speculate that reduced partner availability at higher elevations results in less specialized networks, while lower temperatures mean that even for ant-inhabited plants, benefits are reduced. Under increased abiotic stress, mutualistic networks can break down, owing to a combination of lower population sizes, and a reduction in context-dependent mutualistic benefits.

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Midpoint attractors and species richness: Modelling the interaction between environmental drivers and geometric constraints

Cited by 73 publications

References 48 publications

Predictors of elevational biodiversity gradients change from single taxa to the multi-taxa community level

Predictors of elevational biodiversity gradients change from single taxa to the multi-taxa community level

Small mammal species richness is directly linked to regional productivity, but decoupled from food resources, abundance, or habitat complexity

Network reorganization and breakdown of an ant–plant protection mutualism with elevation

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