Species’ Geographic Distributions Through Time: Playing Catch-up with Changing Climates

Abstract

Peterson, A. T., and B. S. Lieberman. 2012. Species' geographic distributions through time: Playing catchup with changing climates. Evolution: Education and Outreach (2 March 2012), pp. 1-13, Publisher's official version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12052-012-0385-2 . Open Access version: http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/. Keywords:Paleontology , Neontology, Geographic distribution, Climate change Abstract:Species' ranges are often treated as a rather fixed characteristic, rather than a fluid, ever-changing manifestation of their ecological requirements and dispersal abilities. Paleontologists generally have had a more flexible point of view on this issue than neontologists, but each perspective can improve by appreciating the other. Here, we provide an overview of paleontological and neontological perspectives on species' geographic distributions, focusing on what can be learned about historical variations in distributions. The cross-disciplinary view, we hope, offers some novel perspectives on species-level biogeography.

Spatial variability in species' potential distributions during the Last Glacial Maximum under different Global Circulation Models: Relevance in evolutionary biology

“…These geographic predictions may help assess distributional shifts that likely occurred during glacial/interglacial cycles, which are useful for testing evolutionary hypotheses about the processes generating actual distributional patterns (Cabanne et al., ; Carnaval, Hickerson, Haddad, Rodrigues, & Moritz, ; Collevatti et al., ; Guevara, Gerstner, Kass, & Anderson, ). More commonly, ENM are used to reconstruct geographic distributions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~ 21 kyr bp ), one of the episodes that have had a major impact on the evolutionary history of extant species (Hewitt, ), allowing to speculate whether the climate during the LGM have led to fragmentation, connectivity, extinction, or population expansion (Alvarado‐Serrano & Knowles, ; Peterson & Lieberman, ). To do so, ENM are transferred onto LGM climates simulated with General Circulation Models (GCMs), which are mathematical representations of the physical processes regulating global climate (Varela, Lima‐Ribeiro, & Terribile, ).…”

“…More commonly, ENM are used to reconstruct geographic distributions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM,~21 kyr BP), one of the episodes that have had a major impact on the evolutionary history of extant species (Hewitt, 2004), allowing to speculate whether the climate during the LGM have led to fragmentation, connectivity, extinction, or population expansion (Alvarado-Serrano & Knowles, 2014;Peterson & Lieberman, 2012). To do so, ENM are transferred onto LGM climates simulated with General Circulation Models (GCMs), which are mathematical representations of the physical processes regulating global climate (Varela, Lima-Ribeiro, & Terribile, 2015).…”

Advancing Frontiers, with a prospective

“…This has been accompanied by a small but steady increase in the number of citations to the journal (e.g. Fagin and Hoagland 2011, Gibbons et al 2011, Dawson 2012, Smith and Lundholm 2012, Peterson and Lieberman 2012. Such presence in the mainstream literature continues to be pushed forward by our long-standing series of contributed opinion and perspective articles such as Ladle et al (2011), Scheiner (2011), and Beckage et al (2012; we expect this will increasingly become the case for Research Letters and Proceedings too.…”

Paleodistribution modelling for planning the growth of natural history collections

“…Niche models can also be projected onto Quaternary climates simulated with Global Circulation Models to estimate the potential distribution of species through time (i.e., paleodistributions; Peterson & Lieberman, 2012). For example, ENM have been used to estimate geographic paleodistributions through different epochs from the Last Glacial Maximum (ca.…”

“…For example, ENM have been used to estimate geographic paleodistributions through different epochs from the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 21,000 years) to the present, in order to track historical species distributions under different climates (Nogués-Bravo, 2009;Peterson & Lieberman, 2012). Specifically, paleodistributions through the last glacial-interglacial cycle are relevant in evolutionary biology, since this time period has been a causal factor in current geographical distribution patterns.…”